Nasren was a reasonable, valiant thamada, He was a fence in trouble, a soul at a feast, Nart was indomitable and invincible, Only unloved by one enemy. God-like Pako did not get along with the knight, Pako hated the Narts for a long time, He placed a burden of curses on the Narts, The time of sorrow has come for people: Pako sends thunderstorms to their country, Oppresses the oaks like vines, destroys their houses, Raises the waves of the sea higher than the sky, Deprives everyone of bread, millet, barley, Floods the land with an incessant downpour, Dries them with dry winds Nart fields. And the Narts cry out to Pako dejectedly: “Entrusted with power, why are you torturing us? You give us no rest from the frost and heat, you sow evil and misfortune on your native land.”
When Paco heard the speeches of indignation, He left the hearths of the sledges to be destroyed, He blew out the life-giving flame everywhere, He even raked out the coals clean. The unfortunate Narts were left without fire, They say to Nasren: “What should we do? Call, thamad, the daring one to account, Without fire, without light, destruction awaits us.” “Don’t worry,” Longbeard told them, “I’ll take the fire away from the evil Paco.” He immediately put on the gold chain mail, tightened the girth and ran at a gallop. The knight has already arrived at Oshkhomakho and looks without fear at the rise of the mountain. A menacing thunder roared from the top, not a voice, as if the sky above had split open: Paco calls out: “Hey, you little bug, If you don’t leave, I’ll destroy you!”
The noble knight answers from below: “Hey, you, equal to God, they say you are kind! Why did you take away the fire from the Narts? We, earthly people, are perishing without fire?”
“Get away from here, foolish knight, I will not spare the head of the thoughtless! You, pathetic Narts, have forgotten about me, You have deprived God at the earthly feast: On the tripod tables on the Harvest holiday, Raising the Cup, you drink without me; You gather millet in a bountiful field, - You do not give a share to your god. From the battle you go as a majestic army, And with me you share the glory Are you looking for a way to the Mountain of Happiness? Is it true that you want to rebel against God? You will suffer punishment today, rebellious one. On the top of the mountain I will chain you, On the high mountain you will live alone as my prisoner until death.”
He tied Nasren with an iron chain and chained him tightly to Oshkhomakho. Paco had an eagle, a bloodthirsty predator, He, gloating, has now released it. The gorge cannot accommodate the powerful wings of eagles. An eagle flies through a black snowstorm. A predator swoops down on the sled's thamada, tears the hero's chest with its beak, he drinks blood from the heart of proud Nasren, and pecks his liver furiously with its beak.
...Rivers and seas flow through the world, For Nasren there is not a drop of water, Springs splash under the mountain, raging, - I wish the prisoner could drink a small handful!.. He is tormented by thirst, there on Oshkhomakho, He is tightly covered with an ice shirt. The heavy iron crushes his legs and arms, and he lets out groans of bitter agony. The wind carries these moans far, And the Narts’ hearts ache and ache. * * * The Narts gathered at Khasa without a thamada: They need to decide how to sleep him. The Narts remember past exploits, Young years, the strength of past years... Here Imys, Aryksha, fiery Sosruko, How can they deal with adversity, how can they deal with an enemy? They think and wonder - Paco scares them, the formidable Paco is terrible and invincible. And the Narts decided: the thamada’s daughter will be a reward for the one who saves his father, and with her a dowry - the best armor. Joy awaits, the joy of that knight, If only he would undertake to rescue Nasren, If only he would set out on this terrible path.
No one is going - shame and shame on the bride... “Let’s all go together!” - the Narts say. The sledges are riding and galloping through the mountains and valleys, They see: Oshkhomakho glistens with frost, On the snowy top the thamada is tormented: A difficult obstacle - there is no path to him.
Paco sees the sledges, he calls the servants, sends them to the valleys from the icy peaks. Now the servants have come down, it’s not far, and the eagle soars high in front. The whirlwinds roared in the valleys and the gorge, and the stones and grass were swept away by the snowstorm. The skies are covered by a flock of eagle, Wings over the valley obscure the light of day, As if darkness had fallen late at night, Predators are pecking right into the crown of the sled. Nothing is visible - the sledges are dying, Panuko the sledge is dying - the eagle is tearing it apart. Nothing is visible, - the brave Badynoko lost his horse in the deep darkness.
...All those who survived gathered together. Blood flows into the gorge - this is Nart blood! The sledges are riding quietly, heads down, A storm has broken out over their native land. “The Narts have no fire,” Paco took away the flame, We have no thamada, he is dying in chains. What should we do, Narts, where should we look for salvation? We could not return the fire to the hearths, We could not save the wise Nasren. What should we do, Narts? How will we live?”
And then the fearless Bataraz exclaimed: “I will get our fire and joy again. I give you my word: our Wise Thamada will be with us again, I will save him.” Having saddled Karaptsa, in military clothes, Bataraz rides, as happened before. Here is Oshkhomakho. He stood at the foot: “Hey you, you disgraced the title of God, god! Why are you cowardly hiding in the gorge? It’s no wonder to hide, go out to fight! You took away their joy-fire from the Narts, chained the Nart thamada; I am the messenger of the Narts, I am their deliverer, I will save people from you, destroyer. If you are not a coward, do as I say Me: Let your greedy eagle fly from the top.”
The sky darkened, the black darkness thickened, - Then an eagle descended from a mountain height. As soon as he flaps his wings, everything around him becomes dark. Even the horse is timid... “Eh, Karaptsa-horse, what happened to you? Were you afraid of Wings? Or did you not encounter a stronger enemy? Have you seen a lot of sadness? Are these whirlwinds news to you?” He hits Karaptsa three times with a belt whip, and aims at the eagle with a red-hot arrow.
At that moment, a dragon monster crawls towards them from the top of the mountain, hungrier than a wolf, and an eagle is whipping up a storm with its wings, and a tired horse gives way to its legs. “What are you, Karaptsa, are you completely scared? You were a faithful friend to me, but now you have become a coward?” Bataraz lashes Karaptsa with his whip again, He rushes off snoring and into the heavens. A formidable duel began with the eagle, and then the battle lasted on the mountain ice floes. From the eagle’s wings there is darkness over the wild battle, But the pike of Bataraz pierces the wing, And suddenly it became light, as the window opened, The sun streamed through the eagle’s wing. The sun shone on the rocks and valleys, The heights resounded with the sound of eagles, And again the brave knight thrusts his pike, The sledge defeats the mountain lord.
He carries the predator at the peak to the foot, Cuts off the bird's head with a sword. He hears, Paco hears the death cry of the eagle, And the bodyguard of Death hears the cry. That bodyguard came down to the knight, And in a fierce battle he fell to the ground, slain. Death itself enters into battle with man, But the living Nart is not afraid of Death: He betrayed Death to death, hacked the old woman, Death groaned dully and fell. The mountains swayed from her fall, A bird flew over her like a black shadow.
The sledge accomplishes many great deeds that day: Here the dragon crawls and breaks everything along the way; As he moves, the fearless Bataraz removes the dragon’s head with a shining sword. Bataraz rushes to the top on Karapts - Paco leaves his land in horror. The knight flies up to the chained sledge, breaks the chains with his lance, breaks the chains, and frees the Wise Nasren, and takes him home.
On this day, the Narts' fireplaces were burning, the Narts feasted, making a cheerful noise, they slaughtered sheep, fed the shepherds, drank sano with them: they were all equal. On this day the sledges opened the sanitary drinking place: Here they are - look - sledges on horses! They play shuratles, sing songs, - There has never been a more wonderful holiday. The flaming Sosruko gives a valuable chain mail to Bataraz his friend from his shoulders, the Narts glorify and praise Bataraz, shepherds came from the distant mountains to the holiday. Old Wakwa saw her son: “Didn’t I raise you a giant!” They hand Bataraz the first cup, They joyfully crown him with the glory of a brave man, The Narts say many kind toasts, They ask him to drink the sano, they say to him: “Bataraz, beloved, invincible Nart, You returned our soul—you returned the fire, You rescued Nasren from the iron chains, You are our savior, you are our first friend.” The sage knight gratefully drank the cup and said: “May our fire be eternal!”
The sanitary drinking lasts and the fun is in full swing Forty days and forty joyful nights. The distant borders hear the tramp of horses, arrows whistle through the field and hit the target. They send sledges down from the ancient mound And throw upward the wheel of Jean-Cherch, They call the sledge of Bataraza the sledge, They call him the best husband of husbands.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru