One young pshi was hunting with his wolves. They met a horseman in the forest. He began to hunt with them.
One day one of the workers killed a magpie. A dispute arose among the hunters whether there was a girl in the world whose body was as white as the white feathers of a magpie, and whose hair was as black as her black feathers. Some said yes, others said no. All this time the guest was silent. The young man walked asked:
- Why, our guest, do you not take part in our dispute? Do you think there is such a girl?
The guest did not want to answer, but they did not give up on him, and he said:
“I don’t know whether the young pshi will get her, or whether he will be able to find her, but there is such a girl in the world.”
At this point the argument was over, and the next morning the stranger left.
Pshi said to his companions:
– You go home and do the same with the loot as before. I will go looking for this girl and will not return until I find her. If there is such a girl in the world, I will definitely marry her.
The companions said that they would not go home without him. But Pshi convinced them that their horses were exhausted and could not endure the long journey. And they themselves were tired. But even after such words, the companions did not listen to Psha and went with him.
They rode for a long time and covered a long distance. They ran out of supplies, their horses were exhausted and could barely carry their riders. The workers either lagged behind or moved to the side and whispered about something.
“Go back, you won’t be able to go further,” Pshi said then.
The workers left, and only his atalyk remained with the young pshi.
They say that there was no more skilled master of playing the apepshin in the world than this pshi.
Pshi traveled with the atalyk for a long time, and all their supplies ran out. Exhausting their last strength, they reached some forest. Here they stopped, took out their maite and set up a hut. They slaughtered the horse on which the atalyk was riding and dried the meat.
- If you get hungry, eat horse meat. “Okay, if I come back alive, if I don’t come back, that’s okay too,” said Pshi and left. Atalik remained waiting for him.
He rode for a long time, meeting nothing on his way. But suddenly he noticed some kind of cattle shed. Both horse and rider were very tired: the horse could barely move its legs, and the young pshi could hardly stay in the saddle.
“Just to get to this shed,” thought Pshi, but he immediately lost consciousness and fell from his horse. The horse also fell. One of the shepherds saw them and ran to the senior shepherd. He ordered to take the cart and bring the stranger to the herd. Pshi rode for so long without leaving his horse that the saddle became attached to the horse’s back and was difficult to remove.
They were nursed for more than a month. Only a month later both Psha and his horse came to their senses, became stronger, and gained strength. When Pshi began to walk, the old shepherd said to him:
– Our guest, we have run out of supplies, and our shepherds must go to the village. I need to go tend the sheep. Don’t be offended or blame me for leaving you alone.
- Very good, you can’t sit without provisions. You need to mind your own business too! - said the guest.
In the morning the old man went to graze the sheep, but all the time he thought that he had broken the custom - he left the guest alone. And he decided to return to the guest after all. Arriving at the shed, he saw that the guest had taken out his maite, cut down a tree and made an ape-shine out of it. He began to play the pei. The old man, enchanted by his play, stood silently for a long time. Finally Pshi saw him.
- Why did you come back so quickly, master? - he asked the old man.
“We have disgraced ourselves in front of you, our guest,” said the shepherd. “It’s not right for an Adyghe to leave his guest without a hagrey.” It is better to die without food than to leave a guest alone.
“Then I’ll go with you!” - said pshi. But the old man left one of the shepherds with the guest, the rest went for provisions.
Soon the rider and horse became even stronger. They felt the same strength, and it was time for them to set off.
“Thank you very much for everything you did for us,” Pshi said to the old man. “I have a big task ahead of me, and now I want to hit the road.”
And he told the old man about the purpose of his trip. After listening to the young man, the old man said:
- Let tha punish the one who revealed this to you! There is no such girl in the world, and you better go home.
“No, sir, maybe you just haven’t heard of her, but there is such a girl in the world.” Until I find her, I won’t go back,” the young pshi said decisively.
-Are you determined to go?
- Firmly.
“Then I’ll tell you that there is such a girl in the world, and you’re almost close to your goal.” She lives in our village, but there is no person here who could become your assistant. All the glorious horsemen died because of her.
- Even if I die, I will go to her! - said pshi.
– If you decide to go to her, then do what I say. Take this apeshine and drive through the village, playing it. All village residents will follow you. Beauty had never heard anything like it. When you reach the yard where the girl is sitting on the shagindak, feel free to enter it. You will be greeted warmly. They will bring you ane and treat you. After the ane is taken away, an old man will come out of the big house with a large silver stick. He will scream and be outraged that someone dared to enter his yard without permission. You sit silently all this time, don’t say a word. So he will come three times, but you must remain silent all the time.
When he comes for the fourth time, he will calmly, without noise, greet you, find out about the purpose of the journey, and then ask for your horse. He doesn’t need the horse - he buys it, keeps it hungry for fifteen days and returns it. On the night when he returns your horse, you take off your clothes and weapons, but do not go to bed. “He will make all his sons ride your horse,” said the old man.
The young pshi went straight to the girl and did everything as the old shepherd said. That night when his horse was returned to him, he did not sleep for a minute.
In the morning, some naguchitsa rode up to the house on a beautiful bay horse. The old shepherd warned the pshi that this bully was very dangerous for him - he could die by his hand, and advised him to catch up with him at all costs and throw him off his horse. In an instant the horseman jumped on his horse and chased after him. They galloped for a long time and finally arrived at a large mound. Suddenly the naguchitsa quickly turned around and stopped.
- What's happened? - asked the horseman.
“Let’s run a race,” he suggested.
“I can’t run,” said the young man. - Why?
“This distance is too short for me, I need to go further,” said the young man.
They reached the second mound. Naguchitsa quickly turned around and stopped.
- What's happened? . - We'll race.
“Okay,” said the horseman.
They stopped and ran. The little girl rushed like the wind. When Pshi reached the first mound, he saw some black spot in the distance and realized that it was a naguchitsa. He chased with all his might, swooped down like an eagle swoops down on a bird, hit him and blew his head off.
After this, the horseman had to drive into the yard where the beauty lived and drive under the shagindak where she was sitting. When he passed under the shagindak, the girl released three gray snakes. They should have bitten him. He hit the pshi with his sword, cut the snakes and entered the kunatskaya. They sent to the old man who scolded the young man three times to say that he had a son-in-law.
- May Allah grant life and health to both us and him: it’s very good that we finally have a son-in-law. “I’ll tell him myself when the time comes to leave,” the old man ordered to convey.
A little time passed, and the old man gave the horseman his daughter as a wife and sent him home with those accompanying him.
I set off on the road with my beautiful wife. He came to the shepherd who was caring for him. Pshi brought him rich gifts, but he refused to accept them.
“Well, of course, you’ve done so much for me, and I want to please you,” said the young pshi.
“If you want to make me happy,” said the old man, “give me one of the girls who accompany your wife.”
The young man gave the shepherd one girl, ordered his companions to come to such and such a forest, and he himself went forward alone.
As he rode, he saw two horsemen - they were racing against each other with drawn sabers. Psha wanted to catch up with them, but could not - the horsemen galloped away.
On the second day he met those riders again, again he wanted to catch up, but this time they galloped away. And on the third day Pshi met the same horsemen, chased after them and grabbed the elbow of the horseman who rode last. But he pulled his hand back, broke free and drove away. In the hands of the psha there remained a bracelet, the kind that women wear.
Pshi decided to find out who these mysterious horsemen were and set off after them. Having passed through some forest, he drove out into a field and saw a huge house. He parked his horse and went into the house. There was no soul in the house. He sat down on the bed.
A little time passed, a horseman rode up to the house and called: “Zhiu!”
When no one came to his call, he dismounted, went into another room and undressed - it turned out it was a girl. Then another horseman rode up and also shouted: “Jiu!”, but when no one came out, he also went into the house.
The young man hid and saw that the rider had undressed - it was a girl.
On the third day a horseman rode up. “Jiu!” – he also shouted, but the girls did not come out. Then he dismounted and went into the house - and it was a girl.
– Tell me, what is the most interesting thing that happened to each of you today? - said one of the girls.
“Since you started talking about it, tell me first,” the others told her.
- That's what happened to me. Today I pursued my enemy and almost overtook him, but some rider on a white horse caught up with me, and I barely escaped him. Ay Anasyn, if only that man would become my husband!
The middle girl said the same thing as the eldest. The younger one, after listening to the sisters, said:
“The horseman you are talking about was chasing me too, I barely galloped away from him, but he still had my bracelet.”
Hearing the girl’s words, Pshi threw away the bracelet. The girl jumped up, grabbed the bracelet and sat down.
Then the eldest of the girls spoke:
- Our guest, come out of hiding. – And she led the horseman to the middle of the room.
– Our guest, we are sisters. Each one has a good dowry. If you want, marry us all, if you want, choose one of us.
“I want to marry the one whom my hand touched,” said Pshi.
The sisters gave him his younger sister, and he returned to his companions.
He sent them to the forest where he left his atalyk. He himself also galloped to the atalyk and came to him first. He had long since run out of supplies, he was emaciated and overgrown. Seeing this, the spy quickly returned to his companions, took food and scissors from them and returned to the atalyk. He fed him, gave him something to drink, and tonsured him. Meanwhile, Psha's companions also arrived. Here they all rested for a week and then went home. When we arrived at the outskirts of the village, the young psha said:
“You just wait here, I’ll find out what kind of swag is in the village.” He drove around the village and met a shepherd.
- What swag? - he asked the shepherd.
“In our village,” said the shepherd, “there are no good swag now.” An enemy army attacked us and demands a large ransom, we can, and the village. We won't mind paying it.
He realized that he could not get into the aul, did not answer a word to the shepherd and returned to his companions. He said to Atalyk:
– You can go to the village, but you won’t be able to go back. Give the girl whose body is white, like the white feathers of a magpie, and whose hair is black, like her black feathers, under the protection of a respectable person, and take the rest to our home.
Atalyk led his companions to the village, but Pshi was left alone: he decided to fight the enemy army himself. He fearlessly entered the battle and won victory over numerous enemies. He decided to defeat those enemies who were in the village alone. He jumped on his horse over a deep ditch, but the horse's hind legs caught on the edge of the ditch, and the horse and its rider fell into the ditch. The enemies tied up the horseman and threw him into prison.
One day he looked out the window of the dungeon and saw that a familiar villager was walking past.
- Tell me, what kind of swag is there in the village? he asked.
“There are no good swag in the village,” he answered. “They say that our young psha was captured by enemies and captured, put in chains and thrown into prison. Today they are having a wedding with the girls who got the millet, but in the meantime a big jegu is going on in the village.
Pshi got tanned. Not far from the dungeon window, the daughter of the leader of the enemy army was sitting on a shagindak. She saw a beautiful horseman thrown into prison, she fell in love with him, and she decided to help the prisoner. In the evening she came to him.
“May your evening be good,” said the girl.
“Get out of here,” said Pshi, “my affairs don’t concern you.”
- Why do you say that? If I didn't care, I wouldn't come here.
- What do you want from me?
“I fell in love with you, and I want you to become my husband.” Then I will make sure that you are released, otherwise you will not get out of prison.
“Okay,” Pshi agreed.
At the request of his daughter, the leader of the enemy army ordered the psha to be released from prison, and he returned to the outskirts of his village. From there he saw his sister carrying water to his horse. Dzhigit could not cross the river, and therefore shouted:
- Girl, let go of this horse!
“I won’t let you go,” said the girl. - This is the horse of my beloved older brother, I will not give it to you.
“Don’t say that,” said the horseman and signaled to his horse. The horse broke free and went into the water. Pshi crossed the river and gave the horse to his sister.
“Sister, don’t tell anyone that I’m back.” Tell me what kind of swag is in our village.
“Oh-oh, there are no good swag,” the girl answered. “All the girls you brought are given as wives to the enemy leaders, now there is a big jagu going on.”
The young psha went to the dzhegu. They didn’t recognize him right away, but then some suspected the stranger was a young psha and began to compete without much effort.
“Because of this ragamuffin who came here uninvited, you stopped having fun,” the enemy leader got angry.
The horsemen began to play better, but there was no fun. The young pshi ordered the leader to repeat his words. He swung at him, but the pshi killed him, and after him killed all his other enemies.
Then he married the beauty for whom he set out on the journey, and three sisters whom he met in the forest.
And they lived richly and happily.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru