In the Country of the Narts, Badakh, the daughter of Dzhilakhstan, was famous for its beauty. “During the day she is the sun, and at night she is the moon,” that’s what the Narts said about her. Old Dzhilakhstan joyfully admired the beauty of his daughter, but little by little this joy turned into arrogance. “A man worthy of becoming my daughter’s groom has not yet been born,” he boasted everywhere, and his words reached the ears of Sosruko. Sosruko decided to hit the road to see if Badakh was really as beautiful as they say.
Here Sosruko is riding on his Thozhey, riding and galloping and sees: three roads diverge in different directions, and at the crossroads the shepherd Kuitsuk sits, and goats graze around him.
- I wish you a happy day! - Sosruko greeted him.
“And we—me and the goats—wish you a happy day!” answered Kuitsuk.
He was sad because he had recently become a widower: the Nart girl whom Sosruko had given him as a wife, having freed her from captivity, had died.
- What's the news in our area? - Sos asked with his hand. “You’re sitting at a fork in three roads, so not a single piece of news can escape you.”
“My womb is always empty, and my ears are full of news,” said Kuitsuk. “I even know why you set off on your journey.” But you're late. Many sledges are ahead of you, and they all have the same goal: the hitching post of the Jilah camp. Among the Nart knights who galloped to Jilahstan, you will find Shauei, the son of Kanzh, and Bataraz, the son of Khimish, and the glorious Badynoko. I would go there too, but I don’t know who to leave my goats with. I think: well, they won’t marry Badakh to me, but at least once I’ll look at her beauty!
- Why won’t they give it away? You need to try your luck. Let's go together.
- No, Sosruko, I won’t go with you. The arrogant Badakh refuses the strongest Nart knights. Should I, a simple shepherd, compete with them? Is it vain to dishonor your honor, the honor of a goat herder? Here I am sitting at the fork in three roads, and Nart knights are galloping past me, galloping at full speed, proudly sitting in the saddle, not deigning to look at me. But with what pride I look at them when they return with bowed heads, with sadness in their eyes, and their horses, lowering their forelocks to the ground, barely drag their feet! And I immediately see: this one was not allowed to look at Badakh and was escorted out, this one was not allowed further than Kunatskaya, and before that they didn’t even open the gates to the fortress! Because Badakh is such a beauty: she sits in the tower and looks at the arriving horsemen. If she doesn’t like the horseman, they won’t even let him into the fortress, but if she likes him from a distance, they take him into the courtyard, and then Badakh, having taken a closer look at him, orders him to be driven away, without even inviting him to the kunatskaya.
- Well! - Sosruko was surprised, but still drove Thozhey to the fortress of Dzhilakhstan.
When he approached the fortress, the beautiful Badakh noticed him from her tower. She exclaimed:
- If the one called Sosruko is alive, then he is now approaching us! The name Sosruko is on the lips of all Narts day and night. Well, let's test his courage.
And Badakh ordered to roll away the abra-stone and let Sosruko into the fortress.
Sosruko drove into the yard and began to look for the hitching post, but there were so many saddled horses standing in the yard that the hitching post was not visible. “These are the suitors’ horses, and I will leave here in disgrace,” Sosruko thought. His heart felt troubled. He tied Thozhei to the abra-stone and headed towards the kunatskaya. Before he could reach it, Djilahstan himself came out to meet him. The hops played in his eyes. The beauty's father looked at Sosruko with a contemptuous look and said:
- Yeah, and you, son of a shepherd, arrived after the Nart knights! Well, let's get down to business right away, without unnecessary chatter. Do you see these mighty alps tied to a hitching post? Their owners are looking for my daughter's hand. Think about it, can you compete with the high-born Narts, even if they didn’t get my daughter? Think, son of a shepherd, and go back on your seedy sucker!
No one had ever spoken to Sosruko so arrogantly, no one had ever looked at him so contemptuously, and the rider was embarrassed by surprise. And little Tkhozhey, offended for the owner and for himself, suddenly pulled the reins tied to the abra-stone, ran up to the hitching post, dispersed all the Nart Alps and stood at the hitching post himself. The horse's fury gave Sosruko strength. He said:
“If you want to get down to business right away, Jilahstan, then I’m ready.” Do you see how my Thozhey dispersed all the Nart Alps and occupied the entire hitching post himself? This is how I will force all the Nart knights to leave and get your daughter as my wife!
And Sosruko himself liked his answer so much that he laughed with pleasure. But Dzhilakhstan also laughed out of arrogance:
All sons of shepherds dream of Badah, but not all are as daring as you. If you decide to compete with the Nart knights, then don’t chat in vain, but first try to pull the pike of the Badynoko Nart out of the ground!
