Dying, one poor man bequeathed to his son:
“I leave you no palaces, no silver, no gold.” But if you are ever in need, go to my friend, the sage. He has helped me out of trouble more than once or twice and will not refuse to help you.
The son buried his father as it should be: neither rich nor poor, and he himself began to live in his grandfather’s old tower, every day becoming poorer. Everything that was in the house ran out, and in the end the young man became so weak that he could not raise his hands to his mouth.
Then the young man went to his father’s friend, the sage.
The old man was very happy.
“I didn’t think that my friend had such a son, such a fine fellow,” says the sage. “I won’t let you leave my tower all year.” Your tower is not in any danger: no one except animals will look there.
The year has passed quickly. The sage brought the horse and gave the young man a circle of barley churek and a circle of goat cheese for the journey. Then he gave him another leopard leather belt and said:
“While you lived in my tower, such dense forests grew up around you that you couldn’t even get through, you couldn’t find the road.” Here's your belt. Belt yourself, and the road in the black forest will open. When you leave the forest on the plain, you will see a copper tower and next to it an iron guest room. You'll stay in the guest room. The mistress of the tower, a beautiful girl, will come out to you. Many young men came to her and wooed her, but not a single one returned. When she comes out to a guest, she does not talk to him. But if the guest makes her speak three times, if he has that much intelligence, she will marry him, and he will get all her treasures and the tower. When she comes out, you put the belt on the fing (round table) and say: “Apparently, my mistress is dumb, there is nothing to talk about with her. Tell me, my leopard belt, what is happening in the world.” The belt will tell you three times and every time it will ask you questions, and you will deliberately give incorrect answers. If a girl talks to you, your happiness; Otherwise he will order you to cut off your head and plant it on the fence of the tower.
The young man pulled on his belt, thanked the sage, mounted his horse and rode off.
He rode a lot or a little, I don’t know, but he got out onto the plain. A copper tower appeared, and next to it an iron guest room.
The young man dismounted, tied his horse to a ring in the wall of the tower, entered the guest room, sat down and waited. In the evening a beautiful girl appeared in the guest room. She was so beautiful that you couldn’t take your eyes off her.
The young man greeted her, but the girl did not answer a word. Then the young man put his belt on his fing and said:
“Apparently, my mistress is dumb, there’s nothing to talk about with her.” Tell me what is happening in the world.
The belt answered in a human voice:
- What can I tell you! During the day I am on you, and at night - under your headboard.
- Nothing, tell us something. The girl raised her eyebrows and prepared to listen.
Belt started:
— Three brothers had one bull, there was nothing else in their poor khadzar (Ossetian house). They took great care of this bull. One brother guarded the bull and sat at its tail, another at its belly, and a third at its head. The brother sitting at the tail sees: for three days and three nights there is no dung near the bull at all. He was afraid that the bull was sick, and ran to tell his other brother about it, who was near the belly. From morning until late evening he ran and, having reached it, said:
“Our bull hasn’t produced any manure for three days and three nights, isn’t he sick?”
Second brother said:
"It's been dry, completely dry, for three days and three nights now. Let's go to my brother and get some advice."
The next day, the two brothers ran to the third, and in the evening, when the sun was going down behind the mountains, they ran to him.
"Our bull doesn't give manure for three days and three nights, doesn't wet the ground. If only he wouldn't get sick with us!"
“But he’s stopped eating,” said the third brother. “He’s probably thirsty. Let’s go give him something to drink.”
Three brothers led their bull to the big river. The bull drained it in one gulp, and all the inhabitants of the river remained at the bottom.
A fish jumped out from the bottom and immediately swallowed the bull. Suddenly a kite flew down from the mountains, grabbed the fish with its claws and lifted it into the sky. The kite carried the fish to the mountain, and the mountain crumbled into ashes. Then the kite laid it on a centuries-old oak tree, but the oak tree broke like a blade of grass. But the kite does not let go of the fish from its claws. He flies with her, looks in all directions.
On the shore near the shepherd lay a goat, its horns intertwined. The kite landed on his horns and ate the fish. When the kite got to the bull and began to eat it, the bull's shoulder blade bounced off and hit the shepherd in the eye.
In the evening, the shepherd drove the flock to the village, entered the house and said to his three sisters:
"Today something got into my eye. Come here and look."
One of the sisters rolled up her sleeve and stuck her hand up to her elbow into her brother’s eye. I searched and searched, but found nothing. The second sister climbed into her brother’s eye, but also found nothing and came back out with nothing. The third sister climbed into her brother's eye, swam back and forth and took out a spatula. The bone was thrown into the trash and taken out of the village with the trash.
This bone lay there for a long time and was overgrown with turf.
One day, carters with a convoy of twelve carts settled down on an overgrown bone for the night. At midnight the fox crept up to the village in the hope of prey. She smelled a piece of meat remaining on the bone, grabbed it and began to twist the bone along with the baggage train.
There was a good hunter among the drivers. He went ahead and killed the fox. Twelve people began to skin her. They tore off half of it and began to turn the fox over on its other side, but there was not enough strength. They left their work in vain, cut off half the skin, and with that half they dressed all twelve from head to toe.
The next morning the girl walked out to the river, stumbled and said:
“What is this?”
She saw that it was a dead fox, bent down and peeled off the remaining half of the skin. She brought the skin home and began to cut a hat for her one-year-old brother, but there wasn’t enough for a hat...
Here’s my story for you,” said the wonderful belt. “Now answer: who was greater than everyone?”
- Kite, who else! - said the young man. Then the girl smiled and said:
“You look like a smart person, but you answer incorrectly.” The most amazing thing in the story is a one-year-old child who has such a big head.
This is how the girl spoke for the first time. The girl left, and the poor man's son went to bed. The next day in the evening the girl again went down to the guest room, sat down in a chair and didn’t say a word.
The young man took off his belt again, put it on the fing and said:
“Apparently, my mistress is dumb, there’s nothing to talk to her about.” Tell me what is happening in the world.
- What can I tell you! “During the day, I am on you, and at night, under your headboard,” answered the belt.
“Enter us a little, let’s pass the time,” the young man asks.
And the belt began to tell:
— Three brothers had a flock of sheep and goats. The brothers took turns guarding their flock. One day, the elder brother, whistling, drove the herd to the edge of the black forest and there he began to graze the cattle in the tall grass, he himself stood under a large tree, and sheep and goats grazed around.
To pass the time, the shepherd began to carve a girl on the trunk. I carved all day and finished the work only in the evening.
The next morning the middle brother drove the herd to the same place. The middle brother saw the girl cut out by his elder brother and said:
"There is no more beautiful girl in the world. It would be nice to decorate her."
And he began to decorate the girl. He collected the most beautiful, most fragrant flowers for her.
When evening came, he drove the herd home.
On the third day, the younger brother went with the herd. And he drove his herd to the same place, to the edge of a dense forest.
The younger brother saw the image of the girl and stopped dead in his tracks.
The younger brother thought: “This is the one I’ve dreamed of all my life.” He rushed to the tree, but it was not a girl, but only her image*
Then the young man prayed:
“Oh god of gods, revive her!”
As soon as he said it, the image turned into a living girl.
The younger brother brought the beautiful girl into the house, and then the brothers began to argue about who she should marry...
Who should she marry? - asked the wonderful belt.
“For my older brother, of course,” the young man answers. “If it weren’t for him, the girl wouldn’t exist at all.”
“It’s not true,” said the mistress of the tower. “A girl can only marry her younger brother, who revived her.” There is nothing better than life on earth.
So the girl spoke a second time.
On the third day, the girl again came to the iron guest room. Silently she sat down in a chair not far from the guest.
The young man again took off his belt, put it on the fing and said:
- Tell us one more story to pass the time. Apparently our hostess is mute - she doesn’t say a word.
- What can I tell you! During the day I am on you, and at night - under your headboard. But if the hostess is dumb, I’ll tell you, just listen carefully!
“I’ll listen, I won’t miss a word,” the young man answers.
— One Aldar (nobleman, lord) ruler of one country had such a beautiful daughter that the month and the stars saw themselves in her as in a mirror. Aldar and his wife did not let their daughter go one step at a time: they lived, drank and ate only for her. And so seven uangs (giant, giant), seven rapist brothers, carried away the beloved daughter of Aldar and his wife.
Your enemy should grieve as much as his father and mother grieved!
In the village of Aldara there lived a witch. She had three sons. What they knew how to do, no one else in the world could do.
Aldar and his wife were exhausted from grief and sent their servants to the sons of the sorceress - to the three brothers and ordered them to say:
“Even though you are unequal, we will still give our daughter in marriage to one of you if you free her from the Uang rapists.”
“Okay, we will free your daughter,” the brothers agreed and went to the Wangs.
The brothers drove away from the village, looked at each other and said:
"We gave Aldar our word that we would free our daughter. What will everyone do?"
“I will carry the Aldar’s daughter away from the Uangs so that they won’t even know about it,” said the elder brother.
Middle said:
“If the Aldar’s daughter falls into my hands, then not only the wangi, even the wind will not catch up with me.”
“When the Huangs give chase, I will destroy them all,” said the younger one.
The brothers moved on. When they approached the Uangs' house, the eldest brother went to the Uangs, and the middle and youngest began to wait for him.
The eldest quietly carried the Aldar’s daughter out of the Uangs’ house. The middle one took it and, like a storm, rushed to the Aldar's castle.
The third brother stopped, waiting for the chase, and destroyed the Uangs - not one of them returned home again.
When the three sons of the sorceress - three brothers - returned home, they began to argue about who the Aldar should marry his daughter to...
For whom? “Tell me yourself,” the wonderful belt asks the young man.
- For whom? And for the one who carried it out of the house of the Uangs,” he answered.
The hostess laughed:
“Young man, your mind is probably not as good as your appearance.” Aldar must marry his daughter to his younger son. It was no great feat to carry her away from the house of the Huangs: they would have been able to carry her away a second time. But if the kidnappers die, the girl will not be in trouble.
Aldar must marry his daughter to the witch’s youngest son.
So she spoke for the third time.
- You defeated me, good young man! Now I'm yours forever.
In the copper tower, the young man and the beauty had a rich feast, and then lived happily and long.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru