Once upon a time, there lived an old man, and he had a son, a boy of fifteen years old. The young horseman got tired of sitting at home doing nothing, and he began to ask his father:
- Father, you have three hundred tangas. Give me a hundred of them, and I will go to foreign lands and see how people live there.
Father and mother said:
- We are saving this money for you. If you need them to start trading, take them and go.
Dzhigit took one hundred tangas and went to the neighboring town. He began to walk along the city streets and entered a garden. He looks at a tall house in the garden.
He looked out the window and saw: young people sitting at tables in this house and doing something.
The horseman became interested. He stopped a passerby and asked:
-What kind of house is this and what are they doing here? Passerby says:
- This is a school, and they teach writing. Our horseman also wanted to learn how to write.
He entered the house and found the senior teacher.
- What do you want? - the senior teacher asked him.
“I want to learn to write,” answered the horseman. The teacher said:
“This is a laudable desire, and we will be happy to teach you how to write.” But we don’t teach for free. Do you have one hundred tangas?
Dzhigit immediately gave away his hundred tangas and began to learn to write.
A year later, he mastered reading and writing so well that he could write quickly and beautifully - better than all the students.
“Now you have nothing more to do with us,” said the teacher. “Come back home.”
The horseman returned to his city. Father and mother ask him:
- Well, son, tell me, how much good have you gained this year?
“Father,” says the horseman, “the hundred tangas were not wasted in vain, for them I learned to read and write.” You know, it’s impossible to trade without literacy.
The father shook his head:
- Well, son, it’s clear you don’t have much intelligence in your head! You learned to read and write, but what's the point? Do you think they will make you a big boss for this? I’ll say one thing: you’re completely stupid!
“Father,” the horseman answers, “that’s not so!” My diploma will be useful. Give me another hundred tangas. I'll go to another city and start trading. In this matter, the diploma will be very useful to me.
His father listened and gave him another hundred tanga.
This time the horseman went to another city. He walks around the city, inspecting everything. He also goes into the garden. He sees: there is a large, tall house in the garden, and music is coming from the house.
He asks a passerby:
- What are they doing in this house? The passerby answers:
— Here they learn to play the violin.
The horseman went and found the senior teacher. He asks him:
- What do you need? Why did you come?
“I came to learn to play the violin,” the horseman answers.
“We don’t teach for free.” If you can pay one hundred tangas a year, you will study, says the teacher.
Dzhigit, without hesitation, gives him his hundred tangas and begins to study. In a year he learned to play the violin so well that no one could compare with him. He has nothing more to do here; he must return home.
When he arrived, his father and mother asked him:
- Where is the money you earned from trading?
“And this time I didn’t make any money,” the son answers, “but I learned to play the violin.”
The father got angry:
- Well thought out! Do you really want to squander everything I’ve gained in my entire life in three years?
“No, father,” says the horseman, “I didn’t squander your money in vain.” In life you will need music. Give me another hundred tangas. This time I will make you a lot of good!
Father says:
“I have the last hundred tanga left.” If you want, take it, if you want, don’t take it! I have nothing more for you!
The son took the money and went to the third city to make good money.
He arrived in the city and decided to explore it. He walks everywhere, looks into every street. He entered the large garden. There is a tall house in the garden, and in this house some people are sitting at a table. They are all well dressed, and they are all doing something strange.
The horseman called a passerby and asked:
- What are people doing in this house?
“They are learning to play chess,” answers the passerby.
Our horseman also wanted to learn this game. He entered the house and found the main one. He asks:
- Why did you come? What do you need?
“I want to learn how to play this game,” the horseman answers.
“Well,” says the chief, “learn.” But we don’t teach for nothing, we have to pay the teacher one hundred tanga. If you have money, you will study.
He gave the horseman one hundred tanga and began to learn to play chess. Within a year he became such a skilled player that no one could beat him.
The horseman said goodbye to his teacher and thought:
“What should I do now? You can’t return to your parents - what will I come to them with?”
He began to look for something to do for himself. And he learned that some kind of trade caravan was leaving this city for distant foreign countries. A young horseman came to the owner of this caravan - the caravan-bashy - and asked:
— Do you need a worker for the caravan? Karavan-bashi says:
- We really need a worker. We'll take you in, feed you and clothe you.
They came to an agreement, and the young horseman became a worker.
The next morning the caravan left the city and set off on a long journey.
They walked for a long time, passed many places and ended up in deserted regions. Here their horses were tired, people were tired, everyone was thirsty, but there was no water. Finally they find one old, abandoned well. We looked into it - the water is visible deep down, sparkling like a small star. The caravan workers tie a bucket to a long rope and lower it into the well. They pulled out the bucket - it was empty. They lower it again - no water comes up. They suffered for a long time, and then the rope broke completely, and the bucket remained in the well.
Then the caravan bashi says to the young horseman:
- You are younger than all of us. We’ll tie you up and lower you into the well on a rope - you’ll get a bucket and find out why the water isn’t filling up.
They tie a rope to the horseman's belt and lower it into the well. They went down to the very bottom. The horseman looks: there is no water at all in the well, and what glittered turned out to be gold.
The horseman loaded the bucket with gold and pulled the rope: pull it out! The caravan men pulled out a bucket of gold and were incredibly happy: they didn’t think they would find such wealth! They lowered the bucket again, and the horseman again filled it to the brim with gold. The bucket was lowered and raised fifteen times. Finally, the bottom of the well darkened - not a grain of gold remained there. Now the horseman himself sat down in the bucket and made a sign to be lifted. The caravan men began to lift it. And the caravan bashi thinks:
“Is it worth raising this horseman? He will say: “I found this gold, it belongs to me.” And he won’t give it to us, he’ll take it for himself. It’s better that he’s not here!”
He cut the rope, and the young horseman fell to the bottom of the well...
When the horseman came to his senses, he began to look around and saw an iron bracket in the wall of the well. He pulled the bracket and the door opened. He entered this door and found himself in a small room -
natke. In the middle of this room, a dying, thin and bearded old man was lying on a bed. And next to the old man there was a violin. Dzhigit took the violin and decided to check if it was working. The violin turned out to be fine. He thinks:
“I still have to die at the bottom of this well - at least let me play one last time!”
I tuned the violin and began to play.
And as soon as the horseman began to play, the bearded old man quietly rose, sat down and said:
- Oh my son, where did you come from, fortunately for me? If it weren't for the sounds of the violin, I would already be dead at that moment. You gave me life and strength back. I am the lord of this dungeon and I will do whatever you want!
Dzhigit says:
- O father, I don’t need any gold, no silver, no riches! I ask you only one thing: help me rise from this well and catch up with the caravan!
And as soon as he expressed this request, the old man picked him up, carried him out of the well and carried him in the direction where the caravan had gone. When the caravan was already in sight, the old man said goodbye to the horseman and thanked him for bringing him back to life. And the horseman warmly thanked the old man for his help.
Soon the horseman caught up with the caravan and, as if nothing had happened, went along with the caravan men. Caravan-bashi was very scared and thought that the horseman would scold him and reproach him for his treachery, but the horseman did not say a single angry word, as if nothing had happened. Comes with a caravan, works like everyone else; as friendly as ever.
However, the caravan bashi cannot calm down, and evil thoughts do not leave him. He thinks:
“This horseman is apparently very cunning! Now he doesn’t say anything, but when we come to the city, he will certainly demand his gold from me.”
And so, when there were two days of travel left to the city, the caravan bashi gave the horseman a letter and ordered him to mount his horse and ride forward faster.
- Take this letter to my wife - you will receive a rich gift from her! - he said, and he smiled somehow wickedly.
Dzhigit immediately set off.
He drove up to the city itself and thought:
“This caravan bashi has neither shame nor conscience: he left me in a well to certain death, and appropriated for himself all the gold that I got. No matter how he lets me down now!”
And the horseman decided to read the letter from the caravan bashi. In his letter, the caravan bashi sent greetings to his wife and daughter and said that this time he was returning with great wealth. “But in order for this wealth to remain in our hands,” wrote the caravan bashi, “you must, using some cunning, destroy the horseman who will deliver this letter of mine to you.”
The horseman read the letter from the caravan bashi and decided to teach him a lesson for his treachery and shamelessness. He erased the last lines of the letter and wrote the following words in the handwriting of a caravan bashi: “Thanks to this horseman, I am returning to you with great wealth. Invite all your relatives and neighbors and immediately marry our daughter to the horseman who will deliver this letter. So that by my arrival everything will be done as I order!”
The horseman handed this letter to his wife to the caravan bashi. She sat the horseman down, began to treat him, and she opened her husband’s letter and reads it.
She read the letter, went to the room of her beautiful daughter and said to her:
“Here, daughter, my father writes that I should marry you to this horseman.” Do you agree?
And the girl liked the horseman at first sight and fell in love with him. She says:
- My father’s word is law for me, I agree!
Now they began to prepare all sorts of food and drinks, called all the relatives and neighbors - and gave the girl in marriage to the horseman. And the girl is happy, and G-
git is happy, and everyone is happy and cheerful: it was such a good wedding!
Two days later the caravan bashi returns home. Workers unload bales of goods and stack them in the yard. The caravan bashi gives orders and enters the house. His wife puts all sorts of treats in front of him and fusses over him. Caravan Bashi asks:
- Where is our daughter? Why doesn't she meet me? Apparently she went on a visit somewhere?
-Where should she go? - the wife answers. “At your command, I married her to the horseman who brought us your letter.” Now she is sitting with her young husband.
“What are you saying, stupid!” shouted the caravan bashi. “I ordered you to use some cunning to harass this horseman.”
Wife says:
- You shouldn't scold me. Here is your letter. Read it yourself if you don't believe me! - and hands over the letter.
The caravan bashi grabbed the letter and looked at it - his handwriting, his seal.
He began to gnaw his fist in frustration:
“I wanted to destroy him, get rid of him, but everything turned out wrong, not my way!”
Yes, once the job is done, you can’t redo it. The caravan bashi pretended to be kind and affectionate. He and his wife come to the horseman and say:
- My dear son-in-law, I am guilty before you! Don't be angry, forgive me!
Dzhigit answers:
“You were a slave to your greed.” You threw me into a deep well, and only thanks to the kind old man I did not die there. No matter what you plan, no matter what you invent, you won’t be able to destroy me! Better not even try!
The next day the horseman pawned a troika and went for a ride with his young wife. They drive along a wide, beautiful street and approach a beautiful
new palace. Multi-colored lights are burning in the palace, people are standing in front of the palace, everyone is talking about something, looking at the palace. Dzhigit asks:
—What kind of palace is this and why are so many people gathered here?
His wife tells him:
- This is the palace of our padishah. The padishah announced that he would marry his daughter to the one who beat him at chess. The loser's head is cut off. Many young horsemen have already died here because of the daughter of the padishah! But no one can beat him, there is no other such skillful player in the world!
“I’ll go to the padishah and play chess with him,” says the horseman.
The young wife began to cry and began to beg him:
- Don't go. If you go, you will definitely lose your head!
The horseman calmed her down.
“Don’t be afraid,” he says, “my head will remain intact.”
He entered the palace. And the viziers are sitting there, the padishah is sitting at the table, in front of him is a chessboard.
He saw the padishah horseman and asked:
- Why did you come? Dzhigit says:
- I came to play chess with you.
“I’ll beat you anyway,” says the padishah, “and then I’ll cut off your head!”
“If you cut it off, you’ll cut it off,” says the horseman, “and now let’s play.”
Padishah says:
-Have it your way! And here is my condition: if I win three games, I will cut off your head; If you win three games against me, I’ll give you my daughter.
They shake hands one another in the presence of all the viziers and begin to play.
The first game was won by the padishah. And the padishah won the second. He rejoices and says to the horseman:
- I warned you that you would disappear! All you have to do is lose one more time, and they'll blow your head off!
“We’ll see there,” the horseman answers. “Let’s continue playing.”
The third game was won by the horseman. The padishah winced and said:
- Let's play again!
“Okay,” the horseman answers, “we’ll play if you want.”
And again the horseman won. Padishah says:
- Let's play again!
We played again, and again the horseman won. Padishah says:
- Well, if you want, take my daughter. And if you win another game, I’ll give you half the kingdom.
They started playing. Again the horseman won the game. The padishah dispersed and said:
- Let's play another game! If you win, I'll give away the whole kingdom.
The viziers persuade him, but he does not listen.
The horseman won again.
He didn’t take the padishah’s daughter, but took his entire kingdom. The horseman called his parents to his place, and they all began to live together.
I visited them - went today, returned yesterday. We played, danced, ate and drank, wet our mustaches, but nothing got into our mouths.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru