Makmut
In ancient times, there lived a man named Makmut. Makmut was not foolish, but he was weak and frail. He and his wife lived in poverty. They only had goats. Every day, Makmut would take his goats to pasture. His wife would send him off with a jug of sour milk. But as soon as Makmut reached the pasture, a fox would appear.
With a swipe of its tail, the fox would knock Makmut to the ground and drink the sour milk from the jug. Following the fox, a wolf would come and attack the goats.
Makmut had thirty goats, but soon only fifteen were left. And Makmut himself grew thin from hunger.
To make matters worse, a terrible giant appeared in the nearby mountains.
One day, this giant came to Makmut and said:
— Give me your goats, Makmut.
— I won’t give them! — Makmut stubbornly replied.
— If you don’t want to give them willingly, let’s measure our strength. Whoever wins will take all the goats, — proposed the giant.
Makmut was frightened but agreed. The giant said to him:
— First, we will knock down one mountain each. Come back here tomorrow. I will knock down the mountain to the south, and you will knock down the mountain to the north.
— Alright! — said the frightened Makmut.
The next morning, the giant came, grabbed the peaks of the southern mountains, banged them together, and the mountains crumbled, leaving a flat area in their place.
Makmut approached a large mountain on the northern side. He touched it from one side, then from the other, but could do nothing.
— Why aren’t you knocking down the mountain? — asked the giant.
— This mountain stands in the very center of the earth. If I knock it down, the whole earth will turn inside out! replied Makmut.
“What a knowledgeable and strong man,” thought the giant to himself and hurried to say respectfully:
— Don’t touch the mountain, Makmut-ake, I will admit defeat this time. Tomorrow we will meet again and try to break trees in the forest. I will go to the forest to the south of here, and you will take the northern one.
Makmut agreed. Now he was not so afraid of the giant — he saw that he was strong but foolish.
In the morning, the giant easily broke all the trees in the southern forest, while Makmut approached a solitary poplar in the northern forest and began to examine it from top to bottom.
The giant approached him and asked:
— What are you examining?
— This poplar, — replied Makmut, — is the king of all trees on earth, and if I break it, all the trees will fall through the ground. Then we will have no firewood, and we won’t be able to cook food. We will all die of hunger.
— Don’t touch it! Leave it! — shouted the giant. — This time I will admit defeat. Let’s meet tomorrow and stomp our feet on the ground with all our strength: whoever breaks it will be the winner.
With that, they parted ways.
Makmut returned home and said to his wife:
— Ferment the milk and pour it into a leather bag.
His wife did everything as her husband instructed. At dawn, Makmut went to the designated place and buried the bag of sour milk in the ground. Then, as if nothing had happened, he waited for the giant. When the giant arrived, Makmut offered him to start the contest first. The giant stomped his foot and sank into the ground up to his navel. It was Makmut’s turn. He stood on the spot where the bag was buried and stomped his foot. The bag burst, and sour milk splattered everywhere.
— You stomped and sank into the ground up to your navel, while I stomped — I knocked the earth’s brain out!
The giant admitted defeat this time,
As he was leaving, he invited Makmut to visit him the next day.
The next day, Makmut went to the giant’s house. The giant fed him, gave him drink, and put him to sleep, while he plotted to kill him. Makmut guessed this and, as soon as the giant fell asleep, quietly got up and placed a log in his bed. The giant woke up, took a club, and struck the log, then said:
— Well, finally, I’ve dealt with Makmut!
And the giant went back to sleep. After a while, Makmut moved the log back to its original place and lay down in bed. In the morning, Makmut woke up before the giant. The giant woke up, saw the living Makmut, and was frightened. He seated his guest to drink tea and asked:
— Did you sleep well, Makmut-ake? What dreams did you have?
— I slept soundly and had no dreams, only felt a mosquito bite me at night. Or maybe it wasn’t a mosquito, but a fly.
The giant was astonished, thinking: “What a strongman! I struck him with a club, and he thinks a fly bit him! No, I cannot deal with him!”
And the giant respectfully escorted Makmut home.
As he was leaving, Makmut invited the giant to visit him the next day. The giant did not dare to refuse.
When Makmut returned home, he instructed his wife:
— Tomorrow, a giant will come to visit us. First, you will serve him tea, then step out of the yurt and ask me in a loud voice: “Makmut! What meat shall we serve the guest?” To this, I will reply: “Put the head of the first giant and the brisket of the second giant in the pot. If that is not enough, add a piece of his thigh.”
So the giant came to visit Makmut. The hosts treated him to tea. Then Makmut’s wife stepped out of the yurt and shouted:
— Makmut! What meat shall we serve the guest?
And Makmut replied:
— Put the head of the first giant and the brisket of the second giant in the pot. If that is not enough, add a piece of his thigh.
Hearing such words, the giant was terrified, jumped up, and ran away. As the giant was running, he encountered the fox and the wolf.
— Who are you running from? — they asked the giant.
— I am running from the strongman named Makmut, — replied the giant.
— What are you talking about! — the fox exclaimed. — Makmut has no strength at all! Even I can knock him down with a swipe of my tail. I’ve done it many times and drank his sour milk.
— And I ate his goats, — added the wolf.
— No, that can’t be! — the giant did not believe them.
Then the animals persuaded the giant to go with them to Makmut.
The giant, the fox, and the wolf went together. They saw Makmut approaching them.
— Ah, my faithful friends! How good that you are bringing the runaway! — exclaimed Makmut.
At that, the giant was more frightened than before. With one blow, he killed both the fox and the wolf.
— I would rather die than hear everyone tease me for running away from Makmut! — decided the giant and jumped off a high cliff, crashing to the ground.
Thus, Makmut defeated his enemies. It is no wonder they say: “The strong defeats one, the wise — a thousand.”
Kyrgyz Tales