How Lake Issyk-Kul Came to Be
Many legends have been woven by the people about how Lake Issyk-Kul appeared. This is one of them. In ancient times, where the high-altitude lake now splashes, there stood a large and beautiful city. One day, a great disaster struck—a powerful earthquake that spared neither buildings nor people. The ground sank, and the resulting hollow filled with water. A lake formed in the place of the city. It so happened that the day before the terrible earthquake, a group of young girls had gone from the city into the mountains to gather firewood. Only these girls survived.
Every morning they would come to the lake, weep bitterly, and could not come to terms with the loss of their loved ones. Sitting on the shore, they shed bitter tears that fell into the waters of the lake. So many tears were shed that the lake became bitter-salty. The elders say that the lake buried many human fates. The bitterness of the sorrow and longing of those girls later found reflection in the name of the lake—“Issyk”—hot (like tears). “Kul” means lake in the Kyrgyz language.
The aksakals—elderly respected people—believe that the character of the lake resembles the mood of those grieving girls: it can be stormy, silver-gray and roaring, or calm and contemplative, enchanting you with its transparent sapphire-colored waters.