Ossetian fairy tales in English

The Jinn King was saddened:

– “I forgot to warn you, so you did not recognize them. It was them. Chase them down, catch them and bring them here.”

And the daughter of the Jinn King had a gift of prophecy. She said to the young man:

– “Father has recognized us! There is a new chase after us, let's run!”

They ran, looking back, and saw a chase behind them in the distance. The girl said to the young man:

– “We can't run any farther. I will make a church appear here; one of us will become a priest and the other a deacon, and we will not be recognized.”

A church appeared and they became a deacon and a priest.

The members of the chase saw the church and thought that the fugitives might hide there. But seeing only the priest and deacon there, who were performing divine service, they were ashamed to interrupt them and turned back on their way. And on the way back they looked everywhere for the fugitives, but found them nowhere; so they returned home.

The Jinn King asked:

– “Well, have you found them?”

And they answered again:

– “We did not meet even local people on the way. Only in one place a priest and a deacon were performing divine service in a church, and we did not see anyone else.”

The Jinn King said:

– “It was them, but you did not recognize them. Now you won't be able to find them anymore! My daughter failed to recognize herself! She was a rascal and she ran away like a rascal! There's nothing we can do about her now, let's leave them.”

The daughter of the Jinn King recognized that the chase had turned back, and said to her husband:

– “Now let's go without fear!”

They came to his house. The old woman had already died, but her house under a thatched roof stood as before.

– “Here is our house for you!” – said the young man to his wife. “This is how poor I have lived!”

And his wife replied:

– “Property is a matter of time. Don't worry about that.”

She made a request to God:

– “Let there be tall houses on this spot before morning!”

And in the morning they woke up and saw tall houses. And the daughter of the Jinn King said again:

– “Let these houses be filled with gold ornaments as needed! Let there be garments for my husband of costly fabrics to dress himself from head to toe! And let the best of women's garments appear for myself, with two shifts!” And she also asked: “God, let there be a table the whole length of our house, filled with abundant food and drink!”

The husband and wife sat down at the table, partook of their food, and had heartfelt conversations with each other about their love. And they would not admire each other. Then she said again:

– “Let a guard stand at our doors, that we may be rid of idle visitors.”

So they made a life and live to this day.

As you have not seen them, so may you see no other misfortune, no other disease, and may God grant us a safe deliverance from this place.

The poor man and the rich khan

In ancient times, a certain man called his son to him and gave him three instructions: never take orphans into your home, but support them outside your family; never lend money to someone richer than you; never reveal your innermost thoughts to your wife.

When he gave these instructions to his son, he asked him to fulfill these instructions sacredly, not to violate them in any way, for violating them would put the son in a difficult situation.

Soon the father died, and the son wanted to experience in his life the truth of his father's instructions. He took orphans into his house to bring them up. Then he lent money to khan, who was richer than him. He kept the orphans well and did not abuse them in anything.

When the agreed term passed, he asked the khan to pay his debt. The khan got angry, ordered his servants to beat him and threatened him:

– “What money are you talking about? If you remind me of your debt one more time, a great misfortune will befall your head!”

In retaliation, the angry poor man stole a herd of khan's horses and put his tamga on them. But he was not satisfied with that. Thinking that this revenge was not enough for the khan, he decided to kidnap his son from him as well. For he did so: he kidnapped his only son from the khan and sent him to school to study.

The Khan began to search for his son and horses. His search was in vain, and then he turned to a sorceress for help and advice:

– “I can't find my son and the horses that were stolen from me!” – he said to her. “Such a case has never happened! Help me!”

The sorceress said to him:

– “Do not look for them in vain, and do not demand them from anyone except the one from whom you borrowed the money and have not repaid.”

The khan had to be sure of this, so he asked the sorceress to find out from the poor man's wife whether her husband had really stolen his son and horses.

The sorceress came to the poor man's wife's house and, as if sympathizing with her, said:

– “Thy husband has suffered innocently, he asked for payment of the debt, and the rich khan ordered him to be beaten.”

The wife of the poor man said to the sorceress in reply:

– “I know nothing about it, my husband has told me nothing.”

– “What kind of a wife are you in such a case, if your husband does not tell you about his affairs!” – said the sorceress to her.

So she left this time without knowing anything. In the evening the poor man's wife told her husband about the visit of the sorceress. He answered her only this way:

– “To whom what he has got, that is what belongs to him.”

The next day the sorceress came again to the poor man's wife and asked:

– “Well, again you have learned nothing?”

– “He told me only this,” she replied: "Whoever gets what, let it be good for him!”

The rejoiced sorceress hurriedly came to the khan and said to him:

– “Did I not tell you that the horses and your son are with the one from whom you borrowed money and did not pay!”

Then the khan calls the poor man to him and asked him:

– “Do you have my son and horses?”

– “I have them!” – answered the poor man.

– “In that case I cede my khanate to you, you should be the khan, not me.”

Meanwhile, the orphans, whom the poor man had taken into his family and had never wronged, turned against him, looking for an opportunity to kill him. And the poor man said:

– “How right my father was! I was convinced by my own experience of the truth of his instructions.”

The Wolf and the Seven Goats of Gazza

Once upon a time there was a poor man. His name was Gazza. He had only seven goats, nothing else was in his household. The first goat had one belly, the second had two bellies, the third three bellies, the fourth – four, the fifth – five, the sixth – six and the seventh had seven bellies.

Only around noon did the poor man let all seven goats go to graze.

One day, when they were grazing, the one-bellied goat said to the two-bellied one:

– “I've had enough, my belly is full. If you are full, let's go home.”

And the one-bellied goat replied:

– “My belly is still empty, wait for me.”

– “No, I'm going home”, – said the one-bellied goat. She was walking along the road, and a wolf meets her.

– “Whose are you?” – he asked.

– “I'm the goat of Gazza”, – she replied.

– “And what is that on your head and what is it for?” – The wolf points to her horns.

– “These are the tips for Gazza's pitchfork, in case he needs them.”

– “And what's that dangling between your legs? The wolf points to her udders.”

And that's a soft udder full of milk for my baby goat.

The wolf grabbed the goat and ate it. Then he went further along the road, stretched out there and watched, looking around.

The two-bellied goat has filled both its bellies, is satiated and turns to the three-bellied goat:

– “Let's go home!”

– “Wait a little”, – answered the one. “My belly is still empty.”

– “I will not wait for you”, – replied the two-bellied goat. “I'm going home.”

She went along the road and came across a wolf who was guarding the place.

– “Whose goat are you?” – asked the wolf.

– “I'm Gazza's goat”, – she replied.

– “What's that on your head?”

– “Gazza's pitchfork tips.”

– “And what's that dangling between your legs?”

– “It's a soft udder full of milk for my goat.”

– “I must eat her too!” – rejoiced the wolf. He jumped up to the goat, grabbed it and ate it.

Meanwhile, the three-bellied goat has had enough and said to the four-bellied one:

– “Let's go home!”

– “Wait a little”, – replied the three-bellied goat. “My belly is not quite full yet.”

– “Well, then stay in good health”, – said the three-bellied goat. “And I'm leaving.”

She went leisurely along the road. The wolf, already satiated, lay there and listened in order to catch anyone else who would show up. He raised his head and saw a goat walking along the road.

– “There is another goat”, – said the wolf to himself. “Today was a good day with God's help.”

The three-bellied goat came closer, and the wolf asked her:

– “Whose goat are you?”

– “I'm Gazza's goat”, – she replied.

– “And what is that on your head?” – he asked her.

– “And these are the tips for Gazza's pitchforks,” she answered just like the other goats.

– “And what is that dangling between your legs?”

– “And this is for my baby goat with a soft udder full of milk.”

The wolf seized the goat, and he pulled it up and said to himself:

– “I'm lucky today! And this goat tastes good.”

The three goats made the wolf completely bloated. Then he began to roll on the ground, and he felt better.

Meanwhile, the four-bellied goat has had enough and turns to the five-bellied goat:

– “Let's go home, five-bellied goat, our friends are probably resting at home.”

The five-bellied goat replied:

– “My one belly is not yet full, wait for me, and then we'll go home together.”

– “No, I'm going away”, – replied the four-bellied goat.

She went down the road, and the well-fed wolf was sleeping there. When he heard the footsteps, he woke up and raised his head, saw the goat and rejoiced.

– “God has given me a goat again”, – he said to himself. “She came to me by herself!”

– “Whose goat are you?” – asked the wolf.

– “I'm Gazza's goat.”

– “What's that on your head?”

– “Those are Gazza's pitchfork tips.”

– “What's that dangling between your legs?” – he asked her.

– “And that's a soft udder full of milk for my goat.”

The wolf pounced on the goat, grabbed her and ate her. Meanwhile, the five-bellied goat has had enough and turns to the six-bellied one:

– “Let's go home! It's time for us to go back!”

– “Wait for me a little, my belly is not quite full yet”, – asked the six-bellied one.

– “No”, – replied the six-bellied one, “I'm leaving, I won't wait for you.”

She went home along the familiar road. And the well-fed wolf is already waiting to see if anyone else is coming, and thinks:

“If there is no one else, I will leave here.”

The wolf sees a five-bellied goat coming.

– God has given another one”, – said the wolf to himself. “I'll wait for that goat too. I am fed, but how can I refuse eating it? I'd rather have a stomachache than let that goat live!”

– “Whose goat are you?” – asked the wolf, when the five-bellied goat is close to him.

– “I am Gazza's goat.”

– “And what kind of man is Gazza?”

– “Gazza is a modest man, a hard worker”, – replied the goat.

The wolf was afraid that Gazza might come out of the village and kill him. He looked around and asked the goat:

– “What is that on your head?”

– “Those are Gazza's pitchfork tips.”

– “And what is that dangling between your legs?”

– “Those are round stones used to kill wolves.”

– “I'll show you now how to kill wolves!” – said the wolf. He jumped on a five-bellied goat and ate it.

The six-bellied goat felt that it has had enough and speaks to the seven-bellied goat:

– “It's getting dark, it's time for us to go home. If I leave, you'll be alone here.”

– “Wait a bit!” – asked the seven-bellied goat. “Now I'll fill my seventh belly and then we'll go together.”

The six-bellied goat replied:

– “I'll walk slowly, you'll catch up with me on the way.”

She walked slowly along the road, and the seven-bellied goat got carried away and stayed in the pasture.

The six-bellied goat reached the wolf. The wolf saw that goat and thought about it:

– “I'll pull it up, of course, but I've had enough of it. All right”, – he said to himself. “I'll eat a little, and let the rest be for tomorrow.”

It was already getting dark. The wolf killed the goat, ate as much as he could, and put the rest for tomorrow. He stretched out on the road and thought like this:

– “From such satiety it will be difficult for me to go home, I will rest here, and then I will go.”

Meanwhile, a seven-bellied goat appeared on the road.

– “Another goat”, – said the wolf. “And how should I deal with it? Well, I'll hold her up, or she will run away, and tomorrow morning I'll eat her together with the rest of the other goat.”

The seven-bellied goat came to the wolf.

– “Whose goat are you?” he asked.

– “I am Gazza's goat.”

– “And what kind of man is Gazza?”

– “Gazza is a hunter who beats wolves.”

– “And what's that on your head?” – asked the wolf.

– “And these are iron sticks used to kill wolves.”

– “What is that dangling between your legs?” asked the wolf.

– “These are round stones used to kill wolves”, – replied the goat.

– “Ah”, said the wolf to himself. “Things are not going well!”

He decided to run away, left the goat alive, forcibly went to the roadside and, heavy with satiety, stretched there. The seven-bellied goat saw the scraps on the road and said:

– “Ah, that's what the wolf has done! He ate all my friends! Only at dusk, the seven-bellied goat reached home.”

Gazza asked her:

– “Why did you come home so late? Where are your friends?”

The goat answered to him:

– “My friends were torn and eaten by a wolf, I was the only one who escaped.”

– “Tell me, where, on what road did all this happen?”, – asked Gazza.

The goat told him where the wolf was.

Gazza grabbed his gun and hurried on his way.

But the wolf was lying there, unable to get up, just looking up from below, watching. Gazza can't see him yet because the wolf is stretched out on the roadside.

When he reached the place, the goat had mentioned, Gazza looked around. He was sure that the wolf was somewhere near him.

When he saw Gazza approaching him, the wolf tried to run, but he could not run fast, weighed down with exhaustion. Meanwhile, Gazza noticed him and started to catch up with him. It is hard to catch up with a satiated wolf! Gazza quickly caught up with him, shot him with his rifle and killed him.

Gazza returned home. He was left with one saved seven-bellied goat. He began to live happily ever after and has lived until today.

A deer, a bear and two hedgehogs

Once upon a time there were two hedgehogs. They lived in the forest in a hollow tree.

One day a woodcutter went to the forest and cut down the hollow tree. He brought it home and cut it into big pieces to make it easier to stoke. The woodcutter's wife took some logs and heated the stove with them. She wanted to cook a meal for her hungry husband.

The hedgehogs felt the heat and prayed to God:

– “O God, save us, and we shall give you thanks with ahsarfambalams from the lungs of the deer and honey on the chest of the bear!”

A stench came from the hedgehogs.

– “What stinking wood is this!” – said the mistress and threw the wood out of the stove.

The hedgehogs were afraid to run away during the day, so they hid, and at night they got out of the village. By morning they were already in the steppe and there they agreed that one of them would settle on one mound, and the second – on another, which was far away from the first.

So they did. Each lurked on his own mound. Meanwhile, a deer approached the first hedgehog. The hedgehog talked to him and offered him a wager:

– “Let us race against each other”, – he said. “On this condition: whoever of us reaches the next mound first can slaughter and eat the one who has fallen behind.”

And he pointed out to the deer the mound on which the second hedgehog was sitting.

The deer thought to himself: “How can that hedgehog outrun me?” And so he agreed.

And they lined up and said: “Let's run!” and they started running. The deer rushed forward with all his might, and the hedgehog ducked into the hedgerow and hid there.

When the deer reached the mound, the hedgehog said to him:

– “Where did you disappear? I am already waiting for you!”

The deer was very surprised:

– “Let's run again!” asked he the hedgehog.

– “All right”, – said the hedgehog. “Let's run back to our mound!”

The deer started to run, and the second hedgehog also snuck into the bush and hid. The deer ran as fast as he could, but when he reached the mound, he was surprised to see the hedgehog there.

– “Why are you so late”, – the hedgehog said to him, “I've been here for a long time!”

So the deer lost the bet, and the hedgehogs slaughtered him. They hid the carcass of the deer and went to the forest to look for honey. They found honey in a high hollow tree, took out the honeycomb and sat down in the tree.

Meanwhile, a bear was passing by the area. When he saw the hedgehogs, they had already been eating the honey.

– “Give me some honey too!” – asked the bear.

And they answered him:

– “Get it yourself!”

– “Show me where the honey is!” – said the bear to them.

– “There, you see, in the tree, the bees are flying there.” The bear climbed up the tree, took out some honeycomb and asked the hedgehogs:

– “How do I get them down?”

– “Lie down on your back and put the honeycomb on your chest, so you can bring them down to the ground.”

The bear obeyed the hedgehogs' advice. He lay down on his back, flew down from the top of the tree and crashed to his death.

The hedgehogs slaughtered the bear; they also brought the carcass of a deer. They made ahsarfambals from the deer's lungs, piled the honey on the bear's chest and prayed to the God:

– “O God, we thank Thee! You saved us, and we fulfill our word to you: we give thanks with honey on the bear's chest and ahsarfambals made of reindeer lungs!”

Widow's son

Once upon a time there lived a sorceