Kulatay Batyr Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, there was a wealthy man who had a blue mare. This blue mare would graze by looking at the moon and would give birth by looking at the sun. The rich man and his wife would feed the foal born from this mare, and they had no other food to eat. One day, the rich man and his wife said, "We have grown old, and God has not given us children to inherit our wealth. Now we should pray for a child." As usual, the next morning, when he looked out, the blue mare had given birth to a child. Seeing this, the rich man and his wife were overjoyed, and they brought the child home, naming him Kulatay the Brave. He grew rapidly, and in just a day, he was already walking. Kulatay soon began to hunt deer and wild horses in the fields. He would bring home forty deer every day. After his son brought back the deer and wild horses, he no longer fed on the mare’s foal, which led to the increase of their horses, eventually numbering in the thousands. One day, while returning from the horses, Kulatay met a man. Kulatay asked him, "Where are you coming from?" The man replied, "I have heard that Kulatay the Brave is here, and I have come to join him. If you are Kulatay, I will be your elder brother." Thus, the two began to journey together. One day, another man approached Kulatay. He too said, "I have come to join Kulatay the Brave." Kulatay replied, "I am Kulatay." After that, the three of them continued their journey together. As they walked, they saw a tent in front of them. When they entered, there was no one inside. They brought the deer they had hunted and began to eat inside the tent. One day, they left their elder brother at the tent, saying, "Prepare food for us," and Kulatay went hunting with his middle brother. After they left, while the elder brother was cooking the meat, a man who was a hand's breadth tall and had a beard that was forty fists long entered and said to him, "Give me some meat!" The elder brother replied, "I have younger brothers, there isn’t enough meat for you." After realizing he wouldn’t get meat from him, the hand’s breadth tall man picked him up, sat on him, ate all the meat, and then left. When they returned in the evening, the elder brother was sitting there without any meat. His younger brothers asked, "Where is the meat?" The elder brother replied, "A man who is a hand's breadth tall and has a beard that is forty fists long came and ate my meat." The next day, they left the middle brother behind. While he was cooking meat, the same man came in and greeted him. "Give me some meat," he said. The middle brother replied, "Why should I give it to you? I have someone else who will eat my meat." The hand's breadth tall man lifted him and sat on him, eating all the meat and then riding away. In the evening, the elder and younger brothers returned, and when they had no meat to give, they said, "A man who is a hand's breadth tall and has a beard that is forty fists long came and ate my meat." Kulatay became angry and decided to stay behind the next day while his two brothers went hunting. After they left, Kulatay filled a pot with meat and was cooking when the hand's breadth tall man entered and asked for meat. Kulatay replied, "This is not the meat for you; we have another guest." The hand's breadth tall man became angry and started fighting Kulatay. Kulatay grabbed him by the beard and lifted him, taking him to a nearby tree where he tied him to a branch. When his two brothers returned, they saw the hand's breadth tall man hanging by his beard. The next morning, when they looked, the hand's breadth tall man had broken free and escaped. The three of them followed his trail, but it ended at a large black stone. Looking around, they could see no tracks leading away. Kulatay lifted the black stone and found a deep well beneath it. Kulatay said, "He must have fallen into this well; I will go down as well." He found a rope that the hand's breadth tall man had used to climb out and told his brothers, "When I move this rope, you pull me back up." Kulatay descended into the well. Kulatay’s two brothers stayed at the top of the well. When Kulatay reached the bottom, he saw three white tents set up. As he approached, he entered the middle tent and found three girls inside. The hand's breadth tall man was playing with them. Upon entering, Kulatay was confronted by the hand's breadth tall man, who angrily asked, "Who are you to enter my house without permission?" This man turned out to be the son of a king, living separately with his three sisters in the three white tents by a lake, refusing to let them marry anyone, claiming he would take them for himself. He was a killer. This time, as he was about to kill Kulatay, Kulatay confronted him. Kulatay lifted him and threw him to the ground, then beheaded him. Kulatay took the treasure and the three sisters and returned to the place from where he had fallen. He first released the three girls, but just as he was coming out, his two brothers, thinking, "Once he comes out, he will take the most beautiful sister for himself," cut the rope. Kulatay fell back to the bottom of the well. He landed at the edge of a large lake. Miraculously, he was unhurt. Looking around, he saw a large poplar tree. When he looked up, he saw three chicks; one was crying while the other two were laughing. Kulatay approached the tree and climbed to the top to ask the chicks, "Why are you two laughing while this one is crying?" The chicks replied, "Our mother used to give birth to three chicks every year, but every year an evil dragon would come and eat one of them. This one is crying because it fears that it will be eaten next." Kulatay asked, "When does the dragon come to eat you?" The chicks answered, "It will come in an hour." Kulatay waited with the chicks. After an hour, he saw the dragon approaching and confronted it. Kulatay took an apple from his hand and struck the dragon, cutting off its head. He left the head for the chicks to eat, and they were overjoyed. Suddenly, the sky turned dark, and the mother of the chicks, seeing that her children were safe, came rushing back. She saw her three chicks and the sun came out. When she noticed their mother approaching, the chicks hid Kulatay. The mother asked, "Who has saved you from the dragon?" The chicks replied, "If you don’t eat us, we will tell you." The mother said, "Show me, I won’t eat you." When the chicks opened their wings to show her, she swallowed Kulatay whole. The three chicks cried, "Don’t eat the one who saved us from death!" and they pressed against their mother’s throat. The mother released Kulatay onto the ground. "I meant to eat you to make you like us," she said as she let him go. She said to Kulatay, "You have saved my children from death, now make a wish." Kulatay replied, "Just help me get back to the surface. I have no other wishes." The giant black eagle said, "Alright! In the meantime, shoot eight hundred sparrows and bring me eight jugs of water, then I will take you where you wish to go." Kulatay managed to catch eight hundred sparrows and filled eight jugs with water. The next morning, when the sun rose, the giant black eagle said, "Come, ride on my back!" Kulatay brought the sparrows and jugs of water, climbed on the eagle’s back, and they took off into the sky. By midday, the eagle turned its neck to the right, and Kulatay threw four hundred sparrows into its mouth. When it turned left, he threw four jugs of water. As the sun began to set, the eagle turned its neck to the right again, and Kulatay threw the remaining four hundred sparrows into the eagle’s mouth. When it turned left again, he tossed the last four jugs of water. Without missing the sunset, the eagle brought Kulatay to the surface of the earth. Then, the eagle said, "Now you can be at peace," and it flew back down into the well. Now, Kulatay continued on foot. One day, he came across a village where a feast was being held. When he asked, "Whose village is this?" he learned it was the village of his brothers who had thrown him into the well. "Now Kulatay is dead," they were saying, preparing to marry the girls for themselves. Just then, Kulatay the Brave arrived. His brothers were astonished to see him safe and sound, so they set up a private tent and asked for forgiveness for their mistakes, bowing down to their younger brother. After they accepted their mistake, Kulatay forgave them. In the end, the three reconciled, became wealthy, and achieved their dreams.