THE MILKY WAY
Since ancient times, Baba Dyykan fed everyone with bread, and people lived in prosperity. One day, before a foreign invasion, he decided to migrate to another, safer place to preserve his bread. He gathered the entire harvest into a large bag and set off on his journey. But the bag turned out to be torn, and along the way, he began to lose straw and grain. Thus, a bright road was formed, which the Kyrgyz called Samanchy jol — the path of the straw man, that is, the Milky Way.
THE STRAW MAN'S ROAD
The khan had a daughter. Many dzhigits sought her hand in marriage, but she refused to marry, setting them a condition: “If you build a road to the heavens not by sea, not through the mountains, and not on land, and come to me by it, I will marry the one who arrives first.” The dzhigits pondered, unsure of what to do.
And so they set off on their journey. Along the way, they met an old man with a white beard down to his waist. The dzhigits rode past him. “What does he know?!” — they thought. Only the son of the old straw man stopped. He greeted the old man, who asked him why he looked so sad. The dzhigit told him about the difficult task set by the khan's daughter for her suitors. The old man listened to the dzhigit and said: “Continue on your way. Soon you will meet a spring and a tree by it. Pick a leaf, place it by the horse's ears. Water the horse at the spring. Then it will fly for you.” The dzhigit did just that.
Soon he overtook all his competitors. When they saw that the son of the straw man was passing them, they spurred their horses to go faster. Dust rose from the hooves of the horses high into the sky, resembling a road from the earth to the heavens, the Milky Way. And the dzhigit was the first to arrive on this road to the bride.
That is why the Milky Way is called the road of the straw man.
