One day the khan sent Dzhankir to catch fish. His sister also went with Dzhankir. No matter how much Jankir threw his net into the sea, he could not catch anything. But then he threw it for the last time, and - lo and behold! – someone was dragging the net deep into the depths. Jankyr exerted all his strength, pulled cei. Suddenly, on the crest of a wave, a handsome deer with golden antlers appeared, entangled in a net. Sister Dzhankira clapped her hands for joy and began to ask her brother to quickly kill ole
But Dzhankir stood, speechless with delight. He admired the handsome deer. He did not raise his hand to kill him. Finally, Jankir pulled out a knife, cut the net and freed the deer. And he instantly dived into the depths of the sea.
The sister was very angry with Jankir and complained about him to her father.
And the father, after listening to his daughter, became furious. He ordered the people to be gathered and Dzhankir executed in front of everyone. The sister cried bitterly. She felt sorry for her brother. She already regretted complaining to her father. At night she ran to her brother in tears and said:
- Run away from here quickly! Because you released the deer with golden horns, your father decided to deal with you... I brought you a good horse, he stands at the gate. Get on it and ride!.. Forgive me! I didn’t want to harm you!.. - she said, sobbing.
Without hesitation, Dzhankir jumped on his horse and galloped off. He ran for a long time, not knowing where. But then a horseman appeared ahead. Dzhankir wanted to catch up with him to ask where this road leads. He galloped after the rider for a long time, but could not catch up and stopped. Strangely, the rider also stopped.
It even seemed to Dzhankir that the rider was waving his hand, calling him to him.
The young man rushed forward as fast as he could.
– Follow me! - said the rider when Jankir approached him.
And they both rushed... Soon they arrived at a house in a deep forest.
- Karakyz! – the rider called loudly.
[Karakiz – Black girl, female name.]
A dark-skinned woman came out of the house and asked:
-What do you need, Boskhasan?
“I brought my adopted brother to you,” answered the horseman.
The woman invited the newcomer into the house. And the rider rushed on.
Whether the journey was long or short is difficult to say. He just arrived in a large valley and saw: a lot of people, everyone was mowing the grass.
Their faces are sweaty, hairy, and their shirts are dirty.
- Good work to you, people! – the rider greeted them.
- Thank you, good man! - the mowers answered without interrupting their work.
-What is your rainy day? Why is there such a rush that you can’t even talk to a passing person?
- May such a black day befall your enemy! – the mowers exclaimed angrily. - By sunset a ram with twelve horns will appear here. Every day we have to cut a hundred haystacks for him. And if we don’t have time to do so much, he will kill us with his horns. That’s why we’re in such a hurry,” the mowers explained.
- If so, quit work right now, go to the spring, wash your shirts and wash yourself! - Boskhasan ordered them.
- But the ram will appear soon! – the mowers were alarmed.
- Don't be afraid! Boskhasan said. “I’ll meet the ram myself.” And when you’ve washed, slowly start mowing, and show me the place where the ram comes from.
– Do you see that big haystack over there? “That’s where he always comes out,” said the mowers and headed towards the spring.
Some time passed... And suddenly a ram with twelve horns appeared.
- Hey you, born dogs! - he shouted. “Where is the hay you were supposed to cut for me?”
– You yourself were born a dog! – Boskhasan shouted back. – Why do you force people to mow from dawn to dusk?!
He grabbed the ram by the horns, threw him to the ground and raised the knife over him.
– Oh-oh-oh!.. Don’t kill me, good man! I am not a sheep. I am the daughter of a khan. Until now, I have never met a person as brave as you. Now you have won and I obey you!
And the ram turned into a beautiful girl.
“That’s another matter!” exclaimed Boskhasan. - Get on the horse with me!
And the girl immediately sat down.
And Boskhasan, addressing the mowers, said:
- You are free! Go wherever you want!..
Boskhasan took the girl to the same woman with whom he left Jankira.
- Karakyz! – he shouted as he drove up to the house. – I brought a bride for my adopted brother!
The wedding took place soon.
Only Boskhasan could not sit at home, and he again went to wander around the world.
He rode for a long time and reached a village located on the banks of a large river. He entered the first house and addressed the hostess:
- Good day, sister! Can you give me something to eat?
“Brother,” answered the hostess, “I don’t have a crumb of bread.” It's all over. Do you want me to bake a flatbread?
She got up and brought water to knead the dough.
- Why, sister, do you have such dirty water for testing, when there is clean, clear water in the river nearby? Boskhasan said.
- Why, brother, we can’t even get a cup of water from this river. This river is guarded by the nine-headed eme-gen i.
Hearing this, Boskhasan went to the river, collected water and brought it to the woman. She was happy and kneaded the dough. But in order to bake the cake, the woman took off her outer clothing and was about to set it on fire. Boskhasan was very surprised:
- Why, sister, set fire to clothes?
- But we don’t have any firewood, brother. And we cannot take them in the forest: we are afraid of emegen*. “Even if we take a twig from the forest, emegen will kill us,” the woman answered.
[Emegen is an evil monster].
Then Boskhasan went into the forest and brought firewood to the woman.
- Tell me, sister, where does this emegen come from?
“Over that mountain,” the woman pointed out.
Not even a minute had passed before the nine-headed emegen himself appeared.
- Hey you son of a dog! - he yelled. – Are you playing with my water and my forest?
- Yes, it's me. So what? – Boskhasan answered.
Emegen uprooted a large tree and threw it at Bos-Hasan. And he grabbed the tree even more and hit the eme-gen with it.
So they uprooted all the trees in the forest, except one.
Boskhasan was the first to run to the remaining tree, uproot it and swing to hit the emegen. But then Emegen turned into a beautiful girl.
“I am not an emegen, I am the daughter of a khan,” said the girl. “Until now, I have never met a worthy person like you.” Now you have won and I obey you!..
- In that case, sit down with me on my horse! The girl sat down, and Boskhasan took her to Karakyz.
- Karakyz! – he exclaimed, entering the house. “I heard that my adopted brother’s wife disappeared. This is true?
“Yes,” answered Karakyz, “she melted away before our eyes like fog.”
- Well, don’t worry, I brought my brother a new bride, a beautiful girl. She is at the gate, on a horse.
All three ran out of the house to meet the girl. But the girl was not there. She disappeared. At the gate there was only a horse tied to a post.
Boskhasan was very upset. He jumped on his horse and wanted to ride away, but Dzhankir stopped him.
“Don’t leave,” he asked. - Help me. Here in the forest I met a girl better than whom there is no one in the whole wide world! I fell in love with her very much, I can’t live without her! Make it so that I can marry her!
“Okay,” Boskhasan replied, “I made a vow to myself to fulfill all your wishes.” I will try to do everything for you this time too, although it will be very difficult. I know this girl. “And Boskhasan sent matchmakers to the girl.
The matchmakers brought the following answer from her: “Let Boskhasan and his sworn brother hide three times. If I fail to find them even once, they will be the winners. If I find them all three times, I will turn them into two stones and place them at the entrance to my house.”
And as soon as night fell, Boskhasan turned into a kite, and turned his brother into a sparrow. And they flew high into the sky.
The girl got up early in the morning, washed her face, looked around her and said:
- Let Boskhasan disappear from the face of the earth... He himself turned into a kite, and made his brother a sparrow, and they flew into the sky.
Seeing that the girl had figured out Boskhasan’s trick, she and her brother descended to the ground.
On the second night, Boskhasan turned into a terrible boa constrictor, and turned his brother into a hare and swallowed him. Then he crawled up a high mountain and hid there behind a large stone.
In the morning the girl got up, washed her face and, looking around, said:
- Let Boskhasan disappear from the face of the earth... He himself turned into a terrible boa constrictor, and made his brother a hare and swallowed him. I know that they are hiding on a high mountain behind a large stone.
There was nothing to do, Boskhasan and Dzhankir had to admit defeat and go down from the high mountain.
On the third night, as soon as the girl went to bed, Boskhasan turned into a noose, and Jankira turned into a button. And they were attached to the collar of this girl's shirt.
When the girl got up early in the morning, washed her face and carefully examined everything around, she did not see them and could not guess where to look for them.
“Oh, Boskhasan, go to hell,” the girl exclaimed, “I don’t see where you are, Boskhasan, come out!”
Here Boskhasan and Jankir instantly stood in front of the girl, and she had no choice but to agree to marry Boskhasan’s sworn brother. Soon the wedding took place. So Dzhankir married his beloved girl.
“Now take us home, to our father,” Dzhankir began to ask Boskhasan.
“But you won’t have life there, stay here,” Boskhasan persuaded him.
But Jankir insisted, and Boskhasan, very reluctantly, finally agreed.
For his sick father, Dzhankir, he got sea grass from the bottom of the sea, which the deer with golden horns ate, and took his sworn brother and his wife to his native village.
They were warmly greeted by the village residents. His sister was very happy about Jankir’s arrival. My stepfather also accepted me kindly.
He drank a decoction of sea grass brought by his son, and immediately the illness went away and he recovered. It was as if his legs had never hurt. And Boskhasan built a house for the young people and nine iron fences around the house. Everyone was surprised and asked Boskhasan:
– What are these fences for?
- They will come in handy! - he answered.
When everything was ready, Boskhasan said goodbye and left. For some time, Dzhankir and his wife lived amicably with their father. But one day the father said to his son:
- Come on, son, let's go hunting today!..
The son happily agreed. He took with him delicious food prepared by his wife. And the khan took only one very salty flatbread, and they set off.
We walked through the forest for a long time and finally came to a large clearing. It was already midday and they decided to have lunch.
The son was embarrassed to eat the delicious dinner his wife had prepared and gave it to his father, and the father gave him a salty flatbread.
After eating, they went to the mountains.
A little time passed, and the son was very thirsty, but there was no water nearby.
“Father, I’m dying of thirst,” he moaned.
“Son,” the khan answered him, “I know very well that there is no water here.” Show me your dexterity: jump down from this ledge, then I will give you a sip of water.
Dzhankir was so thirsty that he, without thinking, jumped down from the ledge of the mountain. He broke his leg and lay motionless for a long time.
The khan carefully descended from the mountain and gave Dzhankir a sip of water. When he leaned over him, Jankir saw his angry, hate-filled eyes and trembled. He understood the khan's plan.
Dzhankir stood up with an effort and, leaning on his gun, took several steps.
“Slowly, step by step, I’ll go down the mountain,” he thought, “and then somehow I’ll get home...” But the excruciating pain in his leg and the even greater thirst that gripped him prevented him from moving, and he fell.
Then the khan, who had gone far away, returned and approached him again.
“Son,” he said, “I see that it’s difficult for you to move on, let me help you go down from the cliff and there I’ll give you cold water to drink... Get up!”
Dzhankir made a final effort and stood up, but then the khan pushed him in the back with all his might, and he flew down the cliff.
Soon the khan, who had carefully descended from the mountain, approached him. But he did not give him a sip of water, but said:
- Now you will know what it means to be legless... Now I have repaid you for releasing a deer with golden antlers, which would have cured me even then, several years ago.
Having said this, he abandoned the motionless Jankir and left.
...Boskhasan often sent his horse to find out how his sworn brother lived. The horse usually told him: “Everything is fine there!” But one day the horse returned and said that Dzhankir had some kind of misfortune. Boskhasan immediately jumped on his horse and rushed to his house.
He found his brother's wife on the roof of the house. She told him that her husband had gone hunting with his father. But for some reason the father returned alone very soon and said that his son had decided to hunt a little more.
“However, several days have passed and my husband still hasn’t returned!” That means something happened to him!..,” said his brother’s wife, sobbing. – I keep looking from here, but I don’t see him!..
The brother's wife was an extraordinary woman: she could see everything that was happening around at a great distance. Here again, for a long time, she peered carefully at the distant mountains and suddenly began to sob loudly.
“I see... I see!..” she screamed. - He’s in a deep gorge, lying by a rock...
Boskhasan, without hesitation, jumped on his horse and galloped into the mountains. He found Dzhankir at the foot of a large rock, broken, dying... He gave him sea water to drink, and Dzhankir immediately felt the same strength in himself: he rose as if nothing had happened. Boskhasan put him on his horse next to him and took him to his wife.
When they arrived at the house, they saw that their father was breaking down the iron fences built by Boskhasan. Khan decided to break into the house and take his daughter-in-law as his wife. Boskhasan jumped off his horse and killed the evil khan.
This is how it happens: you dug a hole for someone else, and you fell into it yourself.
Some time passed, and Jankir’s life flowed quietly and calmly.
Boskhasan loved his adopted brother very much and visited him often. One day they were sitting on the seashore, and Jankir invited Boskhasan to swim together. Boskhasan began to refuse.
“I’m ready to fulfill any of your requests, just not this one,” he said. “After all, if you force me into the water, you may lose me forever.”
“It’s nothing, nothing will happen!” the brother insisted. - Let's take a swim!
- Well, well!.. If you insist so!.. I swore to fulfill any of your wishes... Let's go!..
He undressed, gave his brother his clothes and entered the water.
- Now goodbye!.. I can no longer go ashore. I am the same deer with golden antlers that you once saved. But I'm not a deer. I am a man. Only I am under the spell of the black genie. He turned me into a deer and threw me into the depths of the sea. From there I could never rise again. You hooked me in your net and pulled me out from the bottom of the sea. You should have killed me, but you didn’t kill me, you freed me. The spell fell off me, I became human again and retained the miraculous power within me. However, the genie said: “If you enter the water even once later, the spell will work again and you will never leave the bottom of the sea.” You made me human again, and I vowed to myself to fulfill all your wishes. And now I have fulfilled this wish of yours... for the last time... Farewell!..
Boskhasan turned into a deer with golden antlers and dived into the depths of the sea.
Jankir realized that he had lost his friend forever. I rushed after him, wanted to catch up with the deer and stop him, but he was no longer visible. Dzhankir cursed himself, cried bitterly, but tears cannot help grief.
Putting on a cloak and mounting a horse, you cannot catch up with the rain that has already passed!..
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru