It was a long time ago. A wide, bright, transparent river flowed through the plains of Inner Mongolia. On its western bank, a girl of extraordinary beauty lived quietly and peacefully with her mother. Her name was Sola.
And on the eastern bank of the river lived a rich noyon (noyon - prince, owner of livestock and pastures) with his servants and entourage.
Among the servants of the noyon there was one young man. Even in early childhood, he lost his parents, and he didn’t even have a name. From an early age he tended the Noyon cattle, and everyone called him just a shepherd.
Life was hard for him: from early morning until late at night he worked without rest, never ate enough, and did not have warm clothes. And on top of that, he often got it from his owner.
One day in the spring, when warm days arrived, the shepherd noticed that every time he drove along the river towards the pastures, a beautiful girl looked at him from the western bank with a gentle smile. And in the evening, when he returned home, she was already waiting for him in the same place.
At first the shepherd did not pay attention to her, but seeing her every day, he began to think about her more and more often, and love arose in his heart.
One evening, a shepherd saw a girl on the other side suddenly wave her hand, something flashed in the air and some object fell at his feet. He jumped off the saddle and picked it up. It turned out to be a piece of cheese wrapped in a rag, to which was tied a wallet embroidered with colored threads.
The young man looked at the other bank - the girl was standing just opposite and laughing merrily.
From then on, the young man began to often cross over to the western shore to sit and joke with Sola. They became more and more accustomed to each other, and soon it was difficult for them to part.
The young man always carried with him a wallet that his beloved gave him. Having driven the cattle out to pasture, he would sit somewhere to the side, pull out his wallet from his bosom and admire it for a long, long time, and at night he always put the wallet under his pillow.
Once a noyon was driving along the river. Looking towards the western shore, he saw a beautiful girl washing clothes. Noyon stopped his horse and looked at the beauty with admiration for a long time, and then shouted to his servants:
- Catch this bird for me, and live! I like her! - and laughed loudly.
That same evening, the girl was captured and forcibly brought to the noyon’s house. Noyon invited her to become his younger wife. Sola got angry and began to scold Noyon so that his fat, round face became redder than a beet. Noyon became furious, pulled out a short, sharpened knife from his belt and shouted angrily:
- Shut your mouth, or I’ll stab you to death! Hey, lock her up!
The servants carried out his orders.
Night fell, and everything was quiet in Noyon’s house. Only poor Sola sat alone in a tiny dark closet and cried bitterly, lamenting her fate. She remembered the young man, and it was as if a fire had flared up in her soul - she so wanted to break out of prison!
Having learned about what had happened, the shepherd was greatly saddened and decided to help out his beloved at all costs.
At midnight, taking advantage of the fact that the gloomy guard was fast asleep, the young man quietly crept into the closet, grabbed the girl by the hand and whispered:
- Let's go faster!
They jumped on the horse and were just about to set off when they accidentally woke up the terrible dogs of the Noyon; They, like a mad whirlwind, attacked them with loud barking. But the young man lashed the horse with a whip, and they galloped off.
Meanwhile, the barking of dogs woke up the guard. Seeing that Sola had disappeared, he was seriously frightened and rushed to report to Noyon about the escape. He flew into a rage and sent horsemen to catch up with the fugitive.
At dawn, the Noyon's servants surrounded the shepherd and Sola. They were grabbed and dragged back to the noyon's house. Seeing the shepherd with the girl, Noyon stared at him in amazement and shouted:
- Oh, you damn brat! How dare you free her and even run away with her?
But the young man was not afraid of his scream. He could no longer contain the hatred and anger that had been lurking in his heart for many years. Fearlessly he approached the noyon:
“Is it fair to steal other people’s girls?!” And is saving a person a crime?
Noyon seemed dumbfounded by these words and was almost speechless. But he quickly came to his senses and shouted to his servants:
- Hey, tie the boy to a post and let the dogs tear him to pieces!
Sola rushed to the young man, grabbed his robe and, crying, began to beg Noyon:
- No, don't do it, don't do it!
But the girl’s tears did not touch Noyon’s heart. He turned and followed the servants, who dragged the shepherd into the courtyard to subject him to cruel execution.
Soon Sola heard the loud barking of angry dogs and a piercing, heartbreaking cry. She trembled all over and rushed into the yard. She saw a terrible picture! The girl screamed wildly and immediately fell unconscious.
After killing the shepherd, the noyon again began to force Sola to become his wife. But she stubbornly disagreed and bitterly mourned her lover. She did not drink or eat anything for many days and soon died.
So that even after death the shepherd and Sola could not unite, the noyon ordered the girl to be buried on the eastern bank, and the remains of the young man to be scattered on the western bank.
But one day people saw that a mound had appeared on the western bank, just opposite Sola’s grave. It turned out that some kind old man buried the remains of the young man, scattered in the field.
Several days passed and one night Noyon dreamed that a shepherd and Sola came down from the sky and sternly said to him:
“Villain, we will chase you forever until you turn into a black turtle.”
Morning came, and people saw that two mountains had grown on the site of the lovers’ graves. The peaks of these mountains grew together, as if a large stone bridge had been thrown across the river.
The news of this reached the noyon, and he, accompanied by servants, went to the river bank. And what did he see? Out of the blue, two mountains grew up with one common peak.
Noyon understood what was happening, but pretended to be funny and ordered the masons to destroy the top.
However, this was not so easy to do: no matter how much time and effort they spent, the work did not move forward.
Noyon, in a rage, ordered the masons to chisel the mountain day and night. But this did not lead to anything. Then Noyon himself climbed to the top of the mountain and angrily shouted into the sky:
- Hey you scoundrels! Today you must part! Otherwise I’ll deal with you myself!
As soon as he said this, the mountains suddenly shook and a deafening clap of thunder was heard. The top of the mountain split, an abyss opened up under the noyon, and he flew straight into the river like a stone.
People looked at the water, but did not see any noyon - only a large black turtle was floundering there.
A little time passed, the turtle turned to stone, and everything around calmed down.
The peaks of the two mountains have no longer been connected since then. And to this day they rise majestically on the opposite banks of the river. People called them the Mountains of Immortality.
And the black turtle lay across the river for many years. until the waves finally washed her away and carried her away to God knows where.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru