On the edge of a fertile valley, on the bank of a fast river, under the arm of an icy mountain stood a small village. In that village lived a poor man named Naran-Gerelte. And he had a beautiful daughter, Naran-Seseg, which means Sunny branches.
A Tibetan lama got into the habit of staying under their roof. He really liked the beautiful Naran-Seseg, and the lama decided to take her away from her parents’ house. And he cheated, and promised mountains of gold, and intimidated the poor girl - nothing helped. Then the lama decided on a last resort: he waited for the right moment and gave the girl a decoction of seven herbs, one of which was poisonous.
Not even a day had passed since Naran-Seseg fell ill. Her sunny gaze has faded, her poppy cheeks have faded, she lies without getting out of bed. But the unfortunate father does not find a place for himself, he does not know what to do. He rushed to the same lama, brought him into the house and said:
– I conjure you with Burkhan (Burkhan is a god, deity), find the cause of my only daughter’s illness and help cure her!
The lama put on an important air, pored over the yellow book of fates, and then said:
– Black Lusad Khan demands your daughter. Only this merman can heal Naran-Seseg. If you don’t send your sick daughter to Lusad Khan of your own free will, she won’t live even a week. But if you hurry, you’ll see that she’ll soon return alive and healthy.
My father was very upset by this demand.
“We don’t even know the road to Lusad Khan,” he says.
- Don't worry about it. “I take all the troubles upon myself,” the lama assured and, without hesitation, got down to business. He ordered the carpenters to put together a pine box, such that water would not leak into it and that Naran-Seseg could fit in it. They put the best clothes at the bottom along with jewelry and a supply of food for a week.
Before entering the box herself, Naran-Seseg turned to her father with one last request:
– Let the red dog Gurig go with me, I don’t need anything else.
That’s what they did: they put the red dog Gurig in a pine box with the girl, closed the lid and nailed it tightly with nails.
“Now go up the river and let the box go downstream, along the very rapids,” the lama teaches. He himself mounted his horse and rode along the bank to the lower reaches of the river. He arrived home and said to his seven novices-huvaraks (Khuvarak is a novice, a student of the lama):
- A pine box will arrive here soon. Catch him, carefully drag him ashore, bring him into the house and place him in front of the shrine. Look, don’t open the lids, otherwise it will be a big sin!
The Huvaraks rushed to carry out the order.
Meanwhile, a shepherd guy was riding along the shore on his gray bull. He sees a wooden box floating along the river core, swaying on the waves.
“What could it be?” – the guy thought.
He immediately threw off his clothes and swam across the box. With great difficulty the guy pushed his find onto the shore, tore off the lid - and a girl of unprecedented beauty came out of the box.
- Take out everything you find from the bottom. Just don’t let out the red dog Gurig,” Naran-Seseg tells his savior.
The guy left the red dog Gurig in the box, nailed the lid again and pushed it into the water. And he himself sat on the gray bull, placed the beautiful Naran-Seseg behind him and slowly rode to his hut.
-Whose will you be? What do you live for? – dear Naran-Seseg asks him.
“I’m a poor shepherd,” the guy answers. “I feed myself on the leftovers from the khan’s table, and I also collect buckwheat grains in the steppe, dig up sweet grass roots, and that’s how I live.”
Naran-Seseg also told about herself, and when they entered the poor shepherd’s hut, when the girl saw the bachelor’s mess and knee-deep dirt, she rolled up her sleeves and got to work: what needed to be cleaned, she cleaned, what needed to be scraped, she scraped, and the dwelling took on a decent appearance.
And seven Huvaraks are sitting on the shore, waiting for the box to appear.
- It floats, it floats! – the brightest of them finally shouted.
The Huvaraks grabbed the iron hooks and pulled the box onto the shore. Together they lifted him onto their shoulders, carried him to the house of their teacher and placed him in front of the shrine.
– Did you do everything as I told you? - the lama asks them. – Was the box dropped along the way? Is its lid open?
“Do we dare to disobey you, lambagai (Lambagai is a respectful address to the lama),” the seven huvaraks answer.
“Then fulfill one more of my orders,” the lama tells them. – Go beyond the seven passes, see how people live there. Don't be in too much of a hurry, don't be back until tomorrow evening.
The Huvaraks set off for seven passes. And the lama rushed to open the treasured box. In anticipation of a close meeting with the beauty, Naran-Seseg confused the lama with the words of a prayer with a song about two lovers. “Be patient, sun-faced one! Be patient, clear-eyed! – the llama purrs under his breath. “Now I’ll let you out!” With these words, the last nail scraped, the box opened, and out came not the sun-faced Naran-Seseg, but a huge red dog. She bristled at the sight of the llama, rushed at him and tore him into small pieces, and swept the remains along the gorge with her fiery red tail.
The Huvaraks, who returned the next evening, called for their teacher for a long time, but they never got through.
And the shepherd guy doesn’t leave his beautiful wife a single step, he admires her day and night, he can’t stop admiring her. I completely forgot that he was the only breadwinner in the house.
When food supplies began to run out, Naran-Seseg said to her husband:
“You should go get some buckwheat grains and some locust roots.”
In response to this, her husband stared at her even more intently, unable to take his eyes off her.
Then Naran-Seseg painted her portrait on birch bark and gave it to her husband with the words:
- Now I will always be with you.
The shepherd sat on his gray bull and went to the steppe to look for something edible. He will drive a little, take the birch bark out of his bosom, look at the portrait and continue to correct. At one of the passes the guy took out the birch bark once again, but a blowing whirlwind tore it out of his hands and carried the portrait away to God knows where.
The guy returned home in tears and told his wife about what had happened.
- In which direction was the birch bark blown? - asks the wife.
“To the south,” the guy answers through tears.
“This is the worst of all,” Naran-Seseg was saddened. “The Khan of the southern domains has been looking for me for a long time. If my portrait falls into his hands, then by your hot and cold footprints he will find our hut. What should we do then? How to defend yourself from trouble if you have no other weapon except an iron shovel, and I have no other weapon except a thin needle?
They were completely sad. They sit hugging each other. They will look up and laugh unkindly; they will look down and they will cry bitterly.
“If they kidnap me, you still don’t forget about me,” Naran-Seseg says to his husband. - Search constantly, ask experienced people about me. Here's a gold ring for you. When you find out about the place of my imprisonment, you will let me know with this ring.
The next day, like a black whirlwind, strangers attacked the hut and stole Naran-Seseg.
The guy grieved for a day, grieved for another, and then saddled a gray bull and went in search of his wife. For a year he wandered along the steppe and taiga roads. Finally he met an old herdsman tending the khan’s horses.
“Hello, well done,” says the old man. “The hooves of your bull are so worn out that you can easily guess: your path has been long and difficult.” But tell me where it lies.
“I had a beautiful wife named Naran-Seseg. We lived with her in love and harmony. But one day the people of the khan of the southern possessions attacked and stole my wife. Since then, I’ve been looking for her all over the world,” the shepherd guy finished his story with a sigh.
“It turns out, well done, you’re not far from your goal,” the old man concluded. - Because I graze the horses of that same khan of the southern domains. Apparently I didn’t see, but I heard that a girl of unprecedented beauty appeared in the Khan’s chambers a year ago. Young and old cowgirls say that she often visits them and tells them the same story that you told me. It turns out that you have found your wife. Today I will take the best stallion from the herd to the Khan’s farmstead. Maybe I will be able to see Naran-Seseg and have a word with her.
“Then give her this ring,” the guy asked, taking the gold ring off his hand.
The old herdsman brought the unbroken stallion to the Khan's farmstead, and he looked around. He sees a clear-eyed beauty sitting by the lattice window. The old man immediately realized that this was Naran-Seseg. He put a golden ring on his right palm, it sparkled with a dawn ray; I put it on the left - it flashed like the morning lightning. Naran-Seseg saw him and asked:
- Grandfather, dear, where did you get this ring from?
“From there, where one nice guy grazes his gray bull,” the old man answers.
“Let this guy appear tomorrow at the palace gates in the clothes of a beggar,” Naran-Seseg punished and generously presented the old man with gold coins.
When the shepherd boy heard the good news from the old herdsman, he lost peace and sleep with joy. Barely waiting for the morning, he dressed more casually, sat on his gray bull and went to the palace. As soon as he approached the gate, the guards pounced on him and started driving him away. Naran-Seseg looked out the window and said:
“No one can pass under our windows anymore.”
The Khan looked out after her and grumbled:
- How dirty and poor he is! I will immediately order him to be hunted down by dogs.
– I conjure Burkhan not to do this! – Naran-Seseg begged. - according to the good old custom, a poor person should be greeted, fed and warmed. Do you really feel sorry for a crust of bread and a sip of tea? – the beauty was completely offended.
“If she is so kind to the last beggar, then perhaps she will be more kind to me,” thought the khan and ordered the ragamuffin to be allowed into the palace.
The guy tied his gray bull to a silver hitching post, crossed the threshold of the khan's chambers and sat down near the door.
Naran-Seseg placed a silver and gilded table in front of the beggar. She began to treat the wanderer like a dear guest. Yes, she spoke to him so kindly, so tenderly, that the khan turned black with anger and retreated behind ten curtains.
Naran-Seseg treated her beloved to glory and escorted him out of the gate with great honors.
Here the khan expressed his grievance.
“For a whole year,” he says, “you haven’t said as many words to me as this ragamuffin listened to tenderness.” Maybe I should also become a beggar and then I can count on your kindness?
“This is the wisest decision,” Naran-Seseg smiled tenderly.
From this smile the khan completely lost his head.
- Bring back the ragamuffin! - shouts.
Naran-Seseg returned her beloved husband.
- Take off your rags! - the khan ordered. -Stay in my clothes for now. In them they will not hurt you and caress you.
The khan dressed himself in a beggar’s dress, and Naran-Seseg said to him:
- Get on the gray bull and go on a long journey. In three days they are waiting for you at the palace gates. Let's see how you come back.
The khan rode out in rags, covering his face with his hands so as to remain unrecognized, and Naran-Seseg strictly punished the servants: “If a ragamuffin appears from the south-eastern side, covering his eyes with his hands, then you should know that this is an evil person and the deal with him should be short.”
Two senior bators dug a seven-foot hole, and the most noble noyons rolled a stone the size of an ox. On the third day the khan appeared. Stealthily, covering his face with his hands, he made his way to his palace. But then the bators flew at him, threw him into a seven-foot-long pit and crushed him on top with a stone the size of an ox.
- We defeated the insidious enemy! The cunning fox was outwitted! - the Noyons rejoiced, going home.
And the shepherd guy returned with his wife Naran-Seseg to their homeland, and they lived happily.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru