mosaiqa

Ihlas the Truthful

Once upon a time Ihlas, the great singer and kobyz player, was traveling from one place to another. He stopped by a single tree growing on the bank of a river. Having freed his horse to graze on the nearby grass, he sat in the shade of the tree to rest. Suddenly he noticed a bird circling the tree cheeping pathetically. Ihlas saw that among the branches of the tree was a nest full of chicks squeaking in desperation. Along the trunk of the tree he saw a snake was slithering towards the nest. Ihlas was touched by the plaintiveness of the mother of the chicks. He knocked the snake from the tree with his whip and, having killed it, threw it in the river. The bird returned to her chicks. And Ihlas thought: A predator is a predator. Whether he be a man or snake, he always wants to gobble up the weak! I will speak about this with the help of my kobyz strings so that people remember about the black deeds of any and all predators.

Translated from the Russian by Dr. Helen Faller

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The Swan

Once upon a time in ancient times there was a tribe forced to abandon their native land because of frequent raids. There remained but one poor jigit (hero) – an orphan – with his old grandmother and his little sister. One day the jigit was hunting on the lake shore and he heard the flapping of wings behind him. It was a flock of white swans. Circling round, the swans landed on the water. The jigit decided to shoot one of the birds. But no matter how well he aimed, he couldn’t hit a single one of them. The frightened swans lifted up from the lake’s surface and, anxiously waving their wings, flew away. The jigit yelled after the swans, “Hey, swans! I know where you are flying to, to the Balkantau Mountains.” Read more

Ushar’s Howl
A long time ago there lived a very old woman. She had just one son, who earned his living hunting with a falcon. His most reliable companion was his hound Ushar. But then death somehow overtook the hunter. After having buried him, his relatives, following their custom, moved their camp to a new location. Along the way the old woman discovered that Ushar had disappeared and she went back to the old camp. Ushar could not bring himself to leave his master. His sad howl resounded across the whole steppe. The legendary Korkut-Ata, the forefather of all musicians and the first shaman, gives forth on his stringed kobyz the sorrow of the old woman who was his mother and the faithful dog Ushar.

Translated from the Russian by Dr. Helen Faller

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