The peak of Badynoko's sled was so large and so heavy that it was impossible to carry it into the house. Therefore, Badynoko drove it into the ground at the entrance to the kunatskaya. Dzhilakhstan offered everyone who wanted to get Badakh as a wife to pull out Badynoko’s pike, but there was no Nart who managed to do this, who managed to even move it!
Sosruko looked at Badynoko’s peak and said:
- This pike is far from the Tlepsha anvil! If I pull it out, then Badakh will be mine, won't it, Jilakhstan?
- If you want to pull out the pike, do it quickly! - Dzhilakhstan shouted. Sosruko's insolence frightened and angered him. He decided: “If he doesn’t pull out the pike, I’ll drive him out of the yard.”
Sosruko walked up to the pike, grabbed it with his damask hands and pulled it out. Throwing the pike on the threshold of the kunatskaya, he exclaimed:
- Now bring your daughter here!
Djilahstan's face darkened. “Will a rootless stepchild, the son of an unknown shepherd, become my daughter’s husband?” - he thought. I thought and said:
“Apparently, you decided, Sosruko, that your trial will end easily.” But then my Badakh would have gone to the first Nart knight who arrived here. No, Sos Ruko, you’re just getting started. You showed me your strength. Now show your accuracy: how far does your arrow fly?
“Okay!” Sosruko agreed and threw back his head. A small cloud was circling high in the sky. The swallow flew into this cloud and disappeared into it. Sosruko pulled his bow and shot an arrow. The arrow hit the cloud and disappeared.
Dzhilakhstan and Sosruko waited for the return of the arrow for so long that the shadow of the pike lying on the threshold of the kunatskaya had time to lengthen. There was still no arrow. Dzhilakhstan was delighted. He turned his back to Sosruko, took one step towards Kunatskaya and said without turning his head:
“Isn’t it too early for you to call yourself a groom, you, whose arrow cannot shoot down even a plucked sparrow!”
- Wait, Dzhilakhstan, look at the sky! - Sosruko stopped him.
Dzhilakhstan looked up and saw an arrow falling. A swallow was strung on its head, and a cloud on its tail. The arrow fell and crashed into the ground in front of Djilahstan.
- Now bring your daughter here! - said Sosruko.
Dzhilakhstan was gripped by anxiety. “I’m dying,” he thought, “my incomparable Badakh will go to the shepherd’s son!” Thinking this way, he said:
“Don’t hope, Sosruko, that your trial will end easily: it is just beginning.” You showed your accuracy, but the Nart knights who arrived before you are good archers. Show me how good you are at dancing. You will dance on seven mounds of burrs, and instead of music, you will sing along to yourself.
- Fine! - Sosruko answered: after all, he had no other answer!
For seven days and seven nights the servants carried burdocks seven hundred times on seven carts to the courtyard of Dzhilakhstan, and Sosruko sat in the kunatskaya and watched the mounds being erected. When the servants erected the seventh mound, Dzhilakhstan took Sosruko out of the kunatskaya and said to him:
“Here is my word: if you trample the burrs of all seven mounds in a dance, trample them, taking off your morocco boots, then you will become a worthy groom for my daughter!”
Sosruko took off his morocco boots, climbed onto the mound of burrs and began to dance. It is known that the horseman does not have the same fire in his veins, the wrong strength in his legs when he has to dance without music, but the damask Sosruko danced wildly, danced, singing along to himself, danced for six days and six nights and crushed and trampled the burrs of six mounds.
The beautiful Badakh watched his dance, and just a little, barely, her cruel, arrogant heart trembled. On the seventh day, when Sosruko ascended the seventh mound, Badakh took the ringing wheat, touched its strings with her thin fingers and began to play the kafu dance, she played for Sosruko. Then fire flared up in the veins of the sled, strength rang in his legs, and Sosruko began to dance on his toes - and crushed the burrs of the seventh mound - only specks of dust remained from the mound! Sosruko blew on them and scattered them in the air.
At this time, the clatter of a horse was heard: Nart Badynoko, having heard Badakh playing for Sosruko, came out of the kunatskaya, sat in the saddle and, without saying a word to anyone, rushed off. What is surprising here if Badynoko deeply loved the beautiful Badakh!
And Sosruko said:
“I crushed and trampled the burrs of the seven mounds, I turned them into specks of dust and scattered them in the air. Now bring your daughter here!
Dzhilakhstan fell into confusion. “Will my daughter really go to the son of an unknown shepherd?” - he thought in fear. But his cunning was stronger than his fear, and the young man said:
“Think for yourself, Sosruko: is it really possible to give your daughter as a wife to an unknown person just because this person dances well?” You know how to dance in the courtyard, you know how to drink in the kunatskaya, but that’s not enough: my daughter’s husband must be brave. Prove your courage, bring back Badynoko, who left, angry with us, and I will consider you a worthy groom for my daughter.
“Okay,” answered Sosruko, because he had no other answer, he sat down on Tkhozhey and galloped off after Badynoko. And Dzhilakhstan was delighted, deciding:
“As soon as Sosruko catches up with Badynoko, a quarrel will break out between them, because Badynoko is jealous. They will enter into a duel, and Badynoko will kill Sosruko, for there is no stronger person on earth than Badynoko. I will get rid of my adopted son, the son of a shepherd, and give my daughter to the most noble Nart knight!”
At sunset, Dzhilakhstan climbed the tower to see if Badynoko’s sledge was returning. However, he saw not one, but two horsemen: they were Sosruko and Badynoko. Fear and trembling seized Djilahstan. He thought:
“How did the shepherd’s son manage to bring back the Nart knight?”
Here's how it was done. Sosruko, having caught up with Badynoko, approached him respectfully, from the left side, and said:
- Badynoko! You and I are both Narts, both knights, old friends. How long will we allow Jilah to deceive us and mock us? Let's show him what our courage is capable of: let's go back to the fortress, take away the arrogant Badakh, and let her choose one of us as her husband.
- Agree. “Let’s go,” answered the taciturn Badynoko, and the riders turned their horses back. Seeing them, Dzhilakhstan decided to go to Tlepsh. He gave the servants a strict order: not to allow a single living soul into the fortress until his return.
When the sledges approached the fortress, they saw that the entrance was blocked with abra stone.
“You see, Badynoko, how Jilahstan mocks us,” said Sosruko, “he doesn’t even let us into the yard.”
- What should we do? - asked Badynoko.
“We won’t quarrel with Dzhilakhstan right away, we’ll wait a little,” Sosruko answered. “But we won’t let a single person out of the fortress, we won’t let a single person into it.” Since I am short in stature, I will climb the mountain, but you are taller than me, sit in the hollow.
“Okay,” Badynoko agreed and took a place in the ravine. And Sosruko climbed the mountain.
At this time, Dzhilakhstan begged Tlepsh:
- God the blacksmith, in the name of life and death, I ask you: make for me two such arrows so that they hit the target without missing, and when they hit, they kill to death!
Blacksmith Tlepsh forged weapons only for an honest cause. He asked Dzhilakhstan:
- Why did you need such arrows?
“Ah, Tlepsh, two giant monsters have taken to me, they don’t give me peace, they want to take my only daughter away from me!”
Thus, Tlepsha deceived Dzhilakhstan, and the blacksmith god forged two deadly arrows for him. Dzhilakhstan thanked Tlepsh and galloped back to the fortress. When he had already reached the abra-stone, he noticed the horseman Sosruko and, not yet knowing who he was, shot an arrow at him. Sosruko's arrow broke one of Tlepsh's arrows, and Dzhilakhstan was saved, as the servants rolled away the abra-stone and quickly let the owner into the fortress.
Climbing the tower, Dzhilakhstan took his daughter by the hand, led her to the loophole and said:
- Do you see the one standing on the mountain?
“I see,” answered Badakh.
- Do you see the one who is located in the ravine?
“I see,” answered Badakh.
- If you see it, then tell me: which one should I shoot at? I have only one arrow that hits the target without missing.
Badakh found it difficult to answer his father right away. Before Sosruko’s arrival, her heart was inclined towards Badynoko, but now it wavered, leaning first one way or the other. She looked at the mountain, and Sosruko, standing on the mountain, seemed to her like the tall sledge of Badynoko. Or maybe it was Sosruko? She looked at the ravine, and Badynoko, standing in the ravine, seemed to her like a short Sosruko. Or maybe it was Badynoko?
- Father, shoot the one in the ravine! - said Badakh.
A deadly arrow sprang from Djilahstan's bow, flew into the ravine, pierced Badynoko and killed him. This is how the most glorious knight of the Nart Country fell from the hand of the treacherous Dzhilakhstan, and this is how the brave Badynoko, nicknamed the “Thunderstorm of the Chints,” died.
Sosruko became furious. This rage was born of love, for not a single Nart loved Sosruko as much as the stern Badynoko. And the rage born of love is great.
“You will pay me, Dzhilakhstan, for the death of our Badynoko!” shouted Sosruko. He mounted his horse, galloped to the river and diverted the water that went to the fortress.
“You see what Sosruko, the survivor, is doing because of you,” Dzhilakhstan said to his daughter, “he wants us to die of thirst.” But I will order a well to be dug. The son of Satan, born of a shepherd, is powerless against me!
And the son of Satan, seeing that a well had been dug in the fortress, began to think: how can he take revenge on Djilahstan? I thought and came up with it.
In the Country of the Narts it was known that the Ispas, tiny people, cut off the head of Djilahstan in battle. Tlepsh soldered this severed head, putting a copper patch on it. So Dzhilakhstan lived with a copper patch on his head.
Remembering this, Sosruko caused a terrible heat and brought it to the fortress: he hoped that Djilahstan’s head would melt. And then he changed the heat to bitter cold to freeze the molten brain of Djilahstan.
But Dzhilakhstan was cunning. During a terrible heat, he ordered himself to be lowered into a well, and during severe frost, he ordered himself to be wrapped in seven hundred cloaks.
How can Sosruko be here? How to avenge the death of the glorious Badynoko? The son of Satan could not think of anything, and he circled around the fortress, not letting anyone in, not letting anyone out.
His people prayed to Jilakhstan:
“There is no grass for livestock in the fortress, the livestock will die.” Allow me to roll away the abra-stone and release the shepherds and flock to freedom. Sosruko will not do anything to us: he is not an enemy of the shepherds.
“You can’t roll away the abra-stone,” answered Dzhilakhstan. - He is dexterous and evasive, he can slip into the fortress.
Some time passed, and the death of livestock began in the fortress. But Dzhilakhstan did not allow the abra-stone to be rolled away. And Sosruko circled around the fortress.
Much more time passed, and not only livestock, but people died in the fortress from starvation. Exhausted, weakened servants began to beg Djilahstan:
“Have pity on us, order the abra-stone to be rolled away, give us at least one look at the free land before we die - it will be easier to die this way!”
But Dzhilakhstan was inexorable. Then Badakh said to the people:
- He won't spare you. He won't spare me either when I die!
Dzhilakhstan was cunning and hard-hearted, but he loved his Badakh. And he ordered the abra stone to be rolled away.
Exhausted, weakened people joyfully came out into freedom, looked at the free land, fell on it, hugging the grass. Sosruko was nowhere to be seen. Dzhilakhstan, who was afraid of him, ordered to search all the gorges, all the shelters, but Sosruko was not found.
A lot of time passed, the people grew stronger, the cattle in the pastures grew stronger, the plowmen began to sow millet and calmed down. Only Dzhilakhstan did not calm down. And then one day the shepherds came to him and said:
“We were wandering around the steppe with cattle and suddenly we saw a corpse near a spring. It was Sosruko!
- He pretended to be dead! - exclaimed Jilahstan: he was still afraid of his opponent. Badakh understood this. She told her father:
“Will Sosruko stoop to pretend to be dead?” Apparently, he frightened you with great fear, if you are even afraid of him dead!
The daughter's words shamed Djilahstan. He decided to go with the shepherds to the spring.
“It’s impossible,” he said, “to allow the corpse of a shepherd’s son to desecrate the clear spring water.” You will take this carrion into the forest and throw it to the wolves.
Sosruko lay in the same place, with his head towards the spring. Dzhilakhstan's servants turned him, kicking him, from side to side, but Sosruko was lifeless. There was no life in his heavy damask body. Dzhilakhstan immediately felt courage. He pushed the corpse with a morocco dude and said:
“Well, what have you achieved, son of a shepherd, adopted son of the Nart knights?” You lie in the steppe and rot and eat! Now we, the noble Narts, will not be intimidated by your sword, forged by Tlepsh from the braid of the god of fertility! Now this sword will be mine!
Dzhilakhstan bent down to take Sosruko’s sword from its sheath, but then Sosruko jumped up, struck Dzhilakhstan with his damask palm and knocked him down. Life left Dzhilakhstan's body.
- The same! - Sosruko shouted. A faithful horse jumped out of the grove. The servants of Dzhilakhstan fled in different directions, and Sosruko mounted his horse and rushed to the fortress.
Badakh sat in the tower and embroidered a scarf with gold. Sosruko shouted to her:
“Hey, beauty, you’ve been mocking the Nart knights for a long time.” Enough!
Sosruko took the beautiful Badakh from the tower, sat her in front of him on the horse’s mane and galloped back.
Here Sosruko rides with a precious burden covered with a cloak, rides and gallops and approaches the fork in three roads. Kuitsuk sits at a crossroads, and goats graze around him.
Sosruko said:
- May your herd multiply, Kuitsuk! Do you remember you told me that you dreamed of looking at the beautiful Badakh at least once? Look: here she is!
And Sosruko lifted his cloak.
But shy Kuitsuk did not dare to look at the beautiful Badakh. He lowered his eyes.
Sosruko laughed, wished the shepherd happy days and rode on, taking away the beautiful Badakh on his horse - the one that all the knights of the Nart Country dreamed of.
And Kuitsuk looked after him.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru