A long time ago, in the blue Altai, lived Baibarak, a very rich bai. He had cattle in the valleys - like ants
on an anthill. Baibarak did not know the score of his slaves. He was greedy and evil. If a strange dog ran up to his camp to gnaw a bone, he killed that dog on the spot. If a traveler stopped in his pasture to feed his horse, he would flog that traveler with whips.
He had a shepherd, Kodurlu. Summer and winter we share a flock of sheep. Under the rain and snow, under the wind and sultry sky, the shepherd grew old - his strong bones weakened, his keen eyes became dull, and he had no strength to move his legs.
Noticing the old age of the shepherd, Baibarak called him to his rich carpet-lined yurt.
“It’s enough for you, old man, to live idle in my camp,” said Baibarak. - Retire.
-Where should I go? - Kodurlu asked through tears. “I began to walk on my feet at your father’s doorstep; as a boy I carried him firewood from the forest. Your cattle have been grazed all their lives. Have pity on me, an old man, don’t drive me away. I won't bother you for long...
- You think I have nothing else to do but... talk to you? - Baibarak shouted, his black eyes became bloodshot, his thick lips twitched. - The light is wide - go wherever you want.
Kodurlu walked away from the owner's yurt, took his old woman by the hand and walked, not knowing where. His faithful friend, the black dog, howled pitifully, then followed the trail to catch up with his owner.
How long the old man and the old woman walked, they themselves did not know. We stopped under a shaggy cedar tree. A cheerful, bright river flowed near the cedar. Here the old man and the old woman set up a hut and began to live in it. Their faithful friend the black dog went hunting every day and brought them either a gray hare, or a wild goat, or a red-browed
capercaillie.
They ran month after month, spinning like spindles. Year after year they crawled like heavy bears. So the black dog grew old, his eyes could no longer see far, his nose could not smell the smell of the animal, his legs became heavy. Old man Kodurlu began to tan:
“Apparently, starvation is approaching all three of us...”
The mountains were blooming like spring. Birds were singing in the forest.
One gray bird flew to the camp of old man Kodurlu, sat on a cedar branch, and the smart black dog, lying under the tree, heard:
- Why are you, four-legged hunter, upset? If you cannot overtake the beast now, then I will help you... The black dog raised his head and saw it on a cedar branch
little sparrow.
- How can you help me? — the smart dog was surprised. “You’re even afraid of forty.”
“You’re wrong, I’m not afraid of forty,” said the gray sparrow and jumped onto the lower branch. - I will teach you easy, prey hunting. You will sit in an ambush, and I will fly from the other side of the mountain, I will make a noise in the forest - the hares will be scared and will run straight at you, just have time to catch it.
The black dog smiled and showed his yellowed, worn fangs.
- Let's try.
So he sat in ambush in the dense bushes, and the sparrow flew from the other side of the high mountain, chirped, flapped its wings, made a noise in the forest, scared all the hares. One hare ran at a black dog. The black dog easily caught the hare and carried it to the old man and the old woman. That time, Baibarak drove up to the forest as fast as a bird. a black horse, saw a dog with prey and growled like a bear:
- Who gave you permission to destroy my animals? - grabbed his bow and shot an arrow at the dog.
Falling onto the silken grass, the black dog said:
- My friend, little gray sparrow, don’t forget the old man and the old woman...
The little sparrow flew to the black dog, and his eyes were already clouded.
“Wait, Baibarak, I’ll repay you for your friend,” I said to the gray sparrow.
Baibarak could not understand his words, picked up the hare, tied it to his saddle and rode home.
The slaves saw the owner and rushed towards him. Some grabbed Baibarak by the elbows and carefully lowered him to the ground, others led the horse to unsaddle. Baibarak hurried into the yurt to show his wife the hare. — A sharp shooter brought you a gift. Baibarak loved the horse very much and did not allow me to be taken far from the yurt; I often went out to admire him. The slaves tied the horse to a lasso on the lawn near the river, and they themselves went off to grind barley, crush leather, sew boots and fur coats. Suddenly a gray sparrow flew in from somewhere, sat down between the horse’s ears and let him gouge his head. And that part of the horse is the weakest, like a man’s temple. The horse shakes its head and rolls around, but cannot drive away the annoying sparrow. Baibarak heard that the black horse, which carried him as if on wings, could not fight off the enemy, ran out of the warm yurt and, without hesitation, shot an arrow from a tight bow. The little sparrow flew up unharmed, but the beloved horse fell motionless. Baibarak stamped his feet and shouted for the slaves to destroy all the sparrows on the earth.
Baibarak's wife was even greedier than her husband. She was very fond of blood sausage. Seeing the horse dead, the young woman forgot about everything and ran to collect the horse’s blood in a bucket and drain the horse’s intestines. The gray sparrow returned, sat on the bai's wife's head and started hammering.
-What kind of damned bird is this? - the baiskaya roared
wife. “She will gouge my expensive hat and peck at the top of my head.”
Baibarak recognized the gray sparrow and was terribly happy:
“The fool asks the sparrow to die,” he thought and shot an arrow from his bow.
The arrow whistled through the air, split the bai's wife's head like a nut shell, and the little sparrow managed to fly away unharmed.
Baibarak tore his fur coat, threw the pieces into the neighboring valleys, and he himself fell naked, sobbing, to the ground. He repeated the name of his beloved horse with bitterness.
The gray sparrow returned to the bai's camp again, sat on Baibarak's back and began to peck between the shoulder blades with its sharp beak and scratch with its claws like steel needles. Baibarak roared wildly and began to roll on the ground. And the sparrow stuck to his back and hollowed out such a hole that it was impossible to crush it and impossible to reach with your hands. Baibarak was afraid that the little sparrow, having hollowed out its back, would get to the heart, and shouted for all the slaves, all the servants to come running. The slaves came running and fell on their knees in front of the bay.
“Give me a knife with a yellow bone handle, sharp as a diamond,” demanded Baibarak. “I will finally kill this scoundrel.” I'll kill the damn bird.
The servants hastened to fulfill the owner's demand - they brought him a knife as sharp as a diamond.
Baibarak grabbed the knife with his right hand and swung at the gray bird. Little Sparrow jumped onto his left side.
- Now I will destroy you! - Baibarak cried, flashed his eyes and struck with all his might with the knife... The gray nimble sparrow was already high in the air, and Baibarak was wheezing on the ground... Black blood flowed from him in a stream.
The clever little sparrow, chirping cheerfully, flew to the pasture, captured the Bai's flock there and drove it to old man Kodurlu.
“Here are the sheep for you, my old friend,” said the little sparrow. - Now there is no Baibarak in the blue Altai. You are the owner of these sheep. Drink sheep's milk, eat meat, make new fur coats from sheepskins for yourself and the old woman. Live a long, happy life under the gentle sun.
Old man Kodurlu stood like a pillar. He didn’t know what to ask, didn’t know what to say, and when he came to his senses and understood everything, he exclaimed loudly:
“I was about to die, you revived me!” The fire in my chest was dying out, you fanned it, dear gray sparrow! What good can I do for you? How to thank? Live with me, kind bird, make yourself a nest near the smoke hole of my yurt!
The Gray Sparrow did just that. He lived in a yurt with an old man and an old woman all his life, and raised many chicks.
And his descendants still nest in yurts and make friends with people.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru