In ancient times, there lived in a mountain village a khan named Hanukkah. The khan loved to boast of his strength and courage. He boasted that he would not be afraid even of Emegen himself.
- Just let him appear! - he said.
The inhabitants of the village believed in the khan and considered him their protector. And only one person in the village, the fool Achau-Ulu, chuckled when it came to the strength and courage of the khan. But no one took into account the opinion of Achau-Ulu: after all, he was the poorest of the poor, and besides, he was also a fool.
And then one day a disaster happened: the Emeghens settled in the mountains, not far from the village. Every day they stole cattle. People also began to disappear. The inhabitants of the village were in mortal danger.
And then the brave khan began to shake with fear.
– What should we do? What should we do? The Emeghens will eat us all,” he repeated.
The khan's wife advised her husband:
– Gather people, listen to what they say. Maybe you can come up with something together.
The khan called all the rich people of the village for a council. The khan's wife warmly greeted the guests and served a generous meal. The khan began to treat everyone, and he himself, trembling with fear, repeated the same question: “What should we do?” Suddenly, the fool Achau-Ulu appeared at the khan’s house.
- What, you invite and treat only the well-fed and the rich, but don’t even want to know the poor? – he said to the khan’s wife, chuckling as always.
The khan's wife was very offended, drove Achau-Ulu away and ran to her husband in tears to complain:
“How dare this fool talk to me, the khan’s wife, like that!” You must drive him out of the village, let the emegens eat him!
The khan got angry and promised to drive Achau-Ulu out of the village tomorrow. The news of this quickly spread throughout the village, and Achau-Ulu also learned about it. He didn't answer anything, he just grinned. The next day Achau-Ulu said to his mother:
- Today the Khan will come to us, we must receive him properly. You invite him to the house.
And so the khan drove up to the house of Achau-Ulu.
– Where is this fool, Achau-Ulu? - he shouted. The mother went out onto the porch and bowed to the khan:
- My son is at home. Get off your horse and come into the house - be our guest.
She took the khan into the house and treated him to dishes that the khan had never eaten before.
Before the khan had time to say why he had come, Achau-Ulu himself said:
- Now take me where you were going. Just give me a horse and put my artmacs on it*.
[Artmak – saddlebag.]
The Khan ordered the horse to be brought, and ten people barely lifted the Achau-Ulu artmak from the ground, but no matter how hard they tried to put it on the horse, they could not. Then Achau-Ulu himself lifted the artmaki with the tip of the kamcha and placed it on his horse. But the horse could not bear the weight and fell to the ground.
“You see,” said Achau-Ulu, turning to the khan, “your horse could not withstand the weight of even my artmak, could it withstand me?”
Khan Hanukkah and his entourage were speechless with surprise. Then Achau-Ulu led two black horses out of his stable. He saddled one, put artmak on him and sat down himself, and took the other by the reins.
“Now I’m ready, take me wherever you want,” said Achau-Ulu.
The Khan ordered to go to the mountains, where the Emeghens settled, and they set off. On the road, the khan was shaking with fear, but said that he was not the least bit afraid of the emegens. And the fool Achau-Ulu just chuckled.
Soon everyone’s horses were tired, and only two black horses of Achau-Ulu galloped as if nothing had happened. The khan and his entourage wanted to turn back, but Achau-Ulu gave the khan a black horse, which he led by the reins, and offered to ride on with him.
“You, khan, are the first strongman and brave man in the village—should you be afraid of the emegens,” said Achau-Ulu, chuckling as always.
- Yes, yes! You, Khan, are our protector! Save us from the emegens! - shouted those close to the khan, who were trembling with fear and were ready to abandon their khan, just to return home as quickly as possible.
There was nothing to do, shaking with fear, the khan mounted the black horse, and he and Achau-Ulu rode on. And those close to them joyfully turned home.
Achau-Ulu and the khan rode for a long time and finally saw the kosh. Achau-Ulu dismounted, entered the kosh, took meat from the shelf, scooped up ayran* from the barrel and fed it to the khan.
[Ayran is a drink made from sour milk.]
Then he took out two braids and gave one to the khan.
“Let’s make some hay,” he said.
They began to mow. The khan’s hands were trembling with fear, and his scythe either flew too high above the grass, or stuck into the ground. Achau-Ulu mowed down as if nothing had happened. He scoffed and chuckled.
When they had mowed two haystacks, Achau-Ulu mounted his horse and said to the khan:
- I have to go away for a while. As soon as I leave, you set fire to one shock and wait for it to burn. Then set fire to the second stack, and if by the time it burns, I have not returned, don’t wait for me anymore, but return home.
As soon as Achau-Ulu rode away, the khan set fire to one haystack, but before it had time to burn halfway, a whole herd of beautiful black horses appeared near the kosh, and Achau-Ulu galloped up after them.
“This herd belongs to nine emegens,” he said. “They only have one horse left, and he will bring the Emegens here one at a time.” I will fight them, and until I kill eight Emegens and bring down the ninth, do not call me by name.
Before Achau-Ulu had time to say this, a one-headed emegen galloped up on a black horse.
Khan trembled with fear, like a leaf in the wind, and hid behind a haystack.
-Who dared to steal our herd? - Emegen shouted and rushed at Achau-Ulu.
A fierce battle began. They fought for a long time, but finally Achau-Ulu threw the emegen to the ground and cut off his head. Before Achau-Ulu could catch his breath, a two-headed emegen galloped up.
-You killed my brother! You dare to steal our herd! - Emegen exclaimed. - I will chop you into pieces!
With these words, he rushed at Achau-Ulu, and they began to fight. But this time, too, the battle ended in victory for Achau-Ulu: he knocked Emegen to the ground and cut off both of his heads. And at the same moment the third emegen galloped up. Khan, sitting behind a haystack, closed his eyes in fear and fell to the ground. He lay there for a long time, without raising his head and listening to the noise of the battle.
But finally everything calmed down, and Hanukkah Khan dared to raise his head. He looked out from behind a haystack and couldn’t believe his eyes: the fool Achau-Ulu was sitting on a stone, alive and unharmed, and in front of him lay eight dead Emegens.
Before the khan had time to utter a word, a terrible stomp was heard, the mountains trembled, and the most terrible nine-headed emegen galloped up.
“You killed eight of my sons!” It's the end of you, son of a dog! - Emegen shouted in such a terrible voice that the grass stuck to the ground. He raised his gun and shot at Achau-Ulu. Emegen aimed straight at his heart, but missed and wounded him in the leg. Emegen did not have time to shoot a second time: Achau-Ulu knocked him to the ground and sat on him.
At this time, Emegen's horse neighed for a long time and wanted to gallop away, but Hanukkah Khan, overcoming fear, jumped out from behind a haystack and caught him by the bridle.
– Achau-Ulu, I caught Emegen’s horse! – the khan shouted joyfully.
– Did he call you Achau-Ulu? - Emegen groaned.
“Yes, I am Achau-Ulu,” he said and pulled out a sparkling saber from its sheath.
“In a fight, no one can overcome Achau-Ulu, he can only be killed with a bullet,” Emegen muttered and wanted to grab the gun lying nearby.
But at that moment Achau-Ulu swung his saber and cut off all nine heads of the eme-gen.
“Now we are saved from the emegens,” said Achau-Ulu to the khan. “But I’m wounded and can’t mount my horse.” Follow this path over there, it will lead you to the house where the white-headed old man lives. Tell him I'm hurt.
Khan fulfilled everything that Achau-Ulu asked. He found the old man and told him that Achau-Ulu was wounded. The old man hurried to the place where the wounded man remained, and as soon as he touched his wound with his hand, it instantly healed.
Then Achau-Ulu said:
“This old man is my wife’s father, he has healing hands, and he himself is a sage.”
Khan was amazed.
-Are you married, Achau-Ulu? he asked. -Where is your wife?
“But let’s go, you’ll see,” answered Achau-Ulu.
All three of them went to a small house in the forest. They also drove a herd of black horses there. A very beautiful young woman met them on the threshold of the house and invited them into the house with a bow.
“Here is my wife,” said Achau-Ulu.
When everyone entered the house, Achau-Ulu told the khan his story:
“We were nine brothers, and the herd that I drove belonged to us. But the Emeghens killed my eight brothers and stole our herd. I played dumb and didn't tell anyone about it. Now let's go to our village.
Hanukkah Khan mounted a black horse and rode forward, as Achau-Ulu ordered him, and the whole herd followed him.
Achau-Ulu loaded his wife’s property onto three carts, put his father-in-law and wife on them and followed the khan to the village.
And Hanukkah Khan, having arrived in the village, warned everyone:
- Achau-Ulu is taking his wife, we need to greet him properly.
The people were surprised:
- Hanukkah Khan has gone crazy, who will marry this fool Achau-Ulu?!
- No, I'm not crazy. Achau-Ulu is not a fool, he only pretended to be a fool.
And the khan told the people everything that he himself had seen: how Achau-Ulu saved the village from the Emegens.
The villagers were very happy. They met this brave, fearless man, who saved them from a fierce enemy, with great honor.
In honor of Achau-Ulu, the people held a big feast.
And the khan now consulted only with Achau-Ulu in all his affairs.
That's the end of the fairy tale.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru