Once upon a time there lived a hunter named Kaurbey. He had two sons - Mazlou and Zhakur.
When the boys grew up, he began to take them hunting to teach them how to aim and shoot accurately.
Once Mazlow and Jacour asked their father to allow them to go hunting without him. The father agreed.
The brothers walked along the gorge and noticed two birds with one stone. They wanted to shoot them, but the hares screamed:
– Don’t kill us, we will serve you all our lives!
The brothers did not touch the hares, they moved on, and the hares ran after them.
On the way, the brothers saw two foxes and wanted to shoot them. But the foxes also began to ask for mercy and promised to serve them all their lives. The brothers also took pity on the foxes, and they all moved on together.
Soon the brothers saw two bears sitting under a beech tree. The hunters took aim, but the bears begged to leave them alive and swore that they would become their faithful servants.
The hunter brothers, accompanied by animals, approached the intersection of two roads. Here they decided to go in different directions. Mazlow stuck his knife into a hornbeam that stood at the crossroads. This knife had a wonderful property: it began to rust if any misfortune happened to one of the brothers. Thus, one of the brothers who would have returned to this place earlier could learn about the fate of the other brother.
The brothers each took one hare, a fox and a bear, said goodbye and set off on different roads.
After long wanderings, Jacourt found himself in some remote, deserted area. There was a dilapidated house here under the mountain. On the porch of this house he noticed an old woman dozing, and nearby, near a shed, a pile of human bones. Jacourt guessed that this was the dwelling of cannibals. He hid behind his animals and safely passed the dangerous place.
He walked and walked, and along the road he came across a hole, half filled with white stones. An old woman stood near the pit, leaning on a stick. Jacourt approached her and asked who she was waiting for.
- You! - answered the old woman.
She hit Jakur and his animals with her stick, and at the same moment they all turned into white stones...
The maenad's younger brother, Mazlou, also traveled a long way and came to the village. He noticed that all the inhabitants of this village were in mourning. Mazlow also drew attention to the fact that he only came across elderly people and old people.
-What trouble befell you? – he asked one of the old men. And the old man said to him:
– Near our village there is a tall ancient tower. Not long ago, a dragon, Agulshap, settled in this tower. Nobody dares to fight him. Our prince is old and weak, and the youths and men have gone on long journeys, and there is no one to protect the weak and old. Agulshap threatens to burn down the entire village and demands that every three days a girl be brought to him to be eaten. Residents cast lots and the unfortunate girl is taken to the ancient tower. Now the lot has fallen on the prince's only daughter...
Without thinking twice, Mazlow went to the tower and boldly entered it. Agulshap was not there at the time—he had flown off somewhere—and Mazlow hid in a dark corner. He ordered the animals to wait for him near the tower and to hurry to him if he called them.
In the evening, the residents, crying, brought the prince’s daughter to the tower and went back with tears. Agulshap also appeared. He opened his mouth and was already preparing to eat the girl... But before he could rush at her, Mazlow pulled out his sharp saber and found himself between them. He fought the monster for a long time and after a long struggle finally defeated it.
“You saved my life, and now I belong only to you!” – the prince’s daughter said to Mazlow. “Let’s go to my father and I will tell him that you are my savior.”
“I’m very tired from the road and want to rest a little,” Mazlow answered her. - Tomorrow morning I will be your guest.
Then the prince’s daughter took the ring from her hand, put it on Mazlow’s finger and said:
“Okay, I’ll leave alone, but my ring will remain on your hand, and you’ll dream about me.”
While Mazlow was fighting with the terrible agulshap and talking with the girl, the prince's groom crept up to the tower and hid. He saw everything and overheard Mazlow’s conversation with the prince’s daughter. When the girl left and Mazlow fell asleep, the groom sneaked into the tower and cut off the sleeping man’s head with his own saber.
After that, he ran after the girl. The groom was in such a hurry that he forgot to take her ring off Mazlow’s finger. Having overtaken the prince's daughter, the groom began to threaten her with death. He made the girl promise him that she would tell everyone that it was the groom who defeated Agulshap. The girl was frightened and swore that she would do as he demanded. After this, the groom took her hand and led her to the old prince. The prince listened to the groom's story about how he defeated Agulshap, and to celebrate, he promised the groom that tomorrow he would announce him as his daughter's groom.
Meanwhile, the hare, fox and bear, not hearing the call of their comrade, became worried. They carefully entered the tower and saw a dead Agulshap and Mazlow with a severed head. The animals cried bitterly and began to think about how to revive Mazlow.
“I can only adjust the head in its place,” said the bear.
“And I can, by licking my tongue, fuse the head with the neck,” said the fox.
“If you do all this skillfully, then I will blow into our friend’s mouth and revive him,” said the hare.
Then each of them did what he knew how.
Mazlow jumped up as if he had been suddenly awakened. Noticing his bloody saber, he realized that someone had attacked him with this saber. Mazlow told his animal friends about everything that had happened to him, and went with them to the prince. As soon as he entered the courtyard, the prince’s daughter, with a joyful cry, rushed to meet him and hugged him.
- This is my real savior! - she said to her father and her fellow villagers who had come running: “And the groom is a shameless liar!” He threatened me to recognize him as the winner of Agulshap.
The villainous groom was captured, tied to the tail of an unbroken horse, and the horse rushed him off into the field. And on the same day Mazlow was married to the prince’s daughter. The old prince generously gifted his son-in-law and sent him and his wife away, taking his word that they would come to stay and bring their older brother, Zhakur.
Mazlow said goodbye to the prince and, together with his young wife, went to his native village.
Having reached the intersection where he parted with his brother, Mazlow went to the hornbeam to look at his knife. He learned from the rusty knife on one side that some misfortune had happened to his older brother Zhakur. Mazlow left his wife with guides in the nearest village, and he himself, with a hare, a fox and a bear, headed along the road along which his brother had left.
In a deserted, deserted area, under a mountain, he saw a house. On the porch, leaning her back against the door, an old woman was fast asleep. Mazlow quietly crept up to her and kissed her.
The old woman immediately woke up and said:
“Your happiness is that you are so dexterous.” Since you kissed me, you became like my son. Now neither I nor my man-eating husband will touch you. Tell me where and why you are going!
Mazlow told the old woman and began to ask her to help find his brother. ..
The ogre's wife thought and said:
“Some people passed by here not long ago.” Maybe your brother was with them. I didn't look very closely. My sister lives not far from here, under the mountain. She is old, unsociable and angry. If she comes across any men, she turns them into stones. Maybe she caught your brother too. Watch out for her sticks! The sister turns people and animals into stones by touching them with the tip of her stick. But you can disenchant them and bring them back to life if you touch the other end of the stick. Remember all this well and do as you know, and now leave before my husband returns. He's not as flexible as me.
Mazlow thanked the ogre's wife and moved on with his trusty snoot-peaks. On the way, they began to advise how to get her stick from the evil witch.
Bear said:
“I’ll climb the mountain and from there I’ll start rolling stones and stumps onto the witch’s house and won’t give her peace.”
Lisa said:
“And I’ll yelp under her window all night and harass her!”
“When you tire and weaken the sorceress, I will steal the stick from her.” And let her try to catch up with me! - said the hare.
They did it as they decided. Mazlow received the old witch's stick. He hit the white stones lying in the hole, and a whole crowd of people came out, and among them was Jacour.
Mazlow then broke the stick into pieces and threw the fragments after the sorceress, who ran away screaming and howling.
After that, the brothers went to the village, where Maz-low’s wife was waiting for them, and then they all returned home together. The father and mother were in deep grief: they thought that their sons had died.
To celebrate, they threw a big feast and invited all the neighbors. People sent the brothers a mountain of gifts in gratitude. The bear danced and tumbled, the fox danced, and the hare jumped for joy. When they had eaten and drank everything, the animals said goodbye to their owners, wished them every happiness and went into the forest.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru