This pasture is located in a high mountain gorge on the territory of Kara-Suu, in the southern part of the village of Bayetovo. At Kelin-Tash, you can see tall fir trees, various herbaceous plants, as well as wild animals such as ibex and mountain rams.
Historian Jumagul Baidildeev shares stories about Kelin-Tash that were passed to him by the elder Kadanaly. "The events in question took place during the times of the Kalmak raids. They would unexpectedly, under the cover of night, attack the Kyrgyz living on the Arpa pasture and capture some of them. Among the captives was a girl of extraordinary beauty who caught the attention of one of the Kalmak chieftains. He decided to take her as his wife. However, her husband was killed in battle, and despite the news of his death, the woman tried to escape two or three times, but was caught each time. Then another chieftain decided to assign a guard of 5-6 men to prevent her from escaping. But the thought of freedom never left her," the historian recounts.
According to Baidildeev, while preparing kumys, she added roots of the plant "ak kodol" (Aconitum round-leaved), which is used in folk medicine. When the chieftain went on a new campaign, the girl fed the guards kumys with aconite. After drinking, they fell asleep, and she seized the moment to escape on one of the horses. The next day, when the chieftain returned, he learned that the woman had escaped again and, enraged, ordered his warriors to bring her back — alive or dead. They decided to search for her on the Arpa pasture, assuming she might return to her homeland.
Baidildeev recounts that the horse she rode without stopping eventually grew tired, but she continued moving along the mountain paths. Hearing voices and the sounds of hooves, she realized she was being pursued. As the warriors got closer, the girl decided to leave the horse and climb the rocks. "The warriors left their horses and continued the chase. Climbing to the top, she saw her native pasture. Looking into the distance, she said, 'Better to die than to be a hostage of the enemy,' and jumped down. The warriors, shocked by what had happened, remembered that the chieftain had demanded to return her, even if she was dead. When they reached the top, they saw that the girl had turned to stone. After that, they returned. Since then, this place has been called 'Kelin-Tash,'" he added.
Sanzyrachy and journalist Omurbek Doloev reported that one of the stones symbolizing the girl's face was sent to the National Museum in Bishkek. "When exactly this pasture received such a name is unknown. This legend has been passed down from generation to generation. The Kalmak raids mainly came from the direction of Toguz-Toro. One day, they captured a settlement on the Arpa pasture and abducted a girl. This area was previously called Tash-Mazar. According to information, historian Abdykalyk Chorobaev also brought a stone and the hitching post of Manas to the museum in Bishkek," he said.
A veteran from Bayetovo, sanzyrachy Bolokbai Alykee, recalls that 30 years ago he saw the stone with the silhouette of the girl in the museum. "The supposed burials of the Kalmak can be found from Kara-Suu to Karoo and from Sasik-Bulak to Kyzyl-Zhilga. Larger graves were intended for noble people, while commoners were buried in smaller ones. Among the Kyrgyz, during funerals, a handful of earth is thrown in, while among the Kalmak, small stones are used. They built their houses from stones. I saw this stone back in my childhood. In the 1980s, while herding sheep with 10-year-old Sultanghazy, the son of the volost ruler Kasymbek, we learned about a gathering of people near a grave in the Sardal-Saray area, where a woman lay covered with juniper and golden brocade. Nearby was a chest with white pearls. People began to divide the pearls, but a master named Tynay did not have enough, and he was given the golden brocade. In the end, he melted it down into jewelry and became wealthy," Alykee recalls.
Once, a young man decided to dig up a grave on the Kelin-Tash pasture, where he discovered the remains of a man. He noticed a gold ring on the finger and tried to remove it, but it wouldn’t budge. Eventually, he cut off part of the finger with the ring. Suddenly, blood gushed from his wound, but the young man, undeterred, put on the ring and went home. The next day, he died at the same time he removed the ring from the finger of the deceased. After this incident, the residents stopped digging up graves. Such stories were told to me by my grandfather Bekboo Shaibyrov," Alykee added.
