Once upon a time there lived two khans. Although they were equal in nobility, one was rich, and the other was completely impoverished, just called khan.
The rich khan had a beautiful daughter, and the poor khan had an only son. So the son of the poor khan began to ask his father:
- Send, father, matchmakers to the rich khan, I want to marry his daughter.
The father replied:
“He won’t give up his daughter for you, because he’s rich and we’re poor.”
But the son still insisted. And the poor khan went to the rich one. He received the guest with joy:
- Welcome, be a guest! What business brought you to me - it’s been a while since you stopped by!
Poor Khan said:
– The fame of your wealth spreads throughout Kabarda. It’s not for nothing that they say: every rich man can become poor. So far, no one has sworn off poverty. Therefore, do not look that I am poor, give your daughter in marriage to my son.
The rich khan replied:
“I’m always happy to become related to you, but I have brothers and sons.” I must consult with them and then give an answer.
The poor khan returned home.
The rich man gathered his brothers and sons and said to them:
“The son of the poor khan asks you to give your sister and niece to him.
Everyone shouted in one voice:
“We don’t need a ragamuffin, we won’t give up our beauty for him!”
The cunning khan answered them: there is no need to boast about wealth, it is known that today the boy is yours, tomorrow he is a stranger. Let's not talk loudly about the fact that he is poor. Let us demand from him a large bride price for our daughter - let him bring a hundred gray horses with saddles and a hundred traveling bags full of gold.
The next day, the rich khan ordered to call the poor man and told him that he agreed to give his daughter for his son, but for such a price: one hundred gray horses with saddles and one hundred traveling bags full of gold. “And when they are brought to the khan’s stable, and in addition they pay according to custom the ransom that the khan has, then I will give up my daughter,” he said.
When the son of the poor khan found out how much he had to pay for the bride, he decided to go even to the ends of the world and earn money for the bride price.
He had an old horse. He saddled her and set off on a long journey.
He rides and jumps, he rides and jumps. Arrived in the wide steppe. A rich Nogai khan lived in that steppe.
The horseman approached his tent and said:
- Do you need a worker - I can do any job well!
“I just need a herdsman,” answered the khan.
The horseman did not negotiate either the duration of the work or the payment and began to graze the horses. He worked for a year - during this time he was never absent from the herd. Khai had already forgotten about the new herdsman, when suddenly one morning he came to his tent and said:
- Khan, my work period has expired. Pay for the work that you think is due.
Khan replies:
- Choose from the herd that you grazed the best horse that suits your heart!
The horseman went to the steppe. He caught a horse that he liked and brought him.
Meanwhile, the khan began to think: “When I said that I didn’t have a herdsman, this guy came to me without assigning a specific fee, and worked tirelessly for a whole year. Since the time I became rich, I have not met a person who would work without asking for a fee in advance. Apparently, great need forced him to become a worker!” And the khan asks the herdsman:
- Tell me, what concern brought you to our steppe? The young man said that he was looking for wealth to pay the bride price.
“Then take the horse you chose back to the herd,” the Nogai Khan tells him. - Take my silver bridle with you. After releasing the horse, stand near the herd. Shake the silver bridle, pull it forward. The horse that puts its head in the bridle itself will be your true friend.
The horseman took the silver bridle, walked up to the herd and shook it. Not one of the handsome horses turned around at her ringing. One of the thinnest horses came up to him - an old black mare, all the ribs were visible through the skin, and put her head in the bridle. ..
- Come on! – the young man chased her away and began shaking the bridle again. Three times he drove away the lousy nag, and three times she returned to him. What was to be done? The young man took her to the khan.
Khan says:
- So take her for good luck. You said that you are looking for wealth, that’s why I’m giving you this particular horse. I became rich with her help, and now I give it to you. Lead! Take good care of her and remember: if I gave you a whole herd, it would be the same thing. It’s a pity for me to part with her, but I’m old, and I don’t have the strength to groom a horse, but with you, I see, it will be good for her.
With these words, the khan released the young man. He brought the horse to his village.
The bride's rich relatives began to mock the poor groom:
-Have you heard? Our new relative returned and wandered for a whole year. “I’ve probably already got a hundred gray horses,” they chatted.
The young man heard the offensive words, mounted the horse he had earned and rode away, but no one knew where he had gone. “I’ll never return,” the young man decided to himself.
He rides and jumps, he rides and jumps. I arrived at a deep ravine overgrown with reeds. He directed the nag along the reeds and met the little horseman.
He hobbled the horse, took off the saddle, put it under his head, wrapped himself in a black cloak and fell asleep. The young groom dismounted, hobbled his horse and lay down next to the sleeping man. They slept soundly all night. The little horseman woke up at dawn and was surprised:
-Who is it that came next to me? Who is tired of life in this world? What brought the glorious horseman here? Let him tell me everything. Until then, I will not cause him any harm. Hey, get up! - shouted Shorty.
He pulled off his burka and said:
“I woke you up to find out why you’re tired of living in the world.” Until you really answer, I decided not to cause you any harm. Tell me the whole truth!
“I’m looking for wealth,” answered the young man. “In order to get it—I definitely need it—I decided to expose myself to any dangers.”
- I will help you get what you are looking for. “Lead your horse and mine into the reeds,” said Shorty.
What was the son of the poor khan to do? He led both horses into the reeds. Meanwhile, the little horseman found a well-trodden path in the reeds and followed it. Suddenly he sees: a hundred riders on gray horses are riding along the path.
Shorty destroyed every one of them, took a hundred gray horses with a hundred golden saddles, with a hundred traveling bags full of gold. Then he led the herd out of the reeds.
- Hey, hey, come out! - he shouted to the young man.
He brought two horses - his own and a small rider.
– You said that you need wealth. “Take these horses for good luck,” said Shorty, and gave the young man one hundred gray horses with one hundred golden saddles, and one hundred traveling bags full of gold.
In parting, he told the young man this:
– Come here next Friday evening. Be careful not to forget, otherwise you will miss out on true luck.
The groom returned home with a hundred gray horses. While he was still on the road, the khan, who did not want to give him his daughter for nothing, heard that the son of the poor khan was returning with rich booty. The brothers and sons of the rich khan were delighted, decided that the young man would bring his prey directly to them, and began to prepare a magnificent meeting for him.
However, the young man did not drive a hundred gray horses to the rich khan, but brought them home.
All his relatives gathered, and he distributed all the horses to those gathered, as was customary. He did not bypass anyone who should have been given a horse.
Unnoticed, the appointed date arrived - Friday, and the groom went to the one who gave him a hundred gray horses.
And this time Shorty was sleeping, wrapped in a cloak, and his hobbled horse was grazing nearby. The young man approached the sleeping man and lay down next to him. As soon as it became dawn, Shorty woke up. He heard a noise.
- Get up! - he shouted and woke up the young man. He stood up.
- Quickly lead the horses into the reeds! - Shorty ordered.
As soon as the young man had time to lead the horses into the reeds, a hundred riders on gray horses appeared.
And the little horseman is already sitting in ambush. They rode closer, Shorty jumped out to meet them and put the horsemen to flight.
- Hey, well done, bring out the horses quickly! - shouted Shorty.
The young man led them out. And again Korotysh gave the young man a hundred gray horses and said goodbye:
- Take them, they will bring you good luck. And come again next Friday. Make sure you don't miss it.
The young man drove the herd to his home.
Again the rich khan waited for the groom to give him the spoils. But again the young man brought a hundred gray horses with golden saddles and traveling bags full of gold to his home, and not to the rich khan, who did not want to give his daughter for him without a ransom.
The relatives of the rich khan gathered and began to think and wonder: “Why doesn’t he drive the spoils to us? What is in his heart against us? I wanted to marry our beauty, we agreed, it became a matter of ransom. Now he has something to pay, but he hesitates.”
They judged and debated for a long time and finally decided this: “Who will give such horses for free? If you want, khan, to become related to him, to attract him to yourself, then stand on the road when the time comes and let the groom understand that we willingly accept his matchmaking, that for us it will be a holiday. If he agrees, ask him to raise the cup...” The khan did just that. The young man stopped, drank the offered cup, but before he had time to return it to the owner, he became tipsy. The sleeping potion was in that bowl. And with a cry: “Allah gave the khan a son-in-law,” they carried the young man in their arms and laid him in the room where the khan’s daughter was sitting.
And the servants brought the young man’s wonderful horse - his faithful alp - to a golden pillar and tied him there.
“When our son-in-law wakes up, then he will sit on his alp,” the relatives said.
The young man got enough sleep, came to his senses and saw the khan’s daughter sitting next to him on the ottoman.
- How did I get here, how did I end up here? he asks.
“You came yourself,” the girl answers. “I didn’t invite you and didn’t give consent to the wedding.” You yourself came without a call, how could it be otherwise?
“Since I’ve granted it myself, I’ll leave myself,” said the young man, he jumped out into the yard, mounted his horse - that’s all they saw. He disgraced his bride, the daughter of a rich khan. ! Since then he has never been seen in that village.
And since then, they say, they stopped demanding bride money in Kabarda.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru