It was a long time ago.
A great and terrible misfortune happened in this world: the king of all snakes and dragons, the great twelve-headed Astakha 1, captured the sun and the moon and swallowed them.
It became dark on the ground.
But the great twelve-headed Astakha did not rest on this; he began to swallow entire peoples and tribes living on the earth.
Soon the land became completely deserted. Everyone was swallowed by the voracious, terrible Astakha.
Only three boys and their foals remained unnoticed. One of them was not noticed because at that time he was lying with his foal in the wide steppe, under a bush of a branchy tree, and the other was in a dark forest, in a deep ravine, and the third was in the high mountains, under a large stone.
But they knew nothing about each other. Each of them thought that he was probably the only person left on earth.
***
Years have passed.
The baby grew up, was buried in the wide steppe, and turned into a mighty and strong hero.
His horse has also grown up. He turned into a fast-winged, strong argamak.
He is very beautiful, all snow-white, with a small star on his forehead. He was a descendant of heavenly horses, and therefore he knew much of what was happening on earth. After all, the heavenly horses were once kind wizards and helped people in many troubles...
And on the ground it was just as dark.
“Is it really that dark everywhere? Is there really no light anywhere? — the hero once thought. And he decided to go in search of light. He saddled his horse and wanted to set off. But then suddenly his argamak horse spoke in human language:
- Ser-batyr 2, before you go looking for light, you need to find a weapon!
The hero was surprised and asked Argamak:
-Who are you talking to?
“With you,” he answers. - It’s you, Sier-batyr. When you were little, your parents called you that.
- Why am I called that by them?
- Ser-batyr, I will tell you about this too. Your named mother was the great mother earth. She saved you from a terrible death by burying you under the bushes on her chest. I remember it all. And your parents were swallowed by the great Astakha. He swallowed the sun and the moon, destroyed the light.
- Is it possible to defeat the great Astakha himself?
- Can. But more on that later. First you need to—
think about how to find a weapon.
Then Sier-batyr approached a huge oak tree growing on the edge of the forest, pulled it out by the roots, showed it to his horse and asked:
- Is this good for a weapon?
- No. You'd better look for another weapon.
Then Sier-batyr went to look for another weapon.
he saw a huge block of stone lying, he took it and returned to his argamak.
- Is this good for a weapon? - asks.
- No. “You’d better look for another weapon,” the horse answers again.
Then Sier-batyr threw the stone block and went to look for another weapon. He sees a heavy saber with a wide blade lying on the ground. This was a heroic saber-aldaspan3 made of Akhberda steel4.
The hero Aldaspan raised and returned to his argamak, showed him his weapon and asked:
- Will this work for me?
“Yes, this is your weapon,” answered the horse.
Then Sier-batyr jumped on his fleet-footed argamak and went to look for the light.
***
Day after day goes by, week after week passes...
Ser-batyr peers into the impending darkness, he can’t see what’s ahead...
And then suddenly the horse sensed something: it twitched its ears.
It turns out that another hero is sitting on the edge of a huge dark forest, the same boy who, together with his foal, lay in a deep ravine and was not noticed by the terrible Astakha. He has now become a strong and mighty hero. And his name was Yuman-batyr. His named father was the oak tree. He sat on the edge of the forest and played with his weapon - a chukmar - a club made from the trunk of a huge tree.
Yuman-batyr5 noticed him approaching and shouted to him:
-Where are you going, my elder brother?
“To get light,” he answers him, and then says: “It’s good that you called me big brother.” Otherwise, I would have pulled out my terrible weapon, the heavy aldaspan, from its sheath, and I would have cut off your head. And now you and I are sworn brothers.
“Take me with you,” asks Yuman-batyr.
“Let’s go,” answers Sier-batyr, glad that he will have a good traveling companion.
Yuman-batyr whistled, and a mighty heroic horse ran out to him from the thicket. He was all black, as if he had just been smeared with tar.
Yuman-batyr saddled his mighty black argamak and galloped after his named elder brother.
***
Day after day goes by, week after week passes...
Two hero brothers are riding on white and black argamak horses, peering into the impending darkness, both of them have trouble seeing what’s ahead...
And suddenly the horses sensed something: they twitched their ears.
It turns out that this hero is sitting on a high mountain, the same boy who, together with his foal, lay under a large stone and was not noticed by the terrible Astakha. He, too, has now become a strong and mighty hero. And his name was Tu-batyr6. His named mother was the mountain, which saved him from death and then gave him its name. He sat at the very top of the mountain and played with his weapon - a huge block of stone, broken off at the base of the ridge.
Tu-batyr noticed them approaching and shouted:
-Where are you going, my older brothers?
“To get light,” they answer.
And a little later Sier-batyr says:
“It’s good that you called us big brothers.” Otherwise, I would have pulled out my terrible weapon, the heavy aldaspan, from its sheath and cut off your head. And now you and I are sworn brothers.
“Take me with you,” asks Tu-batyr.
“We’re going,” the heroes tell him.
Then Tu-batyr whistled, and a mighty heroic horse ran out to the foot of the mountain from a deep gorge. He was handsome and handsome.
Tu-batyr saddled his mighty Savras argamak and galloped after his named elder brothers.
***
Three giant brothers are riding on white, black and savras horses. The days go by, and after the days - weeks and months...
One day they drove out into a wide field and noticed a blue river ahead.
The river is wide, its banks are high. A golden bridge is thrown across it, and on the other side, not far from the shore, stands a house cast of iron.
The heroes began to cross the blue river on the golden bridge.
The bridge sways and bends from the weight, but nothing is broken.
The heroes moved to the other side of the blue river, got off their horses, let them graze on the tall grass, and they themselves went into a house made of iron.
And inside there was a very beautiful, big house. Stars are shining on its ceiling and walls, but the sun and moon are not among them.
The brothers looked at the amazing stars, shook their heads, and then sat down at the table.
They were hungry. We got drunk, ate, and then everyone went to bed.
The heroes sleep in the house, and the horses graze in the wild.
Suddenly, at midnight, a white horse became agitated, ran around, snorted, and clattered its hooves.
Sier-batyr heard this, got out of bed, took his heavy saber-aldaspan and left the house.
A white horse runs to the river and snorts. And Sier-batyr follows him. So he approached the golden bridge.
The water in the blue river began to boil, the waves rose like mountains, and on the last wave a dragon with three heads floated, on each head a copper star was burning. He swims and growls from afar:
- Who took my house? I’ll burn everyone with fire and scatter the ashes to the wind!
Hearing this, Sier-batyr ran across the steppe, he rode around the mother earth, and began to gain strength. The hero understood: there is no way around this without a fight.
Here the wave carried the dragon onto the golden bridge.
Sier-batyr is right there.
Two opponents met.
-Are you going to give up or fight? - the dragon asks the hero.
“I will fight,” Sier-batyr answers bravely.
“If you fight, then fight,” says the dragon and shouts to him: “Strike first, if you’re not afraid!”
“It is not customary for our people to beat in a fair fight.”
first,” Sier-batyr answers him.
Copper stars lit up on the dragon’s heads, the dragon rushed at Sier-batyr, swung its tail and hit him so hard that he sank into the ground up to his ankles.
But the hero was not at a loss, jumped out of the ground, swung his heavy saber and cut off one of the dragon’s heads. Blood and water flowed and ran like a stream across the wide steppe.
Here the enraged dragon soared to the skies, swung its tail, blew flames from its mouth and struck the hero. Sier-batyr went into the ground up to his knees.
But again the hero managed to jump out of the ground. He stood in the steppe, spreading his legs, swung his heavy aldaspan and cut off the dragon’s second head. And blood and water flowed like a wide river across the steppe, filling ravines and lowlands...
The copper star on the only remaining head of the dragon lit up again, but not with a red light, but with a pale yellow light - he was exhausted. But nevertheless, having gathered his last strength, the dragon rose higher than the heavens, swung his tail, spewed out a whole sheaf of fire from his mouth and struck so that the hero managed to sink into the ground up to his waist. However, the hero immediately climbed up and hit the dragon with his aldaspan so much that blood and water flowed across the steppe like a sea-ocean and flooded the blue river.
Sier-batyr collected the severed heads and torsos, placed the pigeons of the river on the high bank and covered them with stones. And before that, he cut off all the ears of all the dragon heads and put them in his pocket. And, having covered the remains of the dragon with stones, the hero returned to the house where the brothers were sleeping, not sensing what danger their brother Sier-batyr had saved them from.
“You’ve been sleeping for a long time, giant brothers,” Sier-batyr reproached them and asked them to quickly get ready for the journey. “Let’s go further to look for the light.”
Here again three heroes are riding across the earth. The days go by, and after the days - weeks and months...
The heroes got hungry, and then they noticed a village with three houses under one roof on a high mountain.
Tu-batyr and Yuman-batyr are rushing to this house to find food there. But Sier-batyr tells them:
- Take your time. I’ll go and explore, while you rest and graze your horses here. Tu-batyr and Yuman-batyr listened to their brother
senior
Sier-batyr rode forward on his white horse. He drives up to one house, located with the rest under the same roof, looks out the window: on a copper chair, sits a beauty with a snake tail, a star on her forehead and in her ears, she rocks a child in the sway and sings:
“Three giant brothers are coming, your father’s killers are coming, they’re coming hungry and tired.” They want to find the light, rescue the moon and the sun from the captivity of the great Astakha, my father. So I’ll go to meet them, I’ll become a raspberry bush with juicy berries, they won’t stand it, they’re hungry, they’ll pick the berries, eat them and die... And whoever hears me now and tells someone else about my desire will himself become a block of stone.
Sier-batyr got out unnoticed, jumped on his horse and returned to his people. He didn't tell them anything...
So the three heroes moved forward and immediately noticed a raspberry bush with juicy berries near the road. Yuman-batyr and Tu-batyr were about to attack the raspberries, but Sier-batyr was ahead of them. He swung his heavy Aldaspan saber crosswise and cut the raspberry bush. The bush was gone, only black blood began to flow.
Yuman-batyr and Tu-batyr looked at each other, then at their elder brother, were surprised at what had happened, but did not say a word, they drove on, just as hungry.
The three brothers are moving on, moving on. On white, black and Savras horses. Days after days go by, weeks after weeks... So they went out into a wide steppe field and noticed a white river ahead. A golden bridge is thrown across it, and not far away there is a house, all silver, just like that.
The heroes began to cross the golden bridge, and the bridge swayed. But they were not afraid, they moved to the other side, got off their horses, let them go to pasture, and they themselves entered the silver house.
White stars are shining on the ceiling and walls of the house, but the sun and moon are not among them.
The heroes were tired and decided to rest here. But Sier-batyr, wise from the experience of the previous night, said:
“We need to post a guard at the bridge for the night so that we, the sleepy ones, are not attacked.”
- Who would dare to attack us, the three heroes? - the younger brothers began to object to him.
“Anything can happen,” Sier-batyr answered evasively. “But precisely because we are heroes, we need to beware, because heroes have more enemies than other people.”
“Our elder brother is afraid,” Tu-batyr and Yuman-batyr thought to themselves, but they did not dare to say it out loud, for fear of offending Sier-batyr.
The three of them cast lots. It fell to Yuman Batyr to go on guard. He took his chukmar and went to the bridge.
There is no one around, the horses are grazing somewhere nearby, and the darkness is terrible.
Yuman Batyr walked along the bridge for a long time, tapping with his club, but then, tired, he sat down on the railing and fell asleep.
The brothers are sleeping in the house, the horses are lying in the tall grass, and Yuman-batyr is snoring on the bridge.
Suddenly, at midnight, a white horse jumped up, snorted and clattered its hooves. Sier-batyr woke up, took his sharp aldaspan and took with him an armful of moss that was lying in the corner of the house.
He sees him sleeping and snoring on the Yuman-Batyr Bridge. Then he stuffed the sleeping Yuman-batyr’s ears and nostrils with moss, and stood on guard himself.
Now the water in the white river begins to boil, wave after wave comes, they rise like a mountain, and on the last wave a dragon with six heads swims, on each head a silver star is burning.
The dragon swims and roars from afar:
- Who took my silver house? I will burn with fire and scatter the ashes to the wind! Here Sier-batyr ran across the steppe, began to roll on the ground, gaining strength. Now a wave carried a six-headed dragon onto the Gotoy bridge. Here the two opponents met.
-Are you going to give up or fight? - asks the dragon.
“To fight,” Sier-batyr answers briefly.
“If you fight, then fight,” says the dragon, shouting to him: “Strike first, if you’re not afraid!”
“It is not customary among our people to strike first,” Sier-batyr objects to him. Then the silver stars on the six heads of the dragon lit up, he rushed at Sier-batyr, swung his tail, hit him and drove him into the ground up to his ankles. Sier-batyr jumped up, waved his heavy saber, and cut off one of the dragon’s heads. Blood and water flowed in a stream across the wide steppe.
Here the enraged dragon soared to the skies, swung its tail, puffed out flames, struck and drove the hero knee-deep into the ground. But Sier-batyr got to his feet, waved his aldaspan as hard as he could and cut off the dragon’s two heads at once, the blood and water flowed like an unprecedented river across the steppe and flooded the lowland.
The dragon became more enraged than ever, he soared higher than all the skies, swung his tail, breathed fire and lightning, struck and drove Sier-batyr waist-deep into the ground.
But the earth loved the hero and gave her strength. The hero became even stronger here, he jumped out of the ground, swung his unprecedented aldaspan with all his strength, and cut off all the remaining heads of the dragon. Blood and water flowed here like a sea-ocean, hitherto unprecedented, and flooded the entire white river. The hero collected the dragon heads, cut off all the ears and put them in his pocket. And then he covered both the dragon’s head and body with stones. But Yuman Batyr, sleeping on the bridge, never woke up.
Sier-batyr returned to the house, and there Tu-batyr was sleeping, not moving.
“You’ve been sleeping for a long time, my younger brother,” Sier-batyr reproached him, waking him up from sleep.
Here Yuman-batyr returned and began to swear:
“They put up a guard in vain; there is not a living soul on the bridge.” True, I then fell asleep, and some fool filled my ears and nostrils with moss.
- So, there was still someone there if your nostrils and ears were filled with moss? - Sier-batyr tells him.
“Or maybe it was the wind’s fault, it apparently blew on his side,” Tu-batyr suggested.
Sier-batyr did not argue with them; all he said to his brother-heroes was:
“Let’s go, brothers, to continue looking for light.”
And so the three heroes set off on their journey.
***
And again the three heroes ride. They ride on white, black and savras horses past high mountains, past dense forests, across the wide steppe. Days after days go by, after days - weeks, after weeks, months and years, time counts...
Hunger torments the heroes, thirst torments them, they want to eat and drink. So they noticed a village ahead on the mountain of six houses under one roof.
Sier-batyr went ahead to look for and ask for daily bread and life-giving water in the village. He drives up to the last house and looks out the window: a beauty with a snake tail is sitting on a silver chair, there are two stars on her forehead, two stars on her chest and a star in her ears. She sits, rocks the baby to sleep, and herself sings:
— Three giant brothers are coming. Your father's killers are coming, they are traveling hungry and thirsty, tired. They want to find the light, rescue the moon and the sun from the captivity of the great Astakha, your grandfather. If I go to meet them, I will become a cold spring, they will not endure it, they will drink cold water and die. But whoever hears me and tells others about my words will become cold water himself...
Sier-batyr got out unnoticed and returned to his people. And as soon as they moved back, they noticed a spring with clear water near the road. Yuman-batyr and Tu-batyr rushed to the spring.
But even here Sier-batyr was ahead of them. He flew up to the spring on his white horse and cut it lengthwise and crosswise with his saber. The spring was no longer there, only black blood ran across the ground in a fast stream...
Tu-batyr and Yuman-batyr looked at each other, then at their elder brother, but no one said anything. They moved on. The heroes rode and rode... And then they rode out into the steppe field, where low, yellowed grass grew. Ahead is a black river, it has overflowed, it is wide, a golden bridge is thrown over it, and not far away there is a house, all made of gold.
The bridge sways, preventing the heroes from crossing the black river. The heroes jumped off their horses, took their argamaks by the bridles and, not afraid of the strong rolling, walked across the bridge to the golden house. So they crossed the golden bridge, let their horses graze, and entered the house.
And inside is a house of unprecedented beauty. The golden stars on the ceiling and walls are burning, but the sun and moon are not among them.
The heroes are tired and want to go to bed. But Sier-batyr tells them that they need to guard the bridge, by lot, to stand guard for someone.
The heroes did not argue with him, although they did not believe him that someone could attack them, sleepy. All three cast lots, and it fell to the mighty Tu-batyr to go on guard.
Tu-batyr took his weapon, a block of stone, and went to the bridge to keep guard. He walked and walked along the bridge, rolled and rolled his block of stone along it, and was very tired. He sat down to rest, leaned his back against the railing and fell asleep.
The brothers are sleeping in the house, the horses are lying in the low yellowed grass, and Tu-batyr is snoring goldenly on the bridge.
At midnight, a white horse, a descendant of heavenly horses, jumped up, snorted, and clattered its hooves. Sier-batyr woke up, took his sharp aldaspan and an armful of moss that was in the house, and took it with him. I went to the bridge, and there Tu-batyr was sleeping as if nothing had happened. “I’m very tired,” thought Sier-batyr, and stuffed his ears and nostrils with moss so that he could sleep and not hear anything, and he stood guard in his place.
And then suddenly the water in the black river began to boil. Wave after wave went, they rise like a mountain. On the last wave the Dragon with nine heads floats. A golden star sparkles on each of his heads, and he roars from afar:
- Who took my golden house? I’ll swim to the shore, go out onto the golden bridge and burn it with blazing fire, scattering the ashes to the wind!
Sier-batyr sees that there will be an unprecedented battle here. We need to gain strength. He began to run across the steppe, roll on the ground, and began to feel how his body was gaining unprecedented strength.
Suddenly the last wave carried the nine-headed dragon onto the golden bridge.
And here the opponents came together.
-Are you going to give up or fight? - the dragon asks the hero.
- Fight! - Sier-batyr bravely answers.
- If you fight, then fight. Start the battle! - the nine-headed dragon shouts to him.
“It’s not customary for our people to strike first!” - Sier-batyr objects to him.
- Then be patient! - the dragon shouts.
So he rushed at the hero, swung his tail, puffed out flames and hit him so hard that he immediately drove him into the ground up to his knees.
But the hero stood up, swung his heavy saber and cut off two heads of the dragon at once. Blood and water flowed in a stream across the steppe.
The dragon became enraged, soared to the skies, swung its mighty tail, burst into fire-lightning, struck and drove the hero waist-deep into the ground.
But mother earth gave Sier-batyr strength, he got out of the ground, waved his aldaspan and cut off three heads of the dragon at once. Black blood-water flowed across the steppe and flooded the entire lowland.
The dragon rose above all the skies, swung his tail, hit the hero, scorched him with fire and drove him into the ground up to his neck.
But Sier-batyr managed to take off his boot and throw it towards the horse. And his white argamak rushed to his aid, began to beat the dragon with his hooves and tear him with his teeth.
Meanwhile, Sier-batyr crawled out of the ground stronger than before, grabbed the dragon by the tail, hit him with his aldaspan and cut off three more heads. The dragon prayed and said to the giant hero:
“Don’t destroy me, leave me alive, and as a reward for this, I will help you defeat our king, the great Astakha.”
“I don’t need the enemy’s help.” And I know: he who betrays his own once will betray him again,” said the hero and waved his heavy saber.
“I know many secrets,” the dragon begged again. “For example, you have the ears of my little brothers in your pocket.” As soon as you take them out of your pocket, the great Astakha himself will suddenly attack you...
“I don’t need your treacherous advice,” Sier-batyr told him and, waving his aldaspan, cut off his last head.
Then the whole earth was filled with stench. Then Sier-batyr collected the dragon heads, cut off the ears, and put them in his pocket. And then he covered their heads and torsos with stones. Tu-batyr never woke up. Sier-batyr returned to the house, and there Yuman-batyr was sleeping, not moving.
“You’ve been sleeping for a long time, my middle brother,” Sier-batyr reproached him, waking him up from sleep.
Here Tu-batyr returned from guard duty and began to swear:
“There’s not a single living soul there, however, I fell asleep in the morning and some fool filled my ears and nostrils with moss.” I wanted to teach him a lesson, but there was no trace of him... - After thinking, he added: - At first I thought that the wind was blowing in my direction and filled my ears and nostrils with moss, but there was no wind all night...
“Let’s go further, brothers,” Sier-batyr tells them, “I sense that we are approaching the kingdom of the great and terrible Astakha and fierce battles await us.”
And the three heroes set off on their journey.
***
Three heroes ride and ride. They drive past high mountains, past dense forests, across a wide steppe. Days, weeks, months and years pass. Hunger torments them, thirst torments them, and makes them sleepy. They want to eat bread, drink water, sleep and rest. They see a mountain ahead, and on the mountain - a village of nine houses under one roof.
Sier-batyr went there to look and ask for daily bread, life-giving water, and a corner for rest. He drives up to the last house, looks out the window: a beauty with a snake tail is sitting on a golden chair, there are three stars on her forehead, two stars on her chest, stars in her ears and stars on her wrists. She sits, rocks the baby to sleep, and herself sings:
“Three heroic brothers are coming, your father’s killers are coming, they are going hungry, thirsty, very tired. They want to find the light, save the sun and the moon, defeat my father, your grandfather. Now I’ll go out to meet them, I’ll become a soft feather bed, they won’t endure it, they’ll lie down to rest and die... And whoever hears my words and passes it on to others will himself become white fluff...
Sier-batyr quietly walked away, returned to his people and did not say a word to them about what he had heard.
“We are tired,” the younger brothers tell him.
“But there’s nowhere to rest here, let’s move on,” Sier-batyr said to them.
Over there you can see a village of nine houses, let’s go there,” the younger brothers tell him.
“A village of nine houses, but under one roof,” said Sier-batyr mysteriously, “we shouldn’t go there.” Let's hurry up, my named brothers.
And so they moved on. Suddenly they see: in front of them is a feather bed.
- Here we can rest! - Tu-batyr and Yuman-batyr were happy.
They rushed to the feather bed, but even here Sier-batyr got ahead of them. He flew up on a white horse, hit her with an Aldas-pan and cut her lengthwise and crosswise. The bed was as if it had never happened, only black blood flowed across the steppe like a wide, fast river.
But Yuman-batyr and Tu-batyr did not understand from what death their elder brother saved them, they began to be indignant:
- Do you want our destruction? We listened to you, followed you, and did not contradict you in anything. And you destroyed our last hope - a warm bed!..
Sier-batyr wanted to tell them everything that he heard at the house, that he was on the mountain, but he remembered everything in time - he couldn’t talk about it, otherwise he himself would turn into fluff. Therefore, he did not argue with them. And this completely enraged his smaller brothers.
“We won’t go with you anymore,” they say. “You will destroy us with your anger towards everything.” And you destroyed the raspberries, and you destroyed the spring, and now you have destroyed the feather bed.
Then Sier-batyr could not stand it, began to take out of his pocket the ears of the dragons, which he cut off before burying the heads and torsos under the stones, and said:
- Didn’t I try to protect your peace! When you were sleeping, tired, and by the blue river, and by the white river, and by the black river, I had to guard not only your
peace, but also your life. I won't talk about the rest...
- We don't believe you! - the younger brothers shouted.
And Sier-batyr began to pull out the rest of the dragons’ ears from his pockets.
“Here are the ears of the three-headed dragon that attacked us at the bridge of the blue river,” said Sier-batyr, throwing the ears of the dragons in turn on the ground. “And these are the ears of the six-headed one that attacked us at the white river, when you, Yuman-batyr, stood on guard and fell asleep, and I had to fight the enemy... And these are the ears of the nine-headed dragon that attacked us at the black river, when you, Tu-batyr fell asleep on guard duty. Then I also had to fight with him.
“And who filled our ears and nostrils with moss when we fell asleep on guard?” - asked the surprised heroes Tu-batyr and Yuman-batyr.
- I did it. I didn't want to disturb you. I wanted you to sleep and gain strength.
- Why did you destroy these raspberries that we met on the way? Why did you destroy the spring, and then the feather bed? - the younger brothers asked the older one.
But Sier-batyr did not have time to tell them anything. At this time a rumble was heard, and suddenly a terrible, cold wind blew.
- It turns out that the nine-headed dragon was right! - Sier Batyr exclaimed here and ordered his smaller brothers to prepare for battle with the great Astakha himself, who swallowed the moon and the sun, all the peoples and tribes living on the earth...
***
The three heroes were taken by surprise by the great Astakha.
Sier-batyr did not have time, as before, to run across the steppe, roll on the ground, and gain strength.
The great dragon Astakha flew at them like a storm.
It was a twelve-headed dragon. And each of his heads was as big as a house. And one, the most terrible, is the size of a huge palace.
Astakha overtook the heroes, curled up around them in a ring and surrounded everyone like a fence, opening his mouth that the gates were wide and like deep abysses. The horses trembled and neighed.
Sier-batyr pulled out his heavy saber from its sheath and rushed at the great dragon.
And Tu-batyr and Yuman-batyr, holding their weapons, began to fight with Astakha.
Yuman-batyr beats the dragon's heads with his huge club. And Tu-batyr beats the dragon with his block. But the heroes cannot defeat the king of dragons. They fought for a day, fought for two, and the warriors’ strength was already running out. Then Sier-batyr decided on a desperate deed. He decided to jump onto the dragon's tail and from there attack it and cut off all its heads.
He jumped off his horse. And as soon as his feet touched the ground, he felt great strength. And so he jumped onto the dragon's tail. But when he left the ground, the strength that mother earth had given was gone. He can barely swing his heavy Aldaspan. The dragon sees this and turns its largest head towards him to swallow it.
But Tu-batyr was ahead of him. Seeing what a terrible danger overtook his older brother, he threw a huge boulder straight into the dragon’s mouth.
The dragon swallowed a block of stone. Meanwhile, his horse flew up to Sier-batyr, he saddled the horse and passed the danger.
Again the heroes began to fight nearby against the dragon.
Sier-batyr waved his saber and cut off three heads of the dragon that wanted to swallow them along with the horses.
Once again Sier-batyr swung his heavy saber and cut off three more heads that tried to swallow them, too, along with the horses.
And now the battle of the three heroes with the terrible Astakha, the king of dragons, who swallowed all the peoples and tribes of the earth and the moon and the sun, lasts for a whole month. Finally, Astakha had only one head left, the most terrible one, which was larger than a huge palace. He shoots with fire and lightning and does not allow anyone to approach him.
And for a whole month the heroes with their horses are surrounded by Astakha’s body.
The heroes are tired. Their horses were also tired.
The rich were accustomed to hunger. But the horses are not. They need to graze among the grass and gain strength. And here, in captivity of Astakha’s body, the whole earth is torn up, there is not a blade of grass.
“Let’s jump over the dragon’s body into the wide steppe,” says Sier-batyr. “Let’s feed our horses with tall grass and attack Astakha again.”
Here Yuman-batyr’s black horse jumped and, together with its rider, fell into the dragon’s mouth.
Tu-batyr’s Savras horse jumped after him and, together with his rider, fell into the same place.
Then the white horse said to Sier-batyr:
- Don’t feel sorry for me, hit my croup with your saber! Ser-batyr did just that. The blood of the white horse splashed out and hit the remaining head of Astakha right in the eyes. She went blind.
The white horse jumped and jumped over the dragon's body. But Astakha did not remain in place; he began to chase the rider.
Sier-batyr flew on his horse, only a trail of blood trailed behind him. The white horse is tired and cannot run fast. The dragon is about to overtake them. And its noise is already close.
A white horse gallops, exhausted, bleeding.
And then the dragon hit Sier-batyr with his tail. The hero fell from his horse and rolled. And then I felt great power. He stood up from the ground towards Astakha.
Meanwhile, he had already managed to swallow Sier-batyr’s horse and was setting his sights on the hero himself.
But Sier-batyr, who had gained strength from the mother earth, swung his heavy saber.
The last huge head of the terrible Astakha rolled, his body collapsed to the ground. Mother Earth gasped from the weight of Astakha’s fallen body.
Once! — the hero cut off one part of Astakha’s body. The sun rolled across the earth and rose into the sky. It rolled from east to west, emitting bright light and warmth.
Once! - Asta chopped off another part of the body: the hero Sier-batyr. An entire people poured out of the dragon's body onto the ground.
Whatever is cut off, a whole people comes out.
And then Yuman-batyr and Tu-batyr with black and savras horses came out of Astakha’s body.
They came out and said:
- Oh, how long we slept!
And then they were surprised that it was light and warm on earth. Sier-batyr says to them:
“This sun rolled out of Astakha’s body and rose into the sky. It illuminates us and gives us warmth.
And he himself chops everything and chops Astakha’s torso into pieces.
Then Sier-batyr’s white horse jumped out, saw its owner and neighed joyfully.
All the tribes and peoples rescued from the womb of Astakhk woke up and came to life, and began to thank Sier-batyr.
Meanwhile, the sun sank to the west. Sier-batyr struck Astakha’s body with his heavy saber for the last time, and the moon rolled out of his womb and rose up. She swam after the sun, helping to illuminate the sky and earth.
So Sier-batyr rescued peoples and tribes from the womb of the great and terrible Astakha, freed the sun and moon and returned light to people.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru