In ancient times, there lived an old man and an old woman. They had three sons and five goats. So the eldest son decided to go to foreign lands to fish and learn various crafts. He slaughtered one goat, took all the meat with him on the road, not leaving his parents a single piece, and went. He walked and walked and came to a rich artisan and hired himself out as his worker.
This rich man was an evil man. He tricked the zhigit into lying in the chest, where he starved him to death.
The old man's middle son also decided to go along the same road that his older brother had taken. He also slaughtered a goat, took all the meat and left his parents. And the same thing happened to him as to the elder: the rich man starved him to death.
It was the turn of the youngest son. He also decided to learn various trades on a foreign side. He slaughtered a goat, left half of the meat for his parents, and took the other half for his journey. He put the burden on his back and, with his parents' blessing, set off.
He is walking along the road, and then he comes across a large herd of sheep. The zhigit talked with the shepherd and found out that these sheep belonged to a rich artisan. The shepherd asked the horseman:
- Son, where are you going?
“I’m going, grandfather, to learn various crafts,” the zhigit answered him.
“Look, son,” said the shepherd, “don’t tell anyone about this.” There is a proverb: “Don’t deceive yourself, don’t reveal your secret to others...”.
The zhigit said goodbye to the shepherd and moved on. He stopped for the night in the house of a rich craftsman. The young man spent the night and began to get ready for the journey in the morning. The rich man asks him:
-Where are you going, zhigit?
- Yes, I’m looking for a person who, like you, does not have a son, I would like to replace him.
Then the rich man:
- Well, stay with me, be my son. Choose a large white ram, slaughter it and eat your fill of the thigh. And I'll hit the road.
With these words the bai left. And the zhigit stayed at home for his son.
A rich artisan had a daughter. She saw the horseman and told him:
- My brother! Don't eat the shin bone, but hang it on the grill. When a white hound dog comes up to her and rushes at her, you hit him with an ax and kill him.
He slaughtered a large white sheep, arranged it for him, and invited the neighbors. He hung the meat from the shin bone on the grill. A white hound dog ran up to the grill and grabbed the meat. Zhigit immediately threw an ax at her, but missed. The dog ran away.
The rich man returned. He knew that the zhigit did not fulfill his order. The white hound dog was the rich man himself. The owner became angry with his adopted son and locked him in a chest. He decided to starve him to death, just as he starved to death the zhigit’s brothers. The rich man's daughter saw all this and decided to feed the horseman secretly from her father through a hole made in the bottom of the chest.
A few days later, the zhigit’s father comes to the rich artisan and asks:
“Wasn’t my son here?” Have you seen him?
“No, I didn’t see it,” said the rich man.
A zhigit heard this conversation. He shouted from the chest:
- It's not true! I'm here!..
The old man recognized his son by his voice, opened the chest, took him and led him out of the rich man's house.
They walk along the road, the son says to his father:
“I’ll turn into a big black ram, and you take me to the market and sell me for a good price, just don’t give me the rope.”
The father agreed. The son turned into a big black ram, and his father took him to the market and sold him there. And the son turned into a man and came to his father.
“Now I will become a black horse,” he said. “You take me to the market and sell me, but just take the chembur back.”
No sooner said than done. The son became a black pacer, his father took him to the market, sold him there for a good price and, taking a chembur, returned home.
A day later, the son returned home.
“Now I will become a camel,” he said, “I will have a chain instead of a rope.” You take me to the market, sell me, and take the chain back.
The zhigit turned into a baby camel, and his father took him to the market. On the way, he met a rich artisan who learned about the zhigit’s tricks. He bought a baby camel from an old man for a hundred rubles. The old man gave away the baby camel, forgetting to remove the chain from it.
The rich man brought the baby camel home, gave his daughter to hold the reins, and he went to get a knife to slaughter the baby camel. But the daughter quickly guessed her father’s intentions, cut the chain and released the baby camel. The baby camel ran away. The rich man rushed after him.
Then the zhigit turned into a fox, and the rich man turned into a hound dog and began to chase the fox. Zhigit turned into a duck, and the rich man into a hawk; from a duck the zhigit turned into a lark, and the rich man into a kestrel. Finally, the lark could not stand the persecution, sat down on the circle of the yurt and turned into a rag. Then the rich man turned into a man and just wanted to grab the rag, when it quickly turned into millet grain, and the rich man into a rooster. And just as the rooster was about to peck this grain, it turned into a cat. The cat jumped on the rooster and killed it.
Having dealt with the rich artisan, the zhigit returned to the yurt and married the daughter of the evil sorcerer.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru