Not far from the Nart villages, the fierce One-Eye lived in the mountains. No one knew his home, but he often came down from the mountains and kidnapped one or another Nart beauty. No one could bring them back, and the Narts have long feared and hated the one-eyed monsters.
One-Eye had a son. His name was Whit. When Whit grew up, his father began to take him with him on robber campaigns, and the son little by little adopted his father’s evil and cunning habits. From time to time, Whit came down from the mountains, came to Nart feasts, intervened in the crowd of Nart youth and danced with Nart beauties. And then he kidnapped the girl he liked.
One-Eye was pleased with his son’s fun and campaigns, but when rumors about the invincible Bataraz reached his ears, he began to fear that his unbridled son might fall into the hands of the brave Nart.
“Look,” he said, “you attack the Narts too often.” If you catch the eye of the brave Bataraz, then you will be in trouble.
“I myself am looking for a meeting with the famous Batard,” Whit answered boastfully, “just wait, I’ll bring him to you with some beauty.”
The one-eyed giant only shook his head, listening to his son’s boast.
The next day, a rich wedding was celebrated in the Nart village. The son of One-Eye suddenly appeared in the circle of dancers, snatched one girl, danced with her and carried her to the mountains.
At this time, Bataraz returned from hunting. A Nart youth came running to him:
- Bataraz, bravest of the bravest! Once again One-Eyed kidnapped our girl. How can we bear this shame?
Bataraz left the house and on the road leading to the mountains, he saw Whit dragging the kidnapped woman. The clever sledge soon caught up with the kidnapper. He, frightened, abandoned his prey and wanted to run away, but the sledge stopped him. Both were unarmed.
“Listen, Whit, son of the old inyzh,” said Bataraz, “let’s dance the oudj together, who will out-dance who?” If you don’t want to, we’ll fight!
“No,” One-Eye answered boldly, “in the fight I’ll only break your arms, let’s better find out who can out-dance who, I’ll kill you to death.”
“Okay,” Bataraz agreed with a grin, “let’s dance the oudj.”
They began to dance at the foot of the mountain, approached the village and began to move from courtyard to courtyard. They walked around all the courtyards, from the top to the last, trampling all the grass, all the earth. The son of One-Eye became so weak that he could barely drag his feet, and Bataraz just went wild. He danced so wildly that he crushed the legs of the young man.
- I have no more strength, let me go! - the foreigner pleaded.
“What are you saying, Whit, we’ve only danced in three courtyards, we need to go around the rest, then we’ll dance on the sledge road, go into the shepherds’ huts, and you never know where else you can dance!” - Bataraz did not let up.
“I can’t!” Whit groaned.
- Oh, you sloth! Snatching girls from the circle when they are dancing with others is not a lot of courage! No, you will dance with me! - And Bataraz, dancing, dragged him further.
So Bataraz forced the young inyzha to dance for seven days and seven nights. And then he took him, exhausted, in his arms, brought him to the mountains, to the dwelling of old One-Eyed, turned the young man three times in the air - and he lost his breath.
- Old One-Eye! - said Bataraz. “Your son is spinning to his death, but I still want to dance, so let’s go and spin in the oudja!”
He was so frightened that he ran away from Bataraza and left his mountain home forever.
The one-eyed people did not appear in the Nart Country again while Bataraz was alive. Since then, people have said that Bataraza’s uj was like the blow of his sword.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru