The Tale of Chynybek and the Wizard. Part - 1

This was a long, long time ago, when people were divided into rich and poor and believed in good and evil wizards capable of performing various miracles. In one Kyrgyz village, high in the mountains, lived two neighbors — Minbay and Juzbay. Minbay was a wealthy man: his flock numbered a thousand sheep. Juzbay was poorer: he had only a hundred sheep. The only thing that brought Juzbay joy was his son Chynybek.

This extraordinary story happened to Chynybek. It began in the summer pasture — the jailoo, where early in the morning Chynybek drove his sheep to graze. He climbed a hill and saw that the sheep of the wealthy Minbay were already grazing, while Minbay's shepherd, his son, was carelessly sleeping, warmed by the sun. At that moment, wolves crept up to Minbay's flock — and began to slaughter the sheep: their wool flew off in tufts.

Chynybek, waving a stick, rushed towards the flock.

— Hey, young man,— he shouted to Minbay's son,— get up, there's trouble — the wolves have attacked the flock, they are slaughtering the sheep!

The wealthy man's son jumped to his feet and unexpectedly struck Chynybek hard on the cheek.

— Why did you wake me up? — he shouted angrily. — So what if there are wolves! You made me miss such a wonderful dream!

— Oh you, sleepyhead,— Chynybek was taken aback, not expecting such a reaction. — I wanted to help you, and you hit me?!

He struck the wealthy man's son with his stick, and they began to fight each other. The wolves had already carried the slaughtered sheep far into the mountains, but the fight continued. Finally, both were exhausted.

Chynybek said:

— Let's call it even — enough. Now tell me: did you really see such an extraordinary dream that I shouldn't have woken you up?

— I can't find the words to describe my magical dream,— sighed Minbay's son, clutching his sides. — But fine, listen, I'll tell you. I dreamed of a dazzling sun, it floated high above my head. Then a full moon rose beneath my feet — and day turned into night, bright and swiftly galloping, like a fairy-tale horse tulpar. Bright stars twinkled in the sky. And suddenly they began to fall on my chest and shone like large diamonds and precious stones...

— Why do you need such a dream? If you want, sell it to me,— suggested Chynybek,— and in return take as many sheep from me as the wolves have slaughtered from your flock.

They counted how many sheep the wolves had taken. It turned out to be exactly the same number as Chynybek had — one hundred. Thus the deal was made: Chynybek handed over the sheep to the wealthy man's son, and he himself went to the village, impressed by the dream he had heard.

It was already getting dark when he arrived home.

— And where are the sheep? — asked his father, seeing that he had returned alone, without the flock.

Chynybek had to tell his father how he bought the magical dream for one hundred sheep.

— Have you ever heard of dreams being bought! — his father exclaimed angrily. — Did you think with your head about how we will live now?! Go to the jailoo and don’t come back without sheep!

And Juzbay drove his son out of the yard, scolding him for his foolishness.

With nothing else to do, Chynybek went wherever his legs took him, wherever his eyes looked. He walked along mountain paths, gorges, and passes, past lonely rocks and sparse bushes. He had already lost count of the days, completely weakened by cold and hunger. He sat down on a stone to rest and suddenly saw — a raven flying.

— Don’t leave me in trouble, help the poor traveler,— Chynybek called out to the raven.

The raven circled above Chynybek and hissed:

— Ah! So you’ve gotten yourself into trouble. Do you remember how you drove me away when you were feeding the cattle, and I was hungry? You threw a stone at me — now you perish from hunger yourself!

The raven flew away, and Chynybek went on, bitterly regretting that he had once acted so heartlessly towards the hungry bird.

Suddenly, a flock of mountain doves flew up from beneath Chynybek's feet.

— Help me, doves,— Chynybek called to the free birds. — I’m starving, freezing...

— Serves you right,— said the doves. — You probably forgot how, as a boy, you caught our parents in traps and doomed them, leaving us without food and shelter. Now experience cruelty for yourself.

And the doves flew away. Chynybek remembered all his childhood misdeeds and sighed heavily, regretting that he had acted so poorly in life. Completely tired and exhausted, Chynybek collapsed on the grass under a juniper bush and fell into a restless sleep. He could not tell whether it was in a dream or reality, but just before dawn, a daring rider on a light gray horse jumped up to him.

Some unknown force lifted Chynybek, and he found himself on the horse. The wind sang in his ears, the flaps of the chapan billowed — they galloped so fast down the road into the distance. The Kyrgyz say: "A long way, even very long, the tale makes shorter."

They arrived at a high hill, on which stood a large white yurt, decorated festively. The rider jumped off the horse — and then Chynybek saw that it was a girl. And here is what she told him.

That night, at the place where Chynybek slept, Aysulu (that was the girl's name) was supposed to meet her fiancé Omuraly — the son of the wizard Seyit, but she met Chynybek instead.

— So, my fate is such,— said Aysulu.

Time passed, and Chynybek and Aysulu got married. The young wife became a good friend to Chynybek. They say a horse is known by the reins, a friend is known in trouble. This also happened with the young family. As soon as Omuraly learned that Aysulu had married another, he decided to destroy Chynybek, but to make Aysulu his wife. Together with daring young men, he set off. Aysulu learned about this, told everything to Chynybek.

— Don’t be sad,— she said, seeing how her husband was deep in thought. — You can’t handle this alone, but I will help you.

Aysulu was the daughter of the wizard Gulchaky and had managed to learn many secrets of ancient magic from him. She transformed Chynybek into a large white yurt. In the yurt, above the hearth, they hung a cauldron made of forty iron strips capable of hearing the conversation of Omuraly and his young men. Aysulu kindled a fire and put meat to boil in the cauldron.

The young men of Omuraly were galloping when they suddenly saw: on the high hill stood a large white yurt, smoke was curling above it, the smell of boiled meat hit their noses.

— Let’s rest a bit, let’s take a break,— said the young men to their leader. But he suspected something was wrong at the sight of the white yurt.

— Hey, whip the yurt with your whips! — ordered Omuraly. — It must be Chynybek who has turned into a yurt.

— Can a person turn into a yurt? — his young men objected. — We have never seen such a thing.

Anticipating a hearty meal and boasting that they would catch Chynybek, the young men seized the cauldron. The cauldron heard all this and unexpectedly split in two in their hands. The boiling broth scalded everyone in the yurt. Thus, Chynybek and Aysulu freed themselves from Omuraly's claims.

The news of this reached Omuraly's father — Seyit, and he decided to destroy Chynybek himself. Aysulu learned about this, told everything to her husband, and transformed him into a white camel. On the way, the old Seyit saw the camel and immediately understood what was going on. He ordered his daughters to take the camel to a lake from which no one had ever drunk water: it was so bitter and salty.

They drove the camel into the water and before they could blink, it was gone: Chynybek turned into a lump of lead and sank to the bottom of the lake. Seyit began to hurriedly drink the water from the lake. He drank the whole lake and just reached out for the lump of lead he saw, when Chynybek turned into a spider and hid at the top of a tree. Seyit instantly turned into a wagtail and rushed after the spider. Seeing this, Chynybek turned into a hawk, and lightning struck the wagtail — only feathers fell from it.

And this time, with Aysulu's help, Chynybek emerged victorious in the struggle against the evil wizard. But the main trial was still ahead.

KYRGYZ TALES