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Screen reader
Screen reader
In ancient times, two powerful tribes lived in the vast expanses of the Kurchum district of the East Kazakhstan Region near Karatogay village. Slender and beautiful were the people of these tribes.
Their herds were fat, the pastures were green and full of lush grass. They lived together without strife or war. There would have been no reason for quarrels in these tribes if one day a warrior from one tribe had not fallen in love with the most beautiful and rich girl from another tribe. He sent matchmakers to a neighboring tribe. And he was handsome, but the wayward beauty did not like him. The girl refused the steppe dzhigit; the girl’s soul was very proud and rebellious. The young man was enraged by the answer, and his heart was filled with anger. He could not stand such an insult and on the same moonless, starless night, with a handful of his faithful comrades, he made a daring raid on the herds of his neighbors and stole cattle. The next day, the inhabitants of the neighboring tribe had no shadow of a doubt whose hands it was. Some time later, a handful of daredevils from the girl’s tribe decided to return the raid to get their own. And the internecine strife between the once friendly tribes began.
Time passed, and mutual strife and raids did not stop. One fine day, the elders of both tribes decided to put an end to all discord. At the council, they decided to hold a duel between the strongest batyrs of the two tribes, the indispensable condition of which was that if a batyr from the dzhigit’s tribe wins in the fight, then the beauty will have to marry him, but if a batyr from the girl’s tribe wins, then the girl will remain in her tribe, and the batyr will have to return everything that he took dishonestly.
The day of the duel has come. On the dzhigit’s side, he volunteered to fight. And a slender young man left from the girl’s side. The batyr saw the young man and made him laugh. But the young man was not embarrassed and proudly rode out to meet him. An unequal battle ensued. The young man was too young and inexperienced, but he was hot and daring. After a short time, the batyr struck the young man with his sword and cut off his head. The young man’s head rolled, and the helmet flew off her, and long beautiful hair fell out from under it! When the batyr saw this hair, only then did he realize that rage had blinded him, and with his own hand he killed the one he loved more than life! He screamed loudly and rushed to the lifeless body, but it was too late!
Residents of both tribes gathered and buried the girl with honors. They built a large mazar at the site of her burial. And the dzhigit remained at her grave and stayed there for three days and three nights. No one could persuade him to return home. The tribesmen who returned to the cemetery three days later found him there distraught and gray-haired!
This legend has survived to this day, and three friends living near this place learned about it. They were students, and one fine day they decided to visit this mazar and see what was in it. The thought that the girl was from a noble family, and that there could be untold riches in the mazar, did not give them peace.
They chose a dark, moonless night so that no one would see them, and decided to go to the cemetery. They dug for a long time, and suddenly the shovel of one of them came across a slab. Since the dug hole was narrow, and only one person could fit in it, the guy digging decided to lift or move the slab. His comrades were shining light on him from above.
It took the young man some effort to move the slab, and how they were tormented by the same nightmare. A beautiful girl called them to her in a dream.
Attempts to find their comrade were unsuccessful the next day and the next. Only three days later their third comrade returned himself. But… Oh, horror! Two friends could not recognize him – he was crazy and gray-haired!
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