One old man had a daughter. When he went to Mecca, he left his daughter in the arms of his worker, saying: “My daughter is your akamash, watch over her, fulfill her demands, in a word, take care of her as your mistress.”
The old man left, and in the whole yard only the worker and the old man’s daughter remained. After a short time, the worker began to have bad thoughts regarding the girl left in his care. The girl, no matter how he begged her, did not agree to fulfill his demand; but since she finally had no place to live at home from the worker, she left home and almost never went there again - she lived first with some neighbors, sometimes with other neighbors. Thus, the time had come for the old man to return, and a messenger arrived with the news that the haji had already reached such and such a place and would be home in two or three days.
Then the worker went to meet the old haji and announced that the daughter he had left in his care, despite all his requests, admonitions and threats, had begun to behave in the most reprehensible manner since his departure and was now pregnant.
“In that case, come back quickly, do whatever you want with her, but only so that I don’t see her or hear about her anymore,” answered the distressed haji.
The worker, who only wanted this, returned and, without saying a word to the old man’s daughter, grabbed her, took her away and threw her into the steppe. The worker returned and remained with the old haji, who did not know about his guilt, as his most trusted person. Meanwhile, the girl who settled in the reeds was found by a khan who was out hunting. He liked the girl, and having received the answer to his question whether she was an ordinary mortal or not that she was a person like him, the khan took her with him and married her. The girl turned out to be an excellent wife, she loved and gave peace to the khan, who, seeing this, was glad that he did not hesitate to marry a girl of an unknown family and tribe, found in the steppe. She bore him a son.
Once, when the Khan was lying in bed, and she bent down to rake and cover the fire, she began to think; After standing with her head bowed for some time over the fire, she finally came to her senses, sighed heavily and said that it was just like that, without a particularly important reason that would be worth telling him. But the khan was not satisfied with such an answer and urgently asked her to tell him what she sighed about. The wife then said: “And I have a house, a father and other relatives there, far away; Now I remembered them and, not knowing what happened to them, I sighed.”
- How! Do you remember your relatives, do you know where they live? Why haven't you told me this until now? - the khan cried.
Then he invited her to go and visit her father, if she wished, and received an answer that she would be glad to know what had become of her father, but did not tell him about it, not daring to leave him bored alone, without her; but that if now he wants to allow her to see her relatives, then she will gladly do what pleases the khan. The next day, the khan ordered to prepare for the journey. When a sufficient quantity of buza, butter cookies and other things necessary for the journey had been made, the wife left, accompanied by a fairly large retinue of women and men.
How long or how long did they travel and finally arrived at one place; they unharnessed the carts, took out the bouza; Everyone who accompanied the Khansha drank a lot, got drunk, and everyone fell asleep where they sat. Only the atalyk khanshi and one of her maids remained sober; they had a special intention, to achieve which they got everyone drunk. Atalyk Khanshi, who, according to custom, lived with a Khansha for the first time after she married the Khan, before entering his house, was flattered by her and persuaded the maid to help him do what he desired over the Khansha. In order to carry out this plan, she gave her companions drink. When everyone fell asleep, the atalyk announced to the khansha what he wanted from her. Hansha refused. But the atalyk began to threaten her, saying that he would throw her son, and finally herself, into the water if she did not agree to his demand. Hansha still remained adamant. Then the atalyk attacked her, wanting to achieve his goal by force. Hansha, seeing no other salvation, threw herself into the water; Her child had previously been thrown into the water with an atalyk. Then this latter, realizing that he had gone too far, and fearing that his comrades would not find out his guilt, lay down himself, pretending to be drunk. The maid did the same.
Finally, the Khansha’s companions woke up and saw that neither the Khansha nor her son were there. Wondering where they could have gone, they rushed here and there to look, but couldn’t find them anywhere. Tired of searching, everyone gathered again near the carts and began to consult what to do, what they should now tell the khan.
- Why should we sit here, don’t blow the bzhami over the dead! “Let’s go back and stop racking our brains over what to say to the khan about his wife, who has gone back to where she came from,” someone said.
“Indeed,” others answered, “how could he decide to marry a girl found in the steppe, not knowing whether she was a person or some kind of spirit?” She must have been some kind of spirit - her very disappearance proves this.
Having encouraged themselves with this reasoning, the khanshi’s retinue returned back and, when asked by the khan where they had put his wife, answered: “Who knows where she is! Where she came from is where she went.”
Khan thought: “How could I really assume that a woman found in the steppe could be my wife,” and calmed down.
The Khansha, who threw herself into the river, was washed ashore far from the carts. Having dried off and recovered somewhat from the grief that had befallen her, she went to wander aimlessly across the steppe. She met a shepherd with goats. Having given him her valuable clothes, she took his dress from him and dressed herself in it. Then, leaving the shepherd, she wandered on.
She came to a shepherd who was grazing sheep; Having spent the night there and having learned that one owner was looking for a shepherd, she hired herself out to him for five years, receiving in advance sixty sheep, which, after five years, were to become her property with their offspring, according to custom. She lived on this kosh for her agreed upon five years, and finally there was only a day or two left before their end. Her sheep were counted and separately separated. During all this time, it never occurred to a single person that she was not a man, but a woman; she behaved so cleverly.
In the evening, before the end of the agreement, her father came to the kosh with the worker who had spoken about her, as well as the khan and her atalyk. Hansha, having then called the logupage aside, said to him:
“Tomorrow I must part with the cat on which I lived for five years, without hearing a curse word from a single person during all this time.” Let me, before parting, slaughter one of my sheep and treat my comrades. By the way, we also have guests, therefore, there will be no need to slaughter a sheep for them.
Logupazh agreed to her request. Then she herself caught the best of her sheep, slaughtered it, skinned it cleanly, cut it into pieces and put it in a cauldron to cook, put the entrails on a spit, built a large fire and, sitting down to fry them, said to the guests sitting by the fire:
- Would you like to listen to one fairy tale out of boredom? We have nothing else to amuse you with.
The guests asked her to tell her.
Then she sequentially conveyed everything that happened to her, ending her story with the following words:
“If my words seem untrue to you, then make sure.” And, taking off her hat, she showed her hair. Then they found out - the father was his daughter, the khan was his wife; immediately the old man tied his worker and the atalyk khan to unbroken horses and let them go into the steppe. Thus, the khan found his wife, and she again found her husband and her father. They all live together to this day. You have heard with your ears, but you will live until you see with your eyes.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru