Once upon a time, there lived a skilled stonemason named Safar. He made millstones for mills, hewed stones for pillars, palace walls and fortresses.
And then suddenly his country was attacked by terrible monsters - half-humans, half-animals. The stonecutter and his fellow villagers went to fight them. First one, then the other won the fight. But in a single combat with the strongest monster, the stonecutter fell into its clutches and was captured.
For many years there was no news about Safar. The son of a stonecutter, one-year-old Eraj stayed with his mother and began to grow up without a father.
From an early age, Eraj was distinguished by his courage and intelligence. With his dexterity and respect, he won the hearts of all his fellow villagers.
His mother sent him to school. Eraj studied better than anyone and was loved by his comrades. During the break, they surrounded him, and everyone could get any help from him. Among children, Eraj was a shining moon surrounded by twinkling stars.
When Eraj grew up, he became a powerful, tall and broad-shouldered hero with strong arms.
One day in early spring, all the fellow villagers, in festive clothes, gathered in the square outside the village. There were horse racing competitions and a ball game. Here wrestlers showed their strength, singers, musicians and buffoons showed their skills.
Eraj was having fun with everyone. He took part in all competitions. He showed particular skill and dexterity in playing ball. Several times from his horse he drove the ball into the opponent's goal and evoked admiration and applause from the audience.
The shooting competition began. The target was made into a ring. Many young men, taking bows and arrows, shot at this target, but only Eraj and two other shooters hit the ring.
“It’s not so difficult!” said Eraj. “A skilled archer can drive three arrows into one another.”
“If you say this, then be the first and show your dexterity!” said the audience.
Eraj took the bow and arrows, leaned on his left knee, leaned back a little and shot at the tree, he put the second arrow into the first, and the third arrow into the second.
The cheers of the spectators rose to the skies.
On the next day of the holiday, Eraj invited his comrades to play war. He formed an army from young men and teenagers and divided it into two parts. One part of the army was enemy, the other part was defending against the enemy. Eraj showed great ability in commanding an army in this game.
On the third day of the festival, fighters from the surrounding villages came to the square. Eraj and his comrades also came to the struggle square. The sounds of karnay, surnay and drum came from all sides. The fight has begun. Wrestlers from different villages competed with each other.
All the wrestlers from the village of Eraj failed. Then Eraj himself entered the fighting area. A wrestler from a neighboring village, seeing a young man of fifteen or sixteen years old on the wrestling field, refrained from fighting and said:
- You're still a child, fight with children!
These words hurt Eraj greatly, and he shouted:
“It doesn’t matter whether I’m a child or not, come out and show your skills!” And, grabbing the wrestler’s arm with his right hand, he pulled him so hard in his direction that the wrestler jumped three steps over Eraj. The wrestler realized that the fight would be serious. He quickly grabbed Eraj, and Eraj took him by the collar, pulled him forcefully, and he bent down, threw him over his head and pressed him to the ground.
Applause was heard from all sides, mingling with the sounds of karnaya and surnay.
In the evening, before the end of the holiday, many people, including elderly people, approached Eraj and congratulated him on his success.
“Thank you a thousand times to your father,” they said, “you will be just as valiant a warrior!”
When Eraj heard such praise for his father, he thought seriously about him for the first time. “My father is a prisoner of the enemy, and I sit here calmly,” he thought. Eraj’s face immediately changed, his joy faded, his big beautiful eyes dimmed. He came home sad and annoyed.
His mother greeted him joyfully and kindly at home. But Eraj, saddened and silent,
bright, sat down in the corner of the room, lost in thought. The insightful mother immediately understood the reason for her son’s sadness, hugged him with tears in her eyes, kissed him on the forehead and said:
- My dear Eraj, the sprout of my happiness! Why do you seem sad and upset on the day of the holiday, when everyone is cheerful and joyful?
“Dear mother,” said Eraj, “if you were on the field today and saw what happened to me, you would be even more saddened than I am.” And at the request of his mother, Eraj told everything that happened to him. His story also affected his mother, and she said sadly:
- Dear son, don’t be sad! Your father will come someday!
- When will he come? And can he free himself?! I have never seen my father, and you always reassure me with unrealistic hopes.
Eraj's mother was forced to tell him the whole truth.
“Dear son, your father was a capable man; in peacetime he was a famous stonemason. And then one day bloodthirsty monsters attacked our land. Your father went to fight with them. In the first weeks, news came from the battlefield about his courage and bravery, then nothing was heard, they say that he was captured by divas, by terrible, ruthless monsters. They have huge eyes, heads with cow ears, round nostrils, and sunken mouths. Wherever they see a person, they forcibly grab him and drag him to them. These monsters are the enemies of the quiet life of our region; they torment peaceful people both on land and in water. They live on an island surrounded by water. Sometimes monsters leave the island, attack peaceful lands, plunder and devastate them, grab people and take them with them.
Hearing all this, Eraj imagined the torment his father was going through in captivity of the monsters.
All night Eraj dreamed of a war with the divas. In this war, he saw himself now in the burning desert, now on the back of the flying bird Simurgh, now fighting with a terrible monster, now in a cave, now on the top of a mountain.
Waking up in the morning, Eraj kept remembering his father. He decided to fight the monsters and free his father. Having tied the sword to his belt, he went to his mother and said:
- Well, I'm leaving!
His mother and neighbors thought that he was going hunting, and calmly said:
- Goodbye, be healthy! Come back quickly, we'll be waiting!
Eraj laughed, kissed his mother's hand, jumped on his horse and headed towards the desert.
He rode through the desert for several days and nights. He himself was tired, and his horse was tired. Having dismounted, he lay down to rest under a tree near a stream.
Eraj was lying deep in thought when he suddenly saw in the distance at the foot of a mountain,
on the bank of a stream, some man. Eraj jumped up and walked towards him, but this man, not paying attention to him, continued to read something. Eraj looked at him - he was a handsome man of heroic appearance. Having greeted him politely, Eraj continued to stand. The man raised his head and returned the greeting.
“Sit down!” he said, going deeper into reading again. And only a few minutes later he raised his head again, looked at Eraj and began a conversation with him:
-Where are you coming from and where are you going?
“I am a traveler,” Eraj replied, “but I would like to know, oh venerable father, what are you doing here alone?”
“I came here to destroy violence and the yoke of bloodthirsty monsters!”
As soon as Eraj heard about the monsters, he jumped up and bowed low to the man.
“I also came here to fight monsters!” said Eraj.
- If so, we will fight together. I will guide you, only you continue to be true to your word. Without dedication, without courage and bravery, you cannot achieve your goal!
Eraj stood and nodded his head in agreement with him. Then this man took his sword in his hands and, giving it to Eraj, said:
“The sword that I give you has many properties. Firstly, when it hits any metal, it cuts it; secondly, the wound from it cannot be healed; thirdly, if it hits the enemy, it won’t even cut a cucumber. Take this notebook too: when you have any difficulty, from this notebook you will learn what to do.
But when Eraj took the notebook and opened it, he saw nothing in it except blank pages. He was surprised by this, but didn’t say anything.
“Only at the moment when you need something, everything will be written in it,” the man added.
Eraj said goodbye to him, mounted his horse and rode along the indicated path.
When it began to get light, Eraj drove up to the foot of the mountain, on the top of which a tall black fortress could be seen, and in front of the fortress stood several thousand warriors with banners. Eraj stood back and waited to see what would happen.
As soon as the all-illuminating sun illuminated the world with its rays, the sounds of carnais and drums were heard from the army. The gates of the black fortress instantly dissolved, and thousands of terrible monsters moved towards the army.
The sounds of karnay were also heard from their side, but these sounds were like the roar of animals. From this terrible howl, Eraj’s horse began to gallop, and when Eraj, approaching the monsters, looked more closely, he saw in reality everything that he had heard from his mother about them.
At this time, a young, handsome and strong horseman rode out onto the battlefield from the side of the human army. His whole body was covered with iron armor, and he had an iron helmet on his head. With a lasso and a bow on his shoulder, with a spear and saber in his hands, he stood against an army of monsters and demanded a fighter.
Suddenly, a rider on an elephant, with a large helmet on his head, with a mace like a bull’s head, separated from the army of monsters and entered the battlefield. He roared so loudly that the earth shook and the horses reared up in fear.
The young hero of the human army, as soon as he saw the giant diva in front of him, boldly directed his horse at him and, with a drawn saber, entered into battle with him.
The monstrous giant pointed his elephant at the young hero and used his shield to deflect his saber; then, in turn, he attacked the hero with a mace like the head of a bull. The brave hero covered himself with a shield, and the giant brought a mace down on his head with such anger that the horse’s girth burst, and the earth and mountains trembled from this blow. At this time, another horse was immediately brought to the hero from the human army. He jumped on his horse and with a ten-yard sword rushed towards the monster. He struck him on the right shoulder with his sword and cut him in half. The monster, like a mountain, fell to the ground.
Several more monsters came out to the young hero, and he killed each one with one blow of his sword.
Suddenly, from the side of the horde of monsters, a huge diva, Hen-gil, who was the size of several divas, came onto the battlefield. He began to approach the hero and suddenly, throwing a lasso over him, pulled him off his horse and dragged him into the black fortress. He himself returned to the battlefield again and demanded a fighter for himself.
Many warriors from the human army went out to fight Hengil. Some were killed by him, and some were taken captive.
Finally, the leader of the human army, Firuz, came onto the battlefield, but Eraj could no longer restrain himself and hit his horse with a whip so that he jumped over the monster’s head in one leap. Neither the horde of monsters nor the human army had ever seen such dexterity.
Eraj rode around the div four times on his horse, then stopped in front of him and said:
“I’ve been harboring anger against you in my heart for a long time, but finally I’ve caught you!”
Hengil laughed and said:
- If you were a warrior, you would have a shield and armor!
“You have a shield and a shell, and they will be mine!”
The monster boiled with anger and rushed at Eraj with a mace. Eraj jumped to the side, and the monster hit the ground with tremendous force with his mace. If this blow had fallen on the mountain, it would have broken it into pieces.
“Now it’s my turn!” Eraj shouted and drove his horse towards Hengil. The horse's front legs landed on the monster's shoulders. Eraj hit Hengil with his sword so hard that he fell to the ground and did not rise again.
The warriors of the human army joyfully beat the drums and went into battle with the remaining monsters, some of whom were killed, and some were captured.
Now it was necessary to take the black fortress of the monsters and defeat them completely.
The brave leader of the human army, Firuz, ordered:
- Forward to the black fortress!
Suddenly, fire poured out from the black fortress of the monsters and countless stones fell. The brave warriors could not get closer to the fortress: the black smoke covered everything around with a dark haze, people could not see each other. Horror fell upon the warriors.
Eraj boldly stepped forward and approached the fortress, but fire and stones blocked his path, and he could not move further. At that moment he suddenly remembered his notebook, quickly took it out of his pocket and opened it. The following inscription appeared on the pages of the notebook:
“Hey Eraj! With the five bravest warriors, go to the rear of the fortress. There is a fire-breathing monster inside the cave. You and your warriors approach him from behind so that his gaze does not burn you. Throw a lasso on it and tighten it tightly.”
Eraj with five warriors quickly rushed to the rear of the fortress and, finding a fire-breathing monster, tied a lasso around its neck. Suddenly a thunderstorm broke out, lightning flashed, thunder rumbled and heavy rain poured down. The eruption of fire and stones stopped, and the warriors of the human army captured the black fortress.
Eraj and several warriors went to free the prisoners imprisoned by monsters in prisons. The warriors knocked down large locks from the doors and entered gloomy prisons where yellow, emaciated people lay, having lost hope of liberation. At the sight of the liberators, the captives rose from their seats and greeted them with joyful cries and sobs.
Peering at the prisoners, Eraj walked from one to another, trying to find his father, whom he had never seen.
But then Eraj saw an iron cage in which there was a beautiful boy. Eraj and other warriors approached the cage to free the boy, but at that time the cage threw the warriors back, and each of them flew ten arshins. Eraj realized that there was still some diva-wizard left and this cage was in his hands. Then he asked the fire-breathing monster how to break the cage. The captive monster was forced to say:
— Under this cage lies a lion, if you blind him, the spell will disappear and the cage will stop moving.
Eraj immediately climbed under the cage and saw a lion there, like a dragon. The lion, at the sight of the brave young hero with a sword in his hand, roared so much that his terrible
Eraj recoiled three steps back. But then, with all determination, he raised his sword and struck the lion on the head. Closing his eyes, the lion fell to the ground lifeless. At the same moment, the cage stopped moving, and Eraj, cutting it, freed the boy.
Eraj, with two young heroes, examined the entire black fortress step by step and among the other prisoners saw a thin, half-dead man. Eraj took him out into the fresh air and bright sun. Soon this man opened his eyes, took a deep breath and was finally able to answer Eraj’s inquisitive questions and called
your name.
Everyone learned that he was a famous stonemason, who accomplished many feats in the war with enemies and was later captured by monsters. Now he was free and could once again serve the people with his skillful craftsmanship.
So the brave Eraj, together with his warriors, destroyed the ruthless monsters that were tormenting the people, saved his father from death and returned safely to his homeland.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru