On the banks of the Shirbetle River there once stood a large city, where a rich khan lived happily in a luxurious palace. His wife Fatima was known as a skilled sorceress.
The parents' joy was their only daughter, the beautiful Akbike. Many young men were secretly in love with her, but they avoided the palace, fearing the sorceress Fatima.
The khan's daughter fell in love with the hero Idel. One day he plucked up courage and stole the beautiful Akbike so that he could always be with her.
Fatima demanded that her daughter be returned to the palace. But Idel and Akbike did not listen to her. The sorceress became angry, blew and spat at the kidnapper and drove the Idel-Volga away from her eyes, to where the current bed of the river is.
Since then, the lovers have never been separated.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru