A long time ago there lived two brothers - Ak-sagysh and Kara-sagysh. They had nothing but two horses: white for Ag-sagish and black for Kara-sagish.
The brothers rode their horses around the aal and fed on what good people gave them.
One day they were caught in a great fog in the steppe. The brothers wandered for a long time and became very hungry.
“Let’s eat your horse,” Kara-sagish said to his brother, “and we’ll ride mine together.”
“Okay,” agreed Ak-sagish.
The hungry brothers quickly unsaddled the white horse, slaughtered it and ate their fill. Then they hobbled Kara-sagish’s horse and let him graze. They went to bed themselves, putting the saddles under their heads.
Kara-sagysh waited until Ak-sagysh fell asleep, and rode away from him on his horse.
Ak-sagish woke up in the morning - there was no brother. “Probably Kara-sagysh has gone to look for a horse,” he thought and began to wait. He waited and waited, but he couldn’t wait and went to look for him himself, but he didn’t find either his horse or his brother.
Ak-sagish became sad, but there was nothing to do - he went alone, aimlessly.
He walked and walked and rose to the upper reaches of the Kara-Sug River.
Looks, there is a tent made of horse heads and bark. Ak-sagysh looked into the tent - there was no one. He climbed under the trestle bed and began to wait - who would come?
In the evening a bear, a wolf, a fox and a boar burst into the tent.
“It turned out to be a good day for me today,” the bear roared. — I enjoyed a lot of pine nuts. What did you profit from, friends?
“And I dug up so much saran with my silver stick that I couldn’t even eat it,” the boar boasted.
“Make sure you take care of your stick, otherwise someone will steal it,” the bear warned the boar.
“They won’t steal it, I hid it in a safe place - under a log near the tent,” answered the boar.
Then the fox boasted:
— I also had a good day. I caught a lot of gophers.
“I haven’t left you either,” the wolf muttered satedly. — I feasted at Karata Khan's. There people and livestock are dying of thirst. The water has disappeared somewhere.
“How can we find water?” asks the fox.
“I know,” answered the boar. — A black boulder the size of a cow blocked the spring of Karaty Khan. Only my silver stick can push him downhill.
“Don’t talk too much, even though the door is closed,” the bear stopped him.
The animals talked and fell asleep. Ak-sagish slowly got out of the tent, found a silver stick and went to the aal of Karaty Khan.
Ak-sagish went straight into the khan’s yurt. The maids gave Ak-sagish serum and began to drive him out of the yurt.
“Don’t drive me away, I want to help your trouble,” says Ak-sagish.
The Khan heard and said:
- Well, try it, mere mortal. If you let the water flow, save the cattle, I will reward you. I will give my daughter for you, I will separate cattle from my cattle, goods from my goods. If you can’t, say goodbye to life.
“Okay,” Ak-sagysh agreed and went to the spring.
He placed a silver stick under a huge boulder and gently rolled it downhill.
The water of the spring gurgled loudly and spread widely around.
The cattle greedily moved towards the water, trampling and pushing each other.
Karaty Khan kept his word: he gave his daughter in marriage, separated cattle from his cattle, and goods from his goods.
One day, after long wanderings, a hungry and tired Kara-sagish came to the village of Ak-sagish. He was very surprised and frightened when he saw his brother. And he was delighted and began to treat him.
“How did you become so rich?” Kara-sagish asked enviously.
Ak-sagish told him everything. Kara-sagish’s eyes flared with greed: “Why am I worse than Ak-sagish? I also want to be rich." And he ran to look for the plague of animals. I found him and hid under the trestle bed.
In the evening a bear, a wolf, a fox and a boar burst into the tent.
- Tell me, friends, who profited from what today? - asks the bear.
Kaban says:
— Someone stole my silver stick. If I had caught him, I would have torn him apart. I barely dug up one saran all day. There's an empty feeling in my belly.
Then the fox complained:
“I’m hungry today too.” During the whole day she ate only one little mouse.
“I also didn’t find anything today, except for one gnawed bone,” the wolf growled angrily. “Karata Khan now has a lot of water and all the cattle are healthy.” Someone overheard us and helped us turn on the water. If I had caught him, I would have killed him.
The bear listens to everyone, but remains silent. The animals began to question him.
“I had a bad day today too,” the bear began reluctantly. “I only came across one cedar with a cone on the top.” As soon as I reached the top, a strong wind came and knocked me off the cedar. And I didn’t get the bump, and I crushed the sides. Everything hurts! - the bear roared and fell onto the trestle bed, so much so that the boards cracked.
Kara-sagish got scared and jumped out from under the trestle bed. Hungry animals grabbed him and wanted to gnaw him. At this time a shot rang out. It was Ak-sagish, who came running to look for his missing brother.
All the animals ran away in fear.
Kara-sagysh sat on the ground with his mouth open, barely alive from mortal horror.
“Never envy or be greedy,” Ak-sagish told him.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru