A wise girl
Long time ago in the prairies lived rich Kazakh named Edilbay. He had three sons. Two of them had already their own families, now the time has come to marry his youngest son, Jandaulet.
But before Edilbay decides to test if his son is ready to have his own hearth and herd. As he knew very well for the life on his own one needs to be shrewd and resourceful. So Edilbay ordered him to shepherd forty goats to the bazaar, not sell them but buy forty arshin of cotton. Jandaulet gave much thought but couldn’t solve father’s riddle. As he reached the city he asked poor Kazakh peasant for an overnight stay. At dinner he told he is having hard time to solve his father’s riddle. The daughter of the house, young and beautiful, after hearing his story, replied:
“Oh, that is easy! You only have to cut horns of the sheep, sell and buy the needed cotton.”
So Jandaulet made as the girl advised. But his father didn’t believe he could solve it himself, so he started asking questions and eventually found out who helped his son. Edilbay paid a good kalym[1]and married his son to a wise girl, thinking that brainless man needs a wise wife.
Not long after Edilbay makes the preparations for his trip to the city. Before setting off he asks each of his daughters in law kind of gifts they would like from a city:
The oldest of daughters asks for a chest with mirror inside, the middle daughter for a beautifully embroidered bracelet, and the youngest said:
“I want no gifts. I only have one wish, please take this bag with you and without looking what is inside bring it back.”
Astonished again Edilbay took the bag from his daughter. On his way back home he got curios what might be inside of the bag, and opened it. There were only sheep elbow bones, he got so angry that threw all the bones away. And right after he got attacked by the robbers.
Edilbay offered them a ransom: sixty old and seventy young camels. The robbers agreed to take the ransom and return the caravan. So when the robbers went to aul[2] for the camels their leader asked Edilbay:
“We were watching you for a while, and there were forty one of you, and we couldn’t dare to attack you. Please, tell me where all forty people of yours have gone?”
Only then Edilbay understood that the bones in the bag were magical. When the robbers came to aul to take the ransom, the youngest of bai’s daughters could interpret the hint easily. She invited sixty aksakals, and they decided not to give a ransom but send seventy young jygyts[3] to save Edilbay.
So thanks to the wise mind of a girl, Edilbay was saved and the robbers were destroyed.
[1] kalym - tradition that requires would-be grooms to pay a bride price
[2] aul - village
[3] jygyt - young man
Translated by: Elga J
Illustrated by: Elga J.