One rich Kazakh had an only son. He constantly grazed horses. One day an unknown person approached him and said:
- My child! Give me the horses, and I'll give you three wise pieces of advice.
The young man agreed and gave away a whole school of horses. Unknown said:
- My child! Where you tasted bread and salt, don’t be his rival; do not refuse early prepared food; and if your right hand starts a fight, then your left hand must separate.
The unknown man said these words, took the horses and disappeared.
When the young man returned home, he told his father everything. The father became angry with his son, began to scold him, and then kicked him out.
The young man wandered for a long time in different places. He once came to the city and approached the khan’s court. The Khan's guards noticed him.
- What are you doing here? Don't you want to be a useful person? - they turned to the stranger.
- Why? - said the young man. - After all, I’m not a cripple. If there is something to do, then why not do it? God will kill the idle!...
The guards came to the khan and reported that a young foreigner had appeared in the city, apparently very smart, and expressed a desire to serve him. Khan asked to bring this stranger. When the young man was brought in, the khan really liked him. Khan appointed him as his bodyguard.
The young man performed the service regularly. Some time passed. The khan's wife fell in love with the young man and once said to him:
- I will be yours... Let's love each other, joke, have fun!
The young man remembered the advice of an unknown person: “Where have you tasted bread and salt, do not be his rival” - and refused the khan’s wife. Then the Khansha decided to take revenge on the young man. She complained to the khan that the young man was rude to her and did not allow her passage.
“I’ll have him killed,” said the khan.
Secretly, he ordered his stokers to throw whoever came to them first onto hot coals in the morning. Then he called the young man and told him to go to the stokers in the morning and bring a bag of coals. The young man said: “I obey, takhsyr,” and the next day he went to the stokers.
On the way he met an old woman.
- My child! - said the old woman. - Try my bread and salt!..
The young man thanked the old woman and said:
“I have urgent business, I’m going on orders from the khan.” To this the old woman remarked to him that it was still early and he would have time to go about an important matter. Then the young man suddenly remembered the second wise advice of an unknown person: “Don’t refuse early prepared food” - and entered the yurt to the old woman.
At this time, the khan's wife, having learned about the terrible death awaiting the young man, ran in despair to the stokers to look at him for the last time, but was immediately captured and thrown into the fire. And the young man, having eaten from the old woman, went to the stokers, took a bag of coal from them and brought it to the khan.
Seeing the young man completely unharmed, the khan was amazed. At the same time, the khan was informed that his wife had disappeared from the palace. No one knew where she went. Khan sent to find out to the stokers how the young man remained alive? The stokers replied that, in fulfillment of the khan’s command, they threw his wife into the fire, since she came to them first.
When such an answer was brought to the khan, he called the young man a sorcerer and wanted to take out all his anger on him. Seeing this, the young man said:
- Takhsir! If you spare me, I will tell you the whole truth.
“Okay, speak,” said the khan.
“I was the son of a rich father and tended my horses. One day an unknown person came up to me and said: “My child! Give me a school of horses, and I’ll give you three wise pieces of advice.” I fulfilled his request, and he told me: “Where you tasted bread and salt, don’t be his rival,” “Don’t refuse early prepared food,” and “If your right hand starts a fight, then your left hand should separate.” Having learned this, I came home in the evening and was driven out of the house for wastefulness. After long wanderings, I came to this city and began to serve your grace...
All this time, day and night, Khanum haunted me and asked me to love her. If you love her, I thought, it means going against the first wise advice: “Where you tasted bread and salt, do not be a rival.” So I always avoided temptation. When you sent me to get coal, I met an old woman. She invited me to her yurt to taste the prepared food. Then I remembered the second wise piece of advice: “Don’t give up early cooked food.” I went into the old woman’s yurt and had a quick bite, then went to the stokers and brought you coals. I don’t know where Khanim is and what happened to her. That's all I wanted to tell you.
Khan listened to the young man carefully, and then said:
- You, young man, are not guilty! My wife punished herself.
After this, the khan generously rewarded the young man, gave him a horse and sent him home.
He walked for a long time. Finally, my native village appeared. The young man began to think: “Yes, quite a bit of time has passed since I left home. I wonder what my wife is doing now?!”
With this thought, he entered his yurt at night and found an unfamiliar zhigit there. He took out his saber and swung his hand to strike, but at that moment he remembered the third wise piece of advice: “If the right hand starts a fight, then the left should separate”; - and with his left hand he grabbed his right hand, in which there was a saber. The wife woke up and began to scream, but when she saw her husband, she fell silent. The husband began to reproach his wife for infidelity. But she told him:
- When you left the house, I was left in a position... The young man is none other than your son!..
The father rushed to his son and began to hug him tightly. Then he apologized to his wife.
So the young man returned to his native village to his family.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru