Once, Aldar's wife really wanted to eat sour cream, and she began to ask her husband to get a cow.
“How can I buy a cow if I have no money?” — the poor man lamented and found no way out. He wanted very much to please his wife, and one morning he said:
— A riddle is easy to pose — difficult to solve, but so be it — I will try... Go to the neighboring aul, to your father, and ask him to make us a wooden calf. Your father is a jack-of-all-trades, and fulfilling this small request will not be a big deal for him.
— Why do you need a wooden calf? — his wife was surprised. — Only a living cow brings milk!
— Do as I said. You will find out the rest in due time.
The wife sadly shook her head, but soon set off on her way. Her father — a responsive man — without unnecessary questions got to work: he loved his daughter and son-in-law, and he wanted to do something nice for them. The father crafted a wooden calf, painted it black, and instructed to deliver it to Aldar.
Aldar was delighted with the gift and the next morning, at dawn, he met a shepherd on the street as he was driving a herd to pasture. In his hands, he held a black calf that was made so skillfully that it resembled a living one.
— Listen, friend,— Aldar addressed the shepherd, — Take the calf to the pasture. And I will pay as if you are herding a cow.
The shepherd respected the request of the beardless man. All day the calf did not budge from its spot: it seemed it could not get enough of the juicy feed. Soon the sun hid behind the neighboring mountain, and it was time to drive the herd home. The shepherd quickly gathered the cows, but he could not manage with the stubborn one: it refused to move, as if it had not had enough time to fill its belly.
— You will come by yourself when you are full,— the shepherd got offended at the calf, cracking his whip loudly, and drove the herd to the aul. There, at his home, Aldar was already waiting impatiently.
— And where is my calf? — he asked.
— It’s grazing. Go look for it yourself: I’ve run around all day,
— Oh, no. Let’s go together — how can I look for it alone?
They arrived at the pasture, but the calf was nowhere to be found. They searched and searched and returned empty-handed to the aul. There, they met kind people who told them how the butcher, sneaking under the hem of his handwoven cloak, had carried off the calf.
That was just what Aldar needed. He immediately went to the kazy — the local judge — and complained about the butcher. The kazy promptly made a decision: to give a cow for the calf. Thus, the cunning man got a cow, and on the table were milk and sour cream...
However, Aldar did not keep the cow for long. He slaughtered it, sold the meat, and with the money earned, built himself a large beautiful house with a wide yard.
The greedy bai, who lived nearby Aldar, nearly burst with envy upon seeing the poor man's new beautiful house. He went to the kazy and declared:
— Judge, this beardless deceiver lives by theft. How could he build such a large house in one go? Check and punish him!
The kazy summoned Aldar and began to interrogate him: “With what money did you build the house?”
— You know, kazy, that I had a cow,— the resourceful beardless man replied calmly, — I slaughtered it, sold the meat, and made a lot of money, and that’s how I built the house.
The bais, who overheard the conversation, were very pleased — luck was coming their way: they wanted to get rich so badly. Returning home, they began to slaughter cows to sell the meat as expensively as Aldar. But nothing came of it: they brought so much meat to the market that they had to give it away for a pittance.
Only then did the bais realize that they had fallen for the trick of the cunning beardless man. They got angry with him and complained to the kazy. He issued a strict sentence: to put Aldar in an iron-bound chest and send him down the river — he would surely drown somewhere.
It was said — it was done. They set the chest afloat down the river. The beardless man was floating and saw through a crack — on the shore sat the son of the village elder, watching over a flock of sheep.
The rich man's son looked at the river, and there was the chest floating. His eyes lit up with greed, he took it and pulled it ashore. He opened the lid, and Aldar suddenly screamed in a voice not his own:
— No, no, I don’t want to! And don’t persuade me — none of my ancestors ever did this work, and I will not agree. Don’t convince me — I will not agree for anything!
The elder's son was terribly surprised, his mouth even twisted.
— Hey, Aldar Kose, what are you disagreeing with? What are you renouncing? — he asked in confusion.
— I was put in this chest and sent down the current. They said: “As soon as you reach the end of the river, you will be appointed a judge there.” No, I don’t want to be kazy, I don’t want to! — And Aldar began to cry loudly.
The elder's son was simultaneously surprised and delighted: what kind of fool refuses such an appointment! He had long dreamed of becoming kazy and offered Aldar:
— If you are telling the truth, stay here to herd the sheep, and I will sit in the chest and go where they will appoint me kazy...
Aldar did not hesitate: he sat the elder's son in the chest, tightly closed the lid, and sent it down the river. And he drove the sheep home.
What a surprise it was for the kazy, the bais, and the elder of the aul when they saw Aldar alive and unharmed with a flock of sheep that he drove into the wide yard!
— Oh, Aldar! How did you stay alive? And where did you get the flock? — they asked in unison.
— I am immortal,— the cunning man replied.
And he told them about the underwater kingdom, where he supposedly had been: there were countless cows and sheep there.
— And are there herds of horses there? — the greedy bais asked.
— Plenty! — Aldar encouraged them without even batting an eye.
And the kazy, the bais, and the elder wanted to get even richer. They each took a chest and went to the riverbank to go to where Aldar found the rich green underwater pasture. The elder said:
— Among you, I am the oldest. I will go first and check whether what Aldar told us is true,
They did not immediately agree with the elder — everyone wanted to get to the underwater kingdom as soon as possible. But the elder insisted on his own, and they threw him into the river. The chest floated on the waves and disappeared from sight.
— Now throw me in,— the bai hurried.
Soon the chest with the bai was also swept away by the mountain stream.
On the shore, everyone waited a long time for the elder's or bai's chest to surface. Finally, unable to bear it, the kazy set off down the river, but his chest also vanished into the depths...
Thus, thanks to the resourceful and clever Aldar Kose, the people got rid of the greedy bai, the cruel kazy, and the wicked elder.
KYRGYZ TALES