In a dense, dense water forest, where the tops of the trees reached into the sky, there stood a high, steep rock. Not far from that forest lived one hunter - Darjelan. He often went into the forest to hunt. One day a hunter approached this rock, and he heard a woman screaming somewhere. The hunter looked at the rock, looked higher and higher, but could not see the top - it was lost somewhere high, high. The hunter wants to climb the rock, but he doesn’t succeed either: it is so steep and impregnable. The hunter returned home, and at home his wife was very angry and, in addition, lame. The hunter told his wife to prepare food for him so that he could go on the road the next day; he himself went to the blacksmith and ordered him more chisels and an iron hammer.
By morning I had prepared everything for him, he took food for the day, took a chisel and a hammer from the blacksmith and went to that rock. He came and began driving chisels into the rock. The hunter drives chisels into the rock with an iron hammer and climbs them like steps. His chisels ran out, his iron hammer wore out, and the hunter reached the very top. He looked around and saw that the entrance had been knocked out of the rock, like a door. He entered there, entered the cave, Dali lies in the cave. Dali is lying - a beauty of unearthly beauty, with heavy golden braids wrapped around her head. Dali saw Darjelan the hunter, and they fell in love at first sight. The hunter remained with Dali. Dali did not want to leave him, but her love won and she gave in.
The next morning she began to ask Dali the hunter to return home, but he did not agree and again stayed with her. Now Dali asks him even more strongly to return home. “Go,” says Dali, “your wife is a witch.” She’s used to you coming home every evening, she won’t wait for you, she’ll check on us, follow your trail, find us and destroy us. “No,” said Darjelan, “my wife is lame, she can barely walk around the house, where can she get here.” Darjelan’s wife was really very surprised that her husband was not returning home. She waited for two days, on the third day she got up, took food for the road and followed in her husband’s footsteps. Her tracks led to a rock. She climbed the steps to the top of the rock and entered the cave. He sees that Dali and her husband are fast asleep.
The hunter's wife found Dali's golden scissors and cut her golden braids with them. She took the scissors and braids with her and left. Dali and Darjelan woke up. Dali raised her head; it seemed somehow light to her. She ran her hand through her hair - her golden braids were gone, she stood up - looking for scissors, no scissors. Dali became sad, turned to the hunter and said:
- You are the cause of my misfortune; I told you that your wife will destroy us. I won't live in the world anymore. Take a knife, cut my womb - I am heavy - and get my child. If you have a daughter, call her whatever you want, but if you have a son, you will call him Amiran. My son will be a hero. If they had allowed him to live to term in his mother’s womb, he would have defeated God; now he will be weaker. Listen and do everything I say. When you take your son out of my womb, store him in veal entrails for three months so that he can rest and warm up like he didn’t have to in his mother’s womb. Then put him in the cradle, take him with the cradle to the Iamana River and leave him on the shore. There he will be found and baptized by the one to whom it is due. He will tell his son everything he needs to do.
The hunter does not want to kill his beloved, he yearns and grieves. Dali insisted on her, and he had to do everything she ordered. With trembling hands, he cut open Dali's belly and took out a child, as beautiful as the sun.
The hunter did everything on Dali’s orders, then he carried the child in a cradle to the Iamana River, left the cradle on the bank and returned home.
Travelers pass along the banks of the Iamana River, see a child lying in a cradle, and ask: “Who are your father and mother, or who should baptize you?” “Father and mother—I don’t know who, but the angel himself should baptize me,” the child answers. Here comes the angel, and he asked the child. The child answered him in the same way as everyone else. The angel asked three times, and the child answered him three times. An angel appeared to him, baptized him, and called him Amiran. He gave him a dagger and told him to hide it in his leggings and not to take it out unless it was very difficult; blessed Amiran, told him that no one on earth could defeat him, and left him.
Iaman’s servants came for water, saw Amiran in the cradle, and began to laugh at him. Amiran got angry, stood up, grabbed the mockers, hit their foreheads against each other, broke all their dishes and drove them away. The servants came home without water and with broken dishes, and told Iaman everything that had happened to them. Iaman got angry, got up, went to the river, and when he saw the child in the cradle, he rejoiced: “Usibi and Badri will be my comrade.” He took the cradle with the baby and took it home.
And Iaman’s wife is happy: the boy will rock her Usibi and Badri. A day passed - nothing. The next day, Yaman’s wife came out to milk the cows, put her sons Usibi and Badri in the cradle, and sat Amiran in the middle and told him to rock the children so they wouldn’t cry. “If you don’t do everything as I command, woe to you,” she threatened.
As soon as the mother left, Amiran found an awl and began to stab Usibi and Badri. The children roared. The mother got angry and shouted to Amiran: “Make sure you look after my children properly, otherwise I’ll come back and it’ll be bad for you!” Know that I won’t let you down, but also Dali’s son Amiran! Amiran grumbled: “You don’t know, otherwise I am Dali’s son – Amiran.” Iaman’s wife heard, was delighted, stopped milking the cows, ran up to Amiran, hugged him and kissed him, washed him with milk and wrapped him in the thinnest and most expensive fabric.
Since then, Iaman’s wife has been following Amiran as if she were her own children. Yaman and his wife rejoice that their sons are growing such a glorious companion.
All three young men have grown up, they have already become completely heroes, whoever they meet - whether from the east or from the west - they enter into a fight with everyone, they defeat everyone and drive them back. One day these beaten people shouted to them: “Why are you showing strength to us?” If you are such good fellows, find out why your father Iaman is blind in one eye, and deal with his offender.
When they heard this, all three ran to Yaman’s wife and began to ask her: “Tell me how Yaman lost his eye.” The mother does not speak, hides the truth, deceives them: “Iaman was sick with smallpox, and then he lost his eye.” And I swear there was nothing more. The mother answered like this twice, and the third time, in order to extract the truth from her, Amiran, Usibi and Badri came up with the following trick: they returned home angry and ordered her to bake hot khachapuri for all three of them. As soon as she covered the khachapuri with coals, Amiran and Usibi pulled them out of the fire, applied them to their mother and said: “Either you tell the truth about Iaman’s eye, or we will burn your whole breast.” Iaman’s wife could not stand it and told everything as it happened: “A certain deva had been at enmity with Hamak for a long time, and demanded a quitrent from him. When Usibi and Badri were born, that deva came and demanded that one of his sons be given to him; but no, then let Jaman give him his right eye. Iaman could not part with his son, he tore out the eye and gave it to the deva.
When Amiran and the sons of Iaman heard this, they immediately got up and got ready to go on the road to fight that deva. They asked Yaman to get them a bow and arrows made of pure iron. Iaman got it. They took the bow and tried it - the bow in Amiran’s hand could not stand it and broke. Then Amiran took thirty pounds of iron, took it to the blacksmith and forced him to forge a bow according to his hand.
The next morning all three went to fight the deva. They walked and walked and saw one deva in the field. The deva has a wonderful apple orchard, under the apple trees his flocks of sheep graze. The deva saw the young men and shouted to them: “Well, if you’re great, knock down at least one apple from my apple trees or throw at least one apple onto the apple tree.”
Usibi and Badri tried for a long time, but didn’t knock down a single apple. Amiran shot an arrow, knocked down all the apples on one side of the apple tree and threw them onto the other side of the same apple tree. The dev also said: “If you are great, then lift at least one sheep from my flock from the ground and put the other on the ground.” Usibi and Badri failed to do anything. Amiran first made all the sheep stand up, then when he hit them on the ground, he almost killed them all.
The deva got angry, took all his sheep and Amiran with them and drove everyone into the house. He locked the door from the inside and left Usibi and Badri alone in the yard. The devs cooked four sheep for dinner. He eats the meat himself, throws the bones over his sister’s back, and the deva’s sister is chained with an iron chain in the corner. The dev got ready to sleep and said: “Today I have enough for dinner, tomorrow I’ll have breakfast with Amiran.” He said and lay down. The deva fell asleep, Amiran approached the deva’s chained sister and asked to teach him how to deal with the deva. The deva’s sister said: “You can’t kill my brother with anything except his sword, which he holds in oil.” But the sword is held so tightly in the oil that one cannot pull it out. Just my brother has a braided belt, take it out, tie one end to the sword, give me the other, we’ll pull together, maybe we’ll pull it out. Take the sword in your hands, go up to your brother, be careful - don’t hit him, just put the sword to his neck, the sword will take off his head.
She asked Amiran to swear by Christ that he would not deceive her and, when he killed the deva, he would set her free. Amiran swore, found that belt, tied it to the sword, gave the other end to his sister, they both pulled, and pulled out the sword. As the sword was pulled out, it thundered with such force that the deva woke up, only to fall asleep again.
Amiran brought the sword to the dev, put it to his neck, began to cut the sword himself, and did not have to swing it. He cut and cut his sword and reached the middle. The dev felt something, began tossing and turning, but it was too late, the sword completely cut his neck. This is how Amiran dealt with the deva. The deva's sister asked Amiran to free her, but Amiran broke his oath and killed her.
After this, all the deva's goods remained with Amiran and his comrades. They took what they took with them, left the rest there and went on their way.
They walked and walked and came to a dense spruce forest. They see a rock in the forest, on the rock a huge deva-gveleshapi stands and twists wool. The deva's spindle is a spruce trunk, and the weight on the spindle is a millstone. This was the deva who took away Iaman’s eye.
He saw the devas Amiran and his comrades and shouted: “Hey, what kind of flies are crawling there?” Turn back now, otherwise I’ll eat your meat and chew your bones.” Amiran shouted to the dev: “Oh, you scum!” It's too early to brag, wait, I haven't eaten yet.
The dev got angry, threw the wool and went downstairs. They fought and fought for a long time. Amiran will shoot one arrow for himself at the deva, two for Usibi and Badri. Everyone is tired. The dev approached Amiran, opened his mouth and swallowed him. I swallowed it and went home. Usibi and Badri remained there. As the deva entered the gate, Usibi caught up with him, grabbed him by the tail and cut it off. The dev entered the house, as soon as he entered, his stomach ached.
- Woe is me, mother, my stomach hurts! - the dev shouted, ran up to the door pillars, rubbed his stomach against them to relieve the pain, but he couldn’t stay on his feet without a tail, everything crashed to the ground. The mother sees her son in these torments and asks him: “What’s wrong with you, son, did you eat anything today?” “Oh, mother, I came across three flies today, I swallowed one.” “Woe to your mother, son, if you swallowed Amiran, Dali’s son.” And Usibi and Badri are standing under the window of the house, hearing everything that the mother and son are saying. They shouted to Amiran:
Amiran, Amiran, Your dagger is in your leg, Unsheathe it quickly - Teach the Gveleshapi a lesson.
Amiran heard this and thought: “Indeed, it will hardly ever be harder than this!” He took out a dagger and started stabbing the deva in the groin. The dev roared: “Oh, don’t kill me, but if you want, I’ll spit you out, if you want, I’ll throw you out.” Amiran got angry: “Oh, you scum, scoundrel!” I don’t want to live either spat out by you or thrown away. “Okay,” says the dev, “take out two of my ribs and come out through the side.” Amiran took out the whole side of the deva and went out. He left only one of his eyes there. “Insert my eye now, otherwise you won’t leave alive!” - Amiran shouts. The dev said: “Cut off a piece of the liver, a piece of the lung, anoint the eye socket, the eye will become better than before.” Amiran cut off more of the liver, even more of the lung, anointed the eye socket, and his eye became safe and sound. He asks the devas of Amiran to sew his side back. He took Amiran and blocked his side with a wooden flap (*).
After that, “Amiran demanded that the deva give him Iaman’s right eye. I don’t want to give the deva the eye, but he doesn’t dare refuse Amiran. The deva pointed to the pillar and said: “There is a box in this pillar, in the box there is another box, take it out, Iaman’s eye lies there.” Amiran found the eye and took it with him. They abandoned Dev there, they returned home. They came and inserted Iaman’s eye, rested a little.
I wanted to. Amiran should go and fight with someone else. He asked Iaman to keep Usibi and Badri at home: “They only bother me in difficult times.” Usibi and Badri heard, became sad, and began to ask Amiran not to leave them at home. “We don’t want to live without you!”
What to do? Amiran took them with him again. They walked for a long time and saw three devas in one field. The devas shouted to them: “You would be good fellows if one of you managed to get the bright Ketu, daughter of the Kekluts-king, as a wife.” Many young men sought her, but no one achieved it. Amiran asked where King Kekluts lives, where he hides his daughter. The devas showed the way to the king and said: “And he keeps his daughter Ketu in a tower, and the tower is suspended with chains to the sky.” They left the devas and went to the country of Kekluts the king. They walked and walked and came to the sea. The sea is big, wide, you can’t cross it. They saw a woman deva there. Amiran asked her how to cross the sea. She said that there was no way across the sea, but if they took her as a comrade, she would help them. Amiran swore by Christ that he would take her.
She cut off the braid and laid it as a bridge across the sea. Usi-bi and Badri crossed the bridge first, then Amiran. The last woman to cross was the deva. But as soon as she reached the middle of the sea, Amiran grabbed the braid with his sword, cut it off, and the female deva fell into the sea. So Amiran broke his oath with Christ for the second time.
The brothers walked for a long time by land, and met a man in a field whose name was Andrerobom. Andrerob was so big that nine pairs of oxen and nine pairs of bulls could barely drag the cart on which he lay. They were taking Andrerob alive to bury him: If they couldn’t drag him dead to the cemetery, he would have remained unburied. Andrerob has one leg dangling from the cart, dragging along the ground and digging the ground with its weight, like a plow. So many people followed him, but they could not lift his leg and lay him on the cart. Amiran saw this, hooked Andrerob’s leg with his bow and threw it onto the cart. Andrerob was surprised: “Who has such strength that he threw my leg so easily onto the cart?” They pointed him to Amiran. Andrerob extended his hand to Amiran, Amiran was frightened: “He will squeeze my hand with all his might and break it.” Amiran took it and handed Anderrob a basalt block. Andrerob squeezed the block and squeezed the juice out of it. Andrerob again extended his hand to Amiran. Amiran gave him his hand. Andrerob asked Amiran to take his son with him and not to betray him, but to love him as a brother. Amiran promised and swore by Christ. They took Andrerob where they were taking him, and his son went with Amiran.
They walked for a long time. Amiran felt sleepy, he lay down and fell asleep. And while he was sleeping, Andrerob's son caught two deer with his bare hands and hung them on the tree there. Amiran woke up, saw the deer and asked how they were caught. Amiran found out how Andrerob’s son caught them, he didn’t like it, he thought: “He’s still a child, but what can he do, he’ll grow up and defeat me.” Amiran decided to kill Andrerob's son. I did as I decided. Thus, for the third time, Amiran broke his oath to Christ.
They abandoned the dead man and moved on: to look for the daughter of King Kekluts. They walked for a long time and finally found the tower where the daughter of King Kekluts, Ketu, lived. Amiran Usibi said: “Jump, try, maybe you’ll reach the chain and cut it with a saber.” Usibi jumped and didn’t even touch the chain. Badri also jumped, but also unsuccessfully. Then Amiran jumped and grabbed the chain. He swung his dagger, cut the chain, and the tower fell to the ground. All three entered the tower. At one glance, Amiran and Ketu fell in love with each other.
Kekluts, Ketu's father, found out about this, gathered all his troops and surrounded the tower in three rows. Amiran saw the troops and didn’t like it. He ordered Usibi to go out to fight the army.
Usibi came out, broke through one chain and approached the Kekluts King. King Kekluts blew on him and Usibi fell dead. Badri came out second, broke through another chain, but as soon as he approached Kekluts the King, Kekluts blew on him and knocked him down dead.
Amiran got angry and decided to go out and fight with King Kekluts himself. She told Amiran Ketu: “My father has a millstone on his head, the millstone is tied to the back of his neck with a gold chain.” You approach him, try to cut this chain; The millstone will pull the father's head forward, the neck will be exposed, then use the dagger to cut off the head. If not, then you won’t kill my father.
Amiran remembered, went out to the troops, killed everyone who was still alive after Usibi and Badri, and approached the King of Kekluts. King Kekluts blew on him, and Amiran fell on one knee. Amiran swung his dagger and cut the golden chain on Kekluts’s neck. The millstone pulled Keklutz's head forward, his neck was exposed, Amiran jumped up, waved his dagger and cut off Keklutz's head. Amiran entered Ketu's tower and began to grieve that Usibi and Badri were killed. “I will not return home without them.” What will I tell the old parents when I don’t bring a single son? Ketu asked: “Do you recognize them among the slaughtered army?” “I do,” said Amiran. “Usibi has a sign of the sun on the stone in his ring, and Badri has a sign of the moon.” Amiran and Ketu went out to the dead and began to look for Usibi and Badri among them. They found it, Ketu took out her handkerchief, ran it over the faces of Usibi and Badri and revived them.
Amiran is happy that he got Ketu as his wife and that he is bringing Usibi and Badri home alive. They took with them all the goods of King Kekluts and went Home. We came to Yaman. Iaman was glad that Amiran and his sons returned home as winners. Amiran just told Iaman that he would never take Usibi and Badri with him again, because they cannot be the same heroes as him.
After that, Amiran went on heroic deeds alone. There was no one in the world who could withstand the battle with him - Amiran defeated and destroyed all his enemies. There were only three devas, three boars and three oak trees left on the whole earth. Amiran even fought with God, broke his oath to Christ three times and did much more. For this, God punished Amiran: he tied him with an iron chain and chained him to an iron pillar dug deep into the ground. Together with Amiran, God also chained the dog Kursha, who destroyed many of God’s favorite aurochs. For a whole year, Amiran and Kursha pull chains and drag a heavy iron pole up. They are about to pull the pillar out of the ground and free themselves, when God sends a bird, it lands on the pillar, Amiran gets angry, swings his chain and hits the pillar. The bird will fly away, and the pillar will be driven into the ground again. This happens every year.
Kursha is an eagle puppy. The eagle Orbie gives birth to one puppy along with her chicks every spring. When the eagle sees the puppy, she will take it, lift it high and throw it to the ground so that people will not find it and tame it. This Kursha, who was tied together with Amiran, was found by one hunter and raised. The Curonians have eagle wings on their sides. And he is so fast and dexterous that he can catch an antelope in two jumps; he considers three jumps a disgrace for himself.
As punishment for the fact that he destroyed many tours, God chained him together with Amiran. About the Kursha, the Svans composed a song-cry of a hunter who lost the Kursha:
Kursha, my Kursha, Kursha is lost, Kursha! I lost you At midnight, exactly at midnight! Woe is me! What if you are led by a merchant, led by a merchant? Woe is me! What if Kaji stole you from me? Kursha has a mouth and ears Like gold, like gold. Kursha has eyes, eyes, like a month, like a month. The bark of the Kurshi is like the thunder of the sky, the Paws of the Kurshi are like a threshing floor, the Leap of the Kurshi is like a field. Food of Kurshi, its food - Soft, fresh bread. Woe is me! What if they feed you chaff, chaff! Drinking Kurshi, drinking it - Fresh, sweet wine. Woe is me! What if they give you muddy water to drink! Kursha's bed, his bed is feather bed and blankets. Woe is me! What if they put you on the wood chips, on the wood chips! Kursha, my Kursha, From above you are like a lion, From below you are like a pheasant, You are a hero on land, At sea you are a ship! Kursha, my Kursha, I’m crying for you, I’m crying, I’m grieving, I’m grieving for a year, already a year!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru