It was a long time ago, in time immemorial. On the banks of the Gustug-Khem River lived a rich man named Bura-Bashtyg. He had a rich white yurt, thousands of heads of cattle and many workers. Among them were the old hunter, his son Kodur-ool and the girl Biche-kys, Kodur-ool’s beloved. One day, an old hunter, unable to withstand the beatings of Bura-Bashtyg, decided to go into the forest with his son. Before leaving, Kodur-ool went to say goodbye to his beloved.
— I'm going with my father into the forest. “We don’t want to submit to the damned Bura-Bash-tyg,” said Kodur-ool.
“Are you leaving me?” asked Biche-kys and began to cry. Kodur-ool hugged her tightly and kissed her.
“I will never leave you, my Biche.” I'll go into the forest and kill a lot of animals. I will free you too from Bura-Bashtyg.
Biche-kys shook off her tears with the tip of her sleeve and smiled.
- Okay, honey! I wish you great luck. Kodur-ool went to catch up with his father. On the road he took his byzanchy, which he loved to play when he sang songs. Kodur-ool walked, often looking back at the black yurt where his beloved remained. He wanted her to hear his voice for a long time, and sang loudly:
If I dig a well at the foot of Kuskunnug,
Then I will find clean water in it,
If I woo a girl in a white yurt,
Then I will find a good wife in her.
He walked, thinking about Beach-kys. Suddenly, in front of him is Bura-Bashtyg’s eldest daughter, Chilbakai. She sits astride a beautiful white horse with silver harness. She is wearing a silk robe and a hat made of rich fur, and gold earrings glitter in her ears. Her eyes sting like caragana thorns.
“You are the most beautiful among my father’s people.” And you leave our aal and me! If I want, who will caress me?
Kodur-ool stood silently for some time. What do you say to a predatory lynx when it is preparing to tear its prey to pieces?
Finally he said to Chilbakai calmly and proudly:
- You are rich and elegant. But you don't have a heart. I hate you, I never want to see you.
Chilbakai whipped her horse with all her might and rushed across the steppe. And Kodur-ool went further on his father’s trail. He crossed the wide, flat steppe and came to the edge of the forest. A stormy mountain river flowed here; beyond the river lay endless forests, and behind them were chains of mountains, the peaks of which reached into the sky. By that time the sun had almost approached one of the high rocks and was soon to fall on it.
Kodur-ool went up the steep bank of the river. Finally he saw his father near a large cliff approaching the shore.
-Where have you been for so long? “Because of you, I missed the evening exit of the beast,” said the father.
“I didn’t disappear anywhere, but I walked the wrong path and wasted time going around,” answered Kodur-ool and became embarrassed under the gaze of his father’s stern eyes. He didn't say a word about Beach-kys.
The hunters made a big fire and went to sleep under the cliff.
Looking at the sparks flying into the black sky, Kodur-ool thought: “And the trees around us, and the stars in the sky, and my father and I - everyone wants to live. It’s hard to live, but still live well! You just need to be like your father. He is silent, and he has more prey than other hunters. Let’s kill a lot of animals, and Biche-kys will become the mistress of our new yurt.” With these thoughts he fell asleep.
When he woke up, the fire had long gone out. There was no father. Kodur-ool stood up, quickly cleaned and loaded the gun.
Then he remembered his inseparable friend would-zanchy.
“Wish me good luck in the hunt,” he said, tightly clutching the byzanchy in his hands, and sang:
As with the voice of a cuckoo the forests are full, so with the words of my beloved my heart and blood are full.
Then he placed the byzanchy in front of a large stone in a sheltered place and, taking a gun, went hunting. He walked, stepping carefully so that not a single branch would crunch under his feet.
So he walked until evening and returned to the cliff without killing a single animal.
Soon the father returned. He carried a gun on one shoulder and a wild goat on the other. But Kodur-ool, busy with thoughts about Biche-kys, did not notice his father’s arrival.
“What are you grieving about, son?” asked the father. Kodur-ool shuddered, but hid his embarrassment.
- How not to grieve? You see what booty you returned with, and I came empty-handed.
“Don’t be sad,” said the father, “the goat is ours.” Take the byzanchy, play and sing. I love it when you sing.
Kodur-ool sang and played until he fell asleep with the byzanchy in his hands. When he woke up, his father was gone again. Kodur-ool took the gun and firmly decided to return with the loot. At this time a thunderstorm struck.
"What is this? Everything went against me. In autumn there is a thunderstorm! He put the gun against the rock, took the byzanchy and began to play and sing. His voice was strong, like a storm, and at the same time gentle and high, like the calling call of a deer. It rained and thunder roared. Kodur-ool did not hear the howl of the storm.
Suddenly there was a terrible crash. It was lightning that smashed into splinters a large old cedar, its branches pressed against the rock. Kodur-ool woke up. Then an even stronger crash was heard, and from the rock where Kodur-ool was sitting, an elegant girl came out, wearing a robe of red silk, belted with a green belt, a lynx hat with a brocade top, and embroidered ikkas. Her narrow black eyes sparkled, the ends of her long braids reached to the ground. She sat calmly by the extinguished fire, as if not noticing the storm.
Kodur-ool did not know what to do. He remembered first his father, then his Biche-kys and was sternly silent. Finally he asked:
- Who are you? Where did you come from?
“I am the princess of these mountains and forests,” answered the girl. “The sounds of your byzancha brought me here.” They penetrated my heart. This is why I loved you.
When Kodur-ool heard these words, his heart felt warm. But something repelled him from the stranger. And Kodur-ool asked sternly:
- What do you need from me?
- Come with me. I have thousands of head of cattle. My yurt is made of pure gold and silver. If you become my friend, you will be the owner of this wealth. Do you agree?
“No, I won’t be your friend,” said Kodur-ool and went hunting.
But at this time a thunderstorm broke out with renewed vigor, thunder roared, and rain poured down. Some unknown force lifted Kodur-ool and carried it through the air. Having fallen to the ground, he saw a rich yurt near him.
Kodur-ool entered. The floor of the yurt was covered with patterned carpets, along the walls there were chests decorated with silver chasing, filled to the brim with expensive furs and jewelry. On the hearth there was a large bowl full of milk with yellow foam. To the right was a cupboard with a pattern of dragons and lions, and to the left was a bed covered with a silk blanket. There was no one in the yurt. After a while the princess entered.
“Here is my yurt,” she said. “If you live in it, all this will be yours.”
Kodur-ool did not answer.
“Is it possible for a man to be so shy?” Why are you afraid of me? Do you want me to become your wife? - she said.
Seeing that Kodur-ool was silent, she continued:
- If you are thinking about your own, then don’t worry: when we live together, you will bring them here.
“I don’t need your wealth and your beauty,” said Kodur-ool. “I have a poor but beloved girl.”
- Oh, that's it! Well, no, you won’t go to her. I won’t show you the way and I won’t give you horses! - the angry beauty shouted and ran away.
She placed guards around the yurt.
Kodur-ool could leave the yurt only to the place where an arrow shot with a tight bowstring would reach.
Every day he climbed the hill and played his favorite songs there. All the inhabitants of the aal were going to listen to him.
Kodur-ool spent long days and nights thinking about how to escape from the beauty. Chance helped him. The forest princess decided to test Kodur-ool’s patience. Before sunset she came to him and said:
- Listen, Kodur-ool. If you want to get what is most dear to you in the world, don’t say anything for ninety days. If you fulfill this condition, you will get everything you want. If not, you will be expelled from here and return to your fire with nothing. But don’t think of deceiving me: if you say anything on purpose, you will sit in this yurt under guard for the rest of your life.
“I am ready to fulfill your demand,” Kodur-ool agreed.
Kodur-ool did not speak for many days, fulfilling the condition. From time to time he climbed the mountain and played byzanchy. He thought about his homeland and about Beach-kys. He didn't want to stay here anymore, but he didn't know how to say something out loud so that the words would come out naturally and not on purpose.
One day Kodur-ool entered the yurt and began throwing wood on the fireplace, still thinking about how to accidentally say something.
He did not notice how the fire flared up, the milk in the bowl began to boil and began to noisily pour into the flames. He involuntarily exclaimed:
- The milk is boiling, the milk is boiling!
There was a terrible roar, someone picked up Kodur-ool and carried him away. He flew for a long time. Then he hit himself hard and, when he came to his senses, he saw himself near a familiar rock, near his fire, in old clothes, with a byzanchy in his hands.
- Where have you been, my son? I didn't sleep for many nights. I walked many taiga paths, looking for you. Sometimes I heard your song. But it echoed to me from all sides. I reached the gorges and came back. “Why didn’t you tell me where you went?” the father asked, pressing his son’s head to his chest.
Kodur-ool told everything that happened. After listening to him, the father said:
- Rich people are all the same. It's good that you're back.
“Are you with the booty again?” asked Kodur-ool.
- Of course! I’ve been hunting for forty years, and I’ve never had such rich catch before.
The father approached a large pile and removed the branches - underneath them lay precious animal skins folded in rows. Kodur-ool was delighted.
“Now Bura-Bashtyg’s gall bladder will burst!” he exclaimed. “What a pity that I didn’t help you in any way, father!” You got it all alone.
- Don't worry, son. It was you who helped me with your song. When you sang and played, all the animals of the taiga stopped and raised their ears.
Father cleaned the gun and tied the fur. Having shouldered the skins, they went home. All that remained in the parking lot were the bones of animals and the coals of an extinguished fire.
Bura-Vashtyg, seeing that Kodur-ool and his father returned with rich booty, greeted them warmly. But they did not bow to Bura-Bashtyg as before, but went straight to their yurt.
Bura-Bashtyg could not stand the insult. He entered the Kodur-ool yurt and said reproachfully:
- What kind of people are you? Have you forgotten the ancient custom of sharing with friends and family after a successful hunt?
“For some reason you didn’t notice our grief, but you immediately saw our wealth,” said the father.
Bura-Bashtyg quickly left, waving the long sleeves of his robe. Kodur-ool and his father laid out and hung the rich spoils in the yurt. Soon Bura-Bashtyg appeared again. He brought his daughter in a festive outfit.
“Listen, ashak,” Bura-Bashtyg said to Father Kodur-ool, “I need to talk to you alone.”
They left the yurt. Kodur-ool heard Bura-Bashtyg’s loud whisper through the felt: “Listen, you have a son, I have a daughter. We need to think about their happiness."
Kodur-ool turned around and looked at the daughter of Bura-Bashtyg.
“Now we are equals, dear Kodur,” she said. “I am noble, and you are rich.” I will be your wife. I love you.
“You don’t love me, but the skins of the animals killed by my father.” You can leave. I don't need your nobility.
At this time, Biche-kys was working in the Bura-Bashtyg yurt and crying bitterly.
“Kodur-ool is rich now,” she said to herself. “Bura-Bashtyg will want to marry him to Chilbakai.”
Then Bura-Bashtyg and his daughter entered, their eyes red with anger.
- Why are you hanging around here? “Get out of my yurt!” he shouted to Biche-kys.
Biche-kys, not understanding the reason for such anger, quickly threw back the curtain and slipped out of the yurt. Maybe Kodur-ool didn’t agree and is still thinking about her, Biche-kys? With this hope, she ran to the yurt of Ko-dura-ool, but met him halfway.
Kodur-ool grabbed her hands and said:
“I don’t want to ever be apart from you again!”
“Me too,” she replied.
And Biche-kys became the wife of Kodur-ool, the mistress of their new yurt.
[The black yurt is a dilapidated yurt of the poor Arats, black with smoke and soot. The rich lived in yurts covered with expensive white felt.
Karagannik is a thorny shrub.
Byzanchy is a musical instrument with horsehair strings.
Idyki are national shoes with upturned toes.]
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru