Chechen Tales
Translated from the Russian by Troy Morash
Timour (retelling of a Chechen fable) / FABLES / Winter 2002
The Deeds of Wives
A poor man was riding on his mare with her foal following behind. After some time the foal started to trudge behind a horseman who was on his gelding.*
'That foal is mine, my gelding gave birth to it,' said the horseman.
'In order to decide this problem we must go to the prince,' said the poor
man.
Once they had arrived at the prince's palace they asked his wife, 'Is the
prince at home?'
'No, he's not in. But on what business have you come?'
'We've come to settle a disagreement: Who owns the foal? The poor man on
the mare or the horseman on the gelding?'
'Well, my master is not at home. He rode off to put out a fire at Kazbek's
Tower,' answered the prince's wife.
'How amazing! How can it be that Kazbek's Tower has burst into flames?' said
the horseman with surprise.
'There's nothing amazing or strange about Kazbek's Tower bursting into flames
at all. What's amazing is that your gelding has given birth,' answered the
prince's wife.
After some time the prince returned and asked his wife if anyone had come
to see him while he was away. His wife said that two men with a disagreement
had been to see him and she told her husband all about it.
'How many times have I told you not to mess about in affairs that have nothing
to do with you!' shouted the prince. 'Take whatever you want and get out of
my house. Though before you go give me a drink and put me to sleep.'
The prince's wife poured her husband a drink and as soon as her husband had
fallen asleep she put him into her trunk and set off with him to her parents'
home.
After some time the prince woke up and asked his wife what was the meaning
of all this.
'Didn't you say I could take whatever I wanted from your house. I took what
was most valuable to me.'
'I can't argue with you,' said the prince with a sigh. 'It's better to go
home.'
And so they returned home together.
*A gelding is a male castrated horse for those who don't know.
The Cuckoo
A long time ago there once lived a cuckoo with three small chicks. One day
the Mother Cuckoo fell ill.
It's been said, that during her illness no one prepared any food for her,
or brought her water. The cuckoo's children in fact did not look after their
mother.
One time Mother Cuckoo said to her eldest child, 'Go and fetch me some water,
I'm very thirsty.'
'But it's very cold outside and it's difficult for me to carry the water,'
the eldest said refusing to do as her mother had asked.
And the other two didn't bring their mother a drop of water either.
So with all her remaining strength Mother Cuckoo flew away from the nest.
The children were alarmed. 'Come back! We will bring you water, feed you
till you're full, we will help you with everything,' they cried.
However since then cuckoos don't know their parents and parents don't know their children. Cuckoos even lay their eggs in strangers' nests.
About the Hunter and the Nart*
A long time ago, there once lived a husband with his wife. Every morning the
husband put his wife up against the door, put an egg on her head and shot
it with his rifle. The man's wife to be sure was scared lest a bullet should
hit her but she did not confess this to her husband. Seeing the difficult
position she was in, she somehow managed to get the attention of an old wise
woman and told the old hag everything.
The old wise woman asked, 'What does he say to you after he
shoots?'
'He says, "What a man I am, what a hunter I am!"'
'When your husband says those words to you tomorrow say this,
"There are better men and better hunters than you, who go everywhere
and just don't sit at home all the time." Thus advised the old wise woman
to the troubled wife.
The next day after the husband had shot at his wife she said
to him, 'You can find and gaze upon better men and better hunters than yourself
if you only set off and wandered about for some time.'
'Ha, I'll see if there are better men or better hunters than
me or not,' said the hunter and off he set straight away. On the way he came
to a tower. In the tower lived seven Narts and their mother.
'You welcome guests?' shouted the hunter as he approached the
tower.
The mother was baking flat bread made from corn flour and her
sons weren't home. She answered, 'Of course we welcome guests, how could one
not? But if my sons find out about your coming they will kill you. Quickly
hide in the hem of my dress.'
So she hid her guest in the hem of her dress.
Soon her seven children returned home.
'Nana, who has come to see you?' they asked.
'If you give your word not to kill them than I will tell you.'
After hearing their promise their mother brought the hunter
out from underneath her dress.
'This is our guest Nana?' laughed the seven Narts who without
delay began pushing the visiting hunter about from one to another.
They amused themselves with their 'toy' but because of their
promise to their mother, they did not kill the hunter in their home, but instead
decided to kill him on the road once he had finally left their home.
They left their house early and sat in a place where the visiting
hunter was sure to pass by. Their mother fed the hunter and pointed out to
him the way to take, advising him to leave before her sons returned. The hunter
quickly saddled up on his horse and was on his way. Once the Narts had spotted
him they started shooting at him.
The hunter took to his heels and on the way he came across Nart
Gonchu who was ploughing the earth with eight wild boars.
'There are seven Narts chasing after me who want to kill me!
Save me!' the hunter pleaded with Nart Gonchu.
'Get out of here and don't scare my wild boars. You are ruining
my strip of field!' cried Gonchu.
'Can it be that your ploughing is more precious to you than
my life? Save me!' the hunter begged once more.
So then Gonchu put the hunter and his horse into his mouth, into a huge cavity
in his mouth where a tooth once stood.
The Narts rode up and said, 'Give us our guest!'
'The guest who asked for my help, I will not surrender. Be on
your way and don't walk all over my field.'
'If you don't give us our guest then we aren't leaving!' said
the seven Narts and went to stop the ploughing.
Gonchu yelled at his wild boars and they attacked the Narts
who suddenly became afraid for their lives and ran away. Meanwhile the hunter
was whiling his time away in Gonchu's cavity and thought, 'I must ask him
how he lost such a large tooth.'
As soon as the seven Narts had run away, Gonchu took the hunter
and his horse out of his mouth.
The hunter asked, 'Tell me please, how did you lose your tooth?'
'I'm too busy ploughing and can't stop now to tell you about
it.'
'I can wait till evening if you will tell me,' said the hunter.
'Very well, in the evening I will tell you about it, until then
go to the hut and wait for me,' said Gonchu.
Gonchu ploughed till evening and then had this to tell, 'In
my family there were seven brothers and I was the most feeble of us all. We
had only one sister. She was stolen by a one-eyed Nart by the name of Sargan.
My seven brothers and I set out to recapture her. We climbed over seven mountains
which then brought us to Sargan's dwelling. Sargan welcomed us well enough,
questioned us and started a fire in the hearth. After that he stuck a dirty
old metal rod in the corner. He put it there to warm in up red hot like, and
then grabbed each of us and impaled us one by one onto the hot metal rod,
then he put the rod back in the corner of the hearth and went to lie down
and relax.
I was the last to be impaled, at the edge of the metal rod and
it's sharp edge did not pierce my heart. When Sargan had fallen asleep, I
jumped free from the metal rod and then removed my brothers from it and then
again heated the metal rod up and stuck it into the only eye Sargan had left
and started to run.
Waking from the pain, Sargan filled the air with a horrible
scream. He grabbed a rock and threw it after me. The rock fell not very far
from me but hit another rock. A few pieces from it hit me and knocked out
my tooth. I buried my brothers in one tomb and not finding any trace of my
sister, left the wailing Sargan, and went home.
'But you live in the mountains and not in the plains,' said Gonchu at the end of his story, 'return home and live with your labor.'
*Well I have learned about the Narts. You can go to this web page at www.chechnyafree.ru for more detailed information. Narts were hardworking virtuous giants who helped people and they appear in many Chechen legends, myths and fairy tales. The Nart epics date back to the second century BC and belong to the folklore of many northern Caucasian nations. But the Chechen and Ingush myths focus on the standoff between the Narts and the bravest of men. Their heroes protect the weak, they act in the interests of society.
Chinkho and the Devil
Once it happened that Chinkho was somehow supposed to mow hay when he saw
off in the distance the devil approaching.
He thought he would trick the devil. He laid down on the ground and put a
sedge plant between his leg and hand.
Soon enough the devil came along and saw someone laying near a scythe, at
his side there was some bread and between his hand and leg a sedge plant.
'Were it not for a scythe lying nearby, some would say: the man had been
murdered; were it not for the bread laying nearby some would say: he had died
from hunger; and were it not for the fresh sedge laying between his hand and
leg then some would say: he had simply died. If he wasn't murdered and didn't
die of hunger and didn't just die just like that, then that means he lives.
So I had better get the hell out of here,' said the devil and off he ran.
Translated from the Russian by Troy Morash 2003.
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