There lived a poor old man in one village, and he had twelve sons. The eleven eldest sons were evil, stupid and lazy. And the youngest son, Baiburak, was kind, dexterous and smart. When the sons grew up, the father decided to marry them. But here’s the problem: where can you find so many brides? And the old man had to go looking around the world for brides for his sons.
He made himself boots without tops and a beshmet without sleeves, took a flatbread and a leg of lamb for the road and went on a journey.
He walked one step forward and two steps back, and finally reached the mountain where the old woman Kart-Enem’s hut stood. The old woman Kart-Enem was spinning wolf hair.
“Hello, neighbor!” said the old man.
- Hello, man! Why did you come?
“I’m looking for brides for my twelve sons,” answered the old man. “I’ve worn out my boots, torn my beshmet, but there’s no sense in sight.”
- Very good! “Let’s marry your sons to my daughters,” said the old woman Kart-Enem. “I have just twelve.”
The old man went home and told his sons to go get the brides.
The brothers quickly got ready and set off. The old woman fed them, gave them something to drink and put them to bed under a magic blanket that could cover three thousand people.
At midnight, the younger brother Bayburak heard the old woman sharpening her large knife in the dark and woke up the elders.
“Don’t sleep,” he said.
Kart-Enem sharpened her knife, approached the brothers and asked:
- Who is sleeping, who is not sleeping?
“I’m not sleeping!” responded Baiburak.
“Why aren’t you sleeping?” the old woman was surprised.
- Because your geese are screaming.
The old woman Kart-Enem went and killed her geese. I left only three - they were magic geese.
“Who sleeps here, who doesn’t sleep?” she asked when she returned.
“I’m not sleeping!” responded Baiburak.
“Why aren’t you sleeping?” the old woman Kart-Enem got angry.
- Because your cows moo.
The old woman Kart-Enem ran, woke up her eldest daughter, and together they slaughtered all the cows.
As soon as the old woman Kart-Enem came out, Baiburak rushed to the brothers, and they rushed away from these places as quickly as they could.
And the old woman Kart-Enem came home and realized that Baiburak and his brothers had outwitted her. She howled with anger, got into a cart without wheels and flew after them.
Baiburak saw: Kart-Enem was catching up with them, threw a stone at her, and a high mountain grew between them. The old woman Kart-Enem began to gnaw this mountain with her iron teeth, gnawed right through and again chased after the brothers.
She had almost caught up with them, but Bayburak stamped his foot, and a deep abyss lay behind the brothers. The old woman Kart-Enem could not jump over it. She had to turn back.
And although the older brothers returned home safely, out of stupidity and malice they hated Baiburak for his courage and dexterity and only thought about how to destroy him.
And finally they came up with it. They came to the khan of that country and said:
“The old woman Kart-Enem, the Great Khan, has a magic blanket that can cover three thousand people at once.
Khan really wanted to have such a blanket.
“Get it for me!” he ordered.
“We won’t get it, our brother Baiburak will,” answered the eleven brothers.
“Then tell him: let him bring me the magic blanket, otherwise I’ll cut off my head.”
Baiburak didn’t think long, threw a stick over his shoulder and went for the magic blanket.
He came to the old woman Kart-Enem, climbed onto the roof and made a hole in the roof just above the mistress’s bed. Then he stuck a needle into the end of the stick and sat there, waiting for the night.
So Kart-Enem fell asleep, and Baiburak stuck a stick into the hole and pricked it with a needle. The old woman thought that fleas were biting her, and out of frustration she threw the magic blanket out the door.
And the cunning Bayburak threw the blanket on his back and left.
The old woman Kart-Enem tossed and turned a little more, and then thought: “If only that sly Baiburak had stolen my blanket!” I came out of the saklya and saw: there was no blanket, and Baiburak was already crossing the neighboring mountain.
The old woman Kart-Enem almost burst with anger, got into a cart without wheels and set off in pursuit.
As soon as she began to catch up with Baiburak, he threw a stone, and a high mountain rose behind him. The old woman bit into this mountain with iron teeth and gnawed right through it. She is about to catch up with Baiburak.
Then Baiburak stamped his foot, and a deep abyss lay between them. And again Kart-Enem was unable to get over it and, clanking her teeth, returned home.
And Baiburak took the magic blanket to the palace and received a golden chervonets as a reward from the khan. Baiburak's envious brothers hated him even more. And they figured out how to destroy him. They came to the khan and said:
“The old woman Kart-Enem, the Great Khan, has magic geese: they can predict the future, and our Baiburak can get those geese.”
Khan called Bayburak to him:
- Will you get me a magic goose?
“I’ll get it!” answered Baiburak.
You never know, Baiburak walked a little, or a long time, but he came to the old woman Kart-Enem and hid behind the door.
“Go and bring me a goose,” the old woman Kart-Enem said just at that time to her eldest daughter. “I’ll tell you where this cunning Baiburak is now.”
The daughter brought a goose.
“Goose, where is Baiburak now?” asked the old woman.
“He’s hiding behind your door,” answered the goose.
The old woman Kart-Enem didn’t believe it, got angry and tore off the goose’s head, and her daughter sent for the second goose. The daughter brought the second goose.
“Come on, goose, where is Baiburak now?” asked the old woman Kart-Enem.
“It’s here, behind the door,” answered the goose.
Then she tore off the head of the second goose and sent her daughter for the third.
The third goose became speechless with fear when he saw what had happened to the other geese, and then shouted:
- Look for yourself, Baiburak is standing outside the door!
It was only then that the old woman guessed to open the door. Baiburak stood in the corner. She grabbed him and began to tie him to the table. And she herself sang:
Well, I finally got you! So I'll fry you, you sly fellow!
“It’s so boring to have dinner alone,” responded Baiburak. “I should invite my relatives to dinner, and then sing songs!”
And the old woman Kart-Enem ran to call her relatives for dinner, and Baiburak broke the ropes, grabbed the magic goose under his arm and went home.
This time the old woman Kart-Enem set off in pursuit too late - you can’t call all your relatives soon - Baiburak calmly reached his house, rested a little and brought the magic goose to the khan as a gift. And the khan, to celebrate, gave him two whole gold chervonets.
The evil brothers were completely dry with envy. And they went to the khan for the third time and said to him:
“You now have a magic blanket and a fortune-telling goose, Great Khan.” And Baiburak boasts and says: I’ll drag the old woman Kart-Enem here too.
Khan called Bayburak and asked:
— Will you bring the old woman Kart-Enem to the palace?
“You can bring it,” said Baiburak. “I’m only afraid that there will be trouble.”
Baiburak went to the khan's blacksmith and ordered to forge an iron chest with a hundred locks, and then he changed into rags, attached a beard made of tow to himself, lifted the chest onto his shoulder and hobbled to the old woman Kart-Enem.
“Do you know Baiburak?” he asked the old woman Kart-Enem.
- Oh, I know, I know! This cunning Baiburak caused me a lot of grief,” answered the old woman.
And then she saw an iron chest.
- Why are you carrying such a heavy chest with you?
“I hide in it in the summer from the heat, and in the winter from the cold,” explained Baiburak.
“Sell me the chest,” asked the old woman Kart-Enem.
- You can sell it... Just climb into it first, let’s see if it’s comfortable for you.
Baiburak opened the lid and, as soon as the old woman Kart-Enem climbed into the chest, he clicked and locked all one hundred locks.
Baiburak put the chest on his shoulders and carried it to the city, but did not go to the palace with it, he appeared to the khan light and told him:
- That's it! I am no longer your servant! And I don’t need any reward. Here are the keys to the chest.
Baiburak gave the keys to the khan and climbed the high tower. And in front of the door of that tower a deep hole was dug.
The khan came running for the chest and just opened the last of a hundred locks - the old woman Kart-Enem jumped out and swallowed the khan alive.
Then Kart-Enem looked around and saw Baiburak on a high tower. She rushed towards him, but in her haste she tripped, fell into a hole and was broken.
And Baiburak has lived peacefully since then. And I must tell you, he lived well.
I visited him myself. I drank mash and ate halva!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru