There was no case when the Nart Badynoko, while hunting, did not hit the target or missed the prey. But it happened one day, and this was even before he began hunting with Sosruko, that Badynoko was returning from a hunt without prey.
Suddenly a wild goat ran out onto the forest path. Her gray fur glistened in the sun. Nothing escaped Badynoko's arrow that his eyes noticed. Badynoko shot an arrow. The goat fell. “Killed,” thought Badynoko. He dismounted, tied the reins to the pommel of the saddle and approached the goat. But the goat jumped up and ran. Badynoko again shot an arrow after her. The goat fell again, and when Badynoko approached her, she jumped up and ran.
Badynoko got angry and shot an arrow a third time, but the goat ran away from him the third time. The hunter mounted his horse and chased the goat. He chased the goat until dark, but could not overtake it. The forest had long been left behind, and the Nart settlement had begun. A goat ran into someone's yard and disappeared. Following her, Badynoko drove into the yard.
The owner came out of the house at the sound of the horse's tramp. He was one-armed. Who among the Narts did not know Badynoko, who defended the Country of the Narts from the invasion of the Chints? It is not surprising that this one-armed sledge also recognized him. He said:
- Welcome, Badynoko, you are a welcome guest!
“Let the number of your guests increase,” answered Badynoko. - I want to come see you.
- Come, glorious knight, into my house. I am a Nart, my name is Hagur.
The owner invited Badynoko to the kunatskaya, and ordered the household to slaughter a bull for the guest. Badynoko did not eat. He immediately lay down, but tossed and turned for a long time and could not sleep.
In the morning, when he woke up, they brought him drinks and food, but the guest did not drink or eat. He opened the door to go out, but Hagur was standing on the threshold. A naked sword gleamed in his single hand.
“Badynoko, you will not leave without a fight,” said Hagur.
- What did I do to you? - Badynoko was surprised.
- Why did you disdain my treat? Why didn't you sleep all night? Is my treat, my kuna kaya, unworthy of you? - the owner got angry.
Badynoko said:
- Put down your sword, let's not quarrel. I'll tell you why I couldn't eat, drink, or sleep.
And Badynoko told Hagur about an amazing goat, which was pierced three times with his arrows and came to life three times.
“Nothing escaped my arrow that my eyes noticed,” Badynoko complained. “And this goat got away from three arrows, ran into your yard and disappeared.” That's why I'm sad, I can't eat, drink, or sleep.
- How can you grieve over the fact that you couldn’t kill a goat? - Hagur exclaimed. - Is this grief? I have experienced real grief, yet I eat, and drink, and sleep.
-What grief did you experience? - asked the guest.
“We were seven Nart brothers,” Hagur began. “We heard: the place called the Black Ravine is teeming with game.” Although this place was considered dangerous, we went there to hunt. The Black Ravine was deep - it seemed to us as if we were wandering along the seventh bottom of the earth. We reached the foot of the mountain, but even its top did not reach the ground, it sank into a ravine. At the foot of the mountain lay a giant. His single eye flickered in the middle of his huge forehead. One-Eyed amused himself by throwing mighty rocks - abra-stones - onto the top of the mountain, and when the rocks flew down, he threw them up with his heels. A flock of sheep grazed around the giant. A cave was visible in the distance.
Seeing the giant, we, the seven brothers, were frightened, but we considered it a shame to flee. We approached and said a polite greeting. The one-eyed man, without turning his head in our direction, said:
- You will be useful to me. Light a fire in my cave. Bring a pot of water. Select six fat-tailed sheep from the herd, skin them and cook them. I'll come back when I've had enough of playing. Then I'll have dinner.
What were we supposed to do? We went to the cave. The entrance to it was blocked with abra stone. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t move it. Looking around, we saw a cauldron hanging over the hearth: the hearth stood at the entrance to the cave. But we didn’t have the strength to remove the boiler. We decided to at least light a fire and chop some wood. A giant's ax lay on the ground. There were seven of us, but we couldn't lift it. I said:
- Nothing works out for us. Let's try to catch some sheep.
We went to the herd, but the sheep ran away, we couldn’t catch a single one, let alone six.
When the giant returned and saw that we had not carried out his order, evil joy flashed in his only eye. Without saying a word, he drove his sheep, pushed aside the mighty abra-stone with the tip of his little finger, drove the whole herd into the cave, then drove us into the cave and blocked the entrance behind us with the abra-stone. Knowing that now we would not get out of the cave, he slowly chopped wood, lit a fire, filled the cauldron with water, hung it over the fireplace, and we looked at him, and in our eyes there was the same fear as in the eyes of sheep.
When the one-eyed man moved the abra-stone and entered the cave to slaughter the sheep, my brothers got scared and all six of them ran out of the cave. But the giant ran after them, easily caught them and killed them, the damned one killed all six of them before my eyes.
The giant went into the cave again, caught three sheep, brought them out, slaughtered them, skinned them, put them in a cauldron, boiled them and ate them in one sitting. Having washed down the meat with fatty broth, he fell asleep.
And I couldn't sleep. For a long time I thought about how I could save myself. In the morning I decided: “Come what may, I will gouge out the monster’s only eye. Let the giant kill me, but there is courage in such death.”
So I did: I drew my sword, crept up to the sleeping giant and gouged out his only eye. The giant howled in pain. He kicked the abra stone with such fury that the stone flew into the sky, fell and fell through the ground.
The blind giant began to rummage around in the cave with his hands: he was looking for me. But I hid, he didn’t find me. He began to let his flock out to pasture, feeling each sheep.
Between the sheep there was one long-bearded goat. I noticed his long fur. I lay down under the goat’s belly and grabbed the fur with my hands. The giant felt the goat's back. There was no one on it. The goat carried me out of the cave.
When the giant realized that I was free, he shouted:
- Hey, Nart, your happiness has won! No wonder they say that you people are smarter than us giants. You defeated me with cunning, receive a ring as a gift for this: in it lies my strength. You are worthy to wear it.
The giant took the gold ring from his hand and threw it. I quietly crawled towards the ring. It was so big that I put it on my hand. But as soon as I put it on, it began to ring without stopping. The cunning giant chased after me: the ringing of the ring gave me away. What was I supposed to do? I could already feel the giant’s breath behind me. Then I took out my sword and cut off the hand on which the ring was worn. That’s how I was saved, and that’s how I live with one hand...
Now do you understand what my grief is? I lost six brothers, and you're grieving for a goat!
After listening to Hagur, Badynoko said:
“I will avenge your Nart brothers, I will bring you the head of a blind monster.” I swear by the sun!
Badynoko set off and the next morning rode to Black Ravine. He saw a cave. A fireplace was burning at the entrance, and a giant with an extinguished eye sat in front of the fireplace. In the distance, in a pasture, a flock of sheep was trampling the grass.
“May your fire be kind, cunning giant!” exclaimed Badynoko.
“It’s good that you came,” answered the blind man. - You will be useful to me as a cook.
“I’ll do whatever you order,” said Bady Noko.
“I’ll have a delicious dinner with this little one,” muttered the giant. And he added loudly:
“Bring me the three fattest sheep from the herd.” Let's eat and go to bed.
The blind giant's sheep were fast like a whirlwind, but Badynoko's horse rushed like lightning. Nart caught up with the three fattest sheep, brought them, skinned them, and cooked them.
“My job is bad,” thought the giant. “This little guy managed to catch my sheep. That means he has strength.”
The meat is cooked.
“Let’s eat,” continued the giant. Badynoko replied:
- If you want to eat, cook it. What I cooked is enough for me alone.
Badynoko sat down to the meat, and the giant stood up, picked up a shepherd’s staff with a hook at the end and, stumbling, walked towards the herd. He found the skinniest sheep - he felt sorry for catching the fattest ones with his own hands, he was stingy - he drove them in, cut them up and cooked them. Badynoko ate three fat sheep, and the giant - three skinny ones.
And so it happened: the giant ate three skinny ones every day, Badynoko - three fat ones, until they ate the entire herd. Then Badynoko suggested to the monster:
- Let's play, fight, drive each other into the ground.
The giant was afraid, but said:
- I wouldn't mind. The first grip is yours, baby!
- If I jerk, then like this! - Badynoko shouted and, lifting the giant, drove him into the ground up to his knees.
The giant broke free and drove Badynoko into the ground, but only up to his ankles. Then Badynoko drove him in up to his waist. The giant drove the sledge up to his knees. Then Badynoko got angry and drove the giant up to his neck.
“Now break out, giant,” said Badynoko.
But the fair earth held the evil giant tightly: he could not escape.
“I’ll level all the hillocks on the earth,” said Bady Noko.
He took out his sword and beheaded the giant. The monster’s body remained in the ground, and Badynoko tied his head to the saddle, mounted his bay horse and rushed off.
Arriving at Hagur, Badynoko asked:
- Do you recognize him?
Hagur looked at the giant's head, with an empty eye socket in the middle of his forehead, and recognized the head of the killer of his brothers. Hagur approached Badynoko and hugged him.
— Have I fulfilled my oath? - asked Badynoko.
“I did,” Hagur replied. - I had no doubt about it. For a long time I was looking for a Nart who would avenge my brothers, because I myself could not take revenge: I lacked the strength. When your glory reached me, I thought: “Badynoko will become an avenger for my brothers!” I sent my daughter to bring you to our house. The goat you shot three times was my daughter. There are still traces of your arrows on her body.
Having said this, Hagur went out and soon brought his daughter to the kunatskaya. She was the most beautiful of all the thin-browed ones. Hagur exposed her back: Badynoko saw three scars on her snow-white back.
“Take her as your wife,” said Hagur.
But Badynoko hugged the one-armed Nart and said:
- A friend serves a friend not for the sake of a gift. There is nothing on earth higher than selfless friendship. They leave everything to a good friend - I leave you your brave, beautiful daughter. She will find a sledge after her heart. Goodbye! May your deeds be worthy of song!
- It’s not me, but you who deserve the song! - Hagur exclaimed.
And people say: Hagur was the Nart who composed the song about Badynoko.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru