For some time, the sledges gathered on Khasu in a house that belonged to the Alidzha clan. Badyn was their thamada.
Shortly before the opening of Khasa, the intrigue-loving Tlebitsa-Korotysh, thirsting for power, said to the Narts:
- Badyn knows that we killed his little son, and is going to destroy us. To prevent him from achieving this goal, let's destroy him. Badyn's strength is great, so we will destroy him not by force, but by cunning.
Among the Narts there were many who were gullible, and many who were envious. It so happened that Korotysh managed to deceive some, flatter others, and others left: they did not want to be accomplices in a bad deed.
It was a custom among the Narts: before the opening of Khasa, they presented the horn of a light sano to the thamada. The ill-wishers decided to let seven small poisonous snakes into this horn - to poison Badyn.
But one of the Narts, they say it was Bataraz, came secretly to Badyn and said:
- Bad deeds are happening around you. Khasa will open soon, but don’t come: you’ll die. If it were up to me, I would forbid you to come to Khasa.
The time came, and the conspirators gathered on Khasa. According to custom, people had to be sent for the thamada. The choice fell on Sosim, but he refused:
— Badyn probably found out about the conspiracy. If I come, he will kill me. Yes, and this is a bad thing. No, I won't go!
- Who will go? - Tlebitsa asked, angry.
“Send me,” suggested Zhamada, a relative of Tlebitsa. Zhamada was angry and stupid. Tlebitsa told him:
- Go, but don’t say anything unnecessary.
- What should I say?
- Say: “Badyn, the Narts have gathered on Khasu and are waiting for you.” Don't add a word to this.
“Okay,” said Zhamada, and he thought: “I will say these words, but I will also say those that I find appropriate.”
Zhamada arrived at Badyn, tied the horse to the hitching post, and entered the house. Badyn's wife hid behind the door. Badyn himself, leaning on the pillow, lay waiting for an invitation. He did not want to believe that the Narts were going to poison him, and decided to go to Khasa when he was called. Seeing Jamada, he told him:
- Sit down.
“I’m not one of those who immediately sit down, as soon as they are told: “Sit down,” said Zhamada. I'm not one of those people who gets laughed at. I won’t sit down, but if you please, I’ll tell you why I came.
“Speak,” said Badyn.
- If we speak, the sledges are assembled and ask you to come so that you can open Khasa. But I see that you are lying down, and we did not know about your illness.
- Yes, I’m sick: I’ve eaten too much, obviously. It will be even worse for me if I sit on my white-footed horse. This time I will not come to Khasa.
Badyn said this with intent. He wanted to know what answer would come from Zhamada. And he exclaimed:
- To go or not to go is your business. The sledges are assembled, and I have fulfilled my duty. You won't come to Khasa because you've eaten too much? No, you won’t come because you don’t have the courage! You made me angry, Badyn, there are sparks of anger in my eyes, and I have more courage in my hands than in your soul!
With this Zhamada left. The words that he, in his stupidity, added to the words of the conspirators, once again revealed an evil secret to Badyn, and Badyn began to think. Badyn's wife, waiting for Zhamada to leave, went in to see her husband. She came in and said:
“I thought that I was a man’s wife, but today I realized that you are timid, like a child.” How could you stop singing when the most cowardly of the Narts told you that there was more courage in his hands than in your soul? How could you tell Nart that you were sick, how could you deceive him? How could you refuse to go to Khasu, to open Khasu to the Narts, you, thamada of the Narts? My husband, what happened to you?
“The Narts have planned something bad against me.” I didn’t even think of refusing the invitation, but I wanted to find out from the Nart messenger what they were up to. You apparently want me to go to Khasa and be killed, and you will marry someone else. You are a bad wife.
- Don’t be angry, Badyn, let me say my word. I'm not a bad wife. I value your honor. I didn’t know that there were sledges who were plotting against you. But if so, then go to Khasa anyway. Let them kill you, but not say that you were afraid and did not come to Khasa. Courage is stronger than death!
Badyn accepted his wife’s words. He mounted his mare - a white-legged clever girl - and galloped towards Khasa.
Jamada arrived before him. The conspirators asked the messenger:
-Did you convey our words? Didn't you say too much?
“I conveyed your words,” answered Zhamada, “but I didn’t say anything unnecessary, only what I found appropriate.” But Badyn refused to come to Khasa.
“I know you, you talked too much, you angered Badyn,” said Tlebitsa-Korotysh. - Sit on a tree, watch, maybe Badyn will come to Khasa.
Zhamada climbed a tree and saw a lone rider. By the way the rider galloped, Zhamada recognized Badyn. The fire swirling from the mare's nostrils burned the roadside grass, the earth, knocked out by her hooves, flew up and circled like a flock of ravens. Zhamada jumped from the tree and ran to the sledge. After listening to him, Tlebitsa said:
“Since he gallops with such fury, we need to appease him, otherwise we will not succeed in our plan.” To calm Badyn down, we need to line the entire road with burkas.
The conspirators stood in two rows along the edges of the road, laid their cloaks in front of Badyn, holding their ends in their hands, and also holding drinks and food in their hands.
Badyn arrived like a storm. Tlebitsa said:
- Calm down, Badyn, stop your mare, you are not late for Khasa.
The conspirators helped Badyn get off the mare, led him in their cloaks, brought him into the house and seated him in a place of honor that rightfully belonged to him. When everyone was seated, Tlebitsa approached Badyn with a horn and said:
- Drain, our thamada, the horn of honor and open it to Khasu.
There were shouts:
- Live long, like a mountain! Dry the horn of honor!
- Don’t I know the customs, am I discovering Khasa for the first time? - Badyn said. He accepted the horn and, without tasting it, opened it to Has.
And at this time Badyn’s wife took Badynoko out of the dungeon and told him:
- Your father is on Khas Nartov. Death awaits him there. If you hurry, you will still find him alive. Go to Khasa, bring your father home. If he is killed, bring his body.
But Badynoko, who had never seen his father in his life, asked:
- By what signs will I find him?
The mother replied:
“Your father is taller than everyone, wider than everyone and older than everyone on Khas.” He is wearing a white Circassian hat, and he is sitting in the place of honor. Not a single horse is tied to a hitching post next to his mare, the white-footed clever one.
Badynoko had never been to Khasa Nartov, he asked:
- Mother, which way should I go?
The mother replied:
- You will drive along the banks of the Ten, cross the stormy Psyzh, and ask: “Where is Alidzh’s house?” Khasa Nartov is there too.
Badynoko set off on his journey. The large eagles he had tamed circled above him, his Samir dogs either ran ahead or ran next to the bay horse. Together with the riders, the greyhounds crossed the stormy Psyzh, and powerful-winged eagles flew over the river with the rider.
A green meadow stretched before the rider's eyes. In the meadow, a shepherd, weak from old age, was tending sheep. Badynoko dismounted, approached the shepherd, extended his hand and said:
- May your flock multiply, may your years lengthen! Tell me, shepherd: how is the house that the Alija family owns built?
- How do I know how the houses of nobles are arranged? All my life I have been a shepherd. Early in the morning I drive the sheep out, at night I bring them in. I have never been to this house, but this is what I heard from people: this house is old, many pillars support it, the threshold of the house is covered with logs, and their height reaches the chest of a horse.
Badynoko thanked the old shepherd and headed to the house of the Alidzha family. The rider was noticed by sentries sitting in the trees. They got down to the ground, ran to the elders and said:
— A horseman is approaching. Its landing is not familiar to us. There is no such knight among the Narts.
The elders ordered:
“We must meet him properly: don’t let him come to Khasa.”
The conspirators closed the gates and posted guards. But when Badynoko arrived, the guards, frightened, ran away, and the bay horse broke through the gate with a blow of its chest. Badynoko took the huge logs lying at the entrance onto his shoulders and, touching them with the handle of his whip, threw them in the middle of the yard. Then he dismounted, tied his horse and headed towards the kunatskaya. The horsemen ran up to him and said:
- Don’t go there, there are elderly sledges sitting there. Come to us, young people.
- How much will I hear from the beardless? I'd rather listen to the elderly!
Having said this, Badynoko walked up to the threshold of the house. But the door was tightly locked, crossed spears blocking the entrance. Badynoko shouted:
“Narts, is the house where you feast a fortress?”
“For you, our house is a fortress,” a voice was heard from behind the door. - Leave!
- Well, if your house is a fortress, then I will take it! - exclaimed Badynoko. He took out his sword, cut both spears with one blow, broke down the door with one blow and entered.
The Narts immediately recognized the unknown horseman who destroyed the Chint army, and parted to give him a place among the most worthy. But Badynoko remained in the crowd and did not approach the benches of honor.
Tlebitsa-Korotysh, who was in a hurry to poison Badyn, said:
- Why are you delaying, dear thamada? Don't hold back your horns, other Narts also want to drink sano!
Badyn, looking at everyone, said:
- Narts do not live in the same hole and drink from more than one horn. Give everyone a horn, and we'll all drink at once.
The conspirators rejoiced: now seven small poisonous snakes will poison Badyn! And Badin said:
“Before we dry our horns, let someone stand up and say what I, Thamada, am guilty of before him, what offense I caused him.” This is the custom.
- I'm offended! - someone in the crowd shouted loudly and loudly.
“Don’t shout from afar, but come here,” Badyn said. Then Badynoko walked through the crowd of sledges and approached the thamada. Badin said:
- Young friend, Nart associate! Tell me so that everyone can hear why you are offended?
- That's what I'm offended by! - Badynoko exclaimed and knocked the horn out of the hands of the thamada. The horn fell, light mud poured out, and seven small poisonous snakes crawled out. Badynoko grabbed the sword from its sheath and cut it.
“Thamada!” he shouted. - They wanted to poison you!
He turned to face the conspirators, but they fled. Tlebitsa-Korotysh was the first to escape.
Badyn, shocked by everything that had happened, approached Badynoko and, looking at him gratefully, asked:
-Where are you from, knight?
“Don’t ask, old man, don’t waste time,” said Badynoko. “The ill-wishers are looking for your death.” There's nothing for you to do here. If you have a house, leave.
Badynoko untied Badyn’s mare, the white-legged clever one, brought her to Badyn and, holding the stirrup in his left hand, helped the old man into the saddle. Badyn left. Convinced that the conspirators had fled, Badynoko left after him. His bay horse flew like lightning, and the rider arrived home in the evening. He told his mother:
“What you ordered to be done, I did.”
His mother took him into the dungeon, and with him his horse, his eagles, his dogs.
On the third day old Badyn returned home. He drove slowly: his soul was shocked. He thought about the ill-wishers, the Narts, about his wonderful savior - about this brave and respectful knight.
When Badyn dismounted in his yard, his wife greeted him:
- Welcome, old man!
- May the years of your life last! - Badyn answered her in a quiet voice.
“What happened to you today, old man, why are you sober?” asked the wife. “You always returned from Khasa cheerful and intoxicated.
The old man answered sadly:
“I’m not sober, I’m cheerful, but I’m tired from the road.”
But it was not so easy to get rid of his wife’s questions, and Badyn told her about everything that had happened to him: about the ill-wisher Tlebitsa, about the seven small poisonous snakes in the horn of the bright sano, about his savior - the unknown knight. And so Badyn concluded his story:
“I have lived in the world for many years, I have met many glorious and mighty sledges in my lifetime, but this is the first time I have seen such a thing!”
“My husband,” the wife asked, “who would you like to call such a fearless and strong knight: brother or son?”
- People will say about him: “Brother Badyn” - fame is not enough for me. They will say about him: “Son of Badyn” - it’s a great honor to me,” Badyn said.
- Do you recognize him?
- I recognize him even at night!
Hearing such words from her husband, Badynoko’s mother ordered her son to be taken out of the dungeon, along with the horse, eagles and dogs. The old man and the old woman carried out her order.
- Do you recognize him? - asked the mother.
“I’ll find out,” said old Badyn.
“This is your son,” said the mother and revealed the secret to her husband.
Badyn listened to her, hugged Badynoko, and her mother said:
“That’s the day I raised him for.” My wish came true.
From that day on, the Narts learned about the glorious Badynoko, the thunderstorm of the Chints.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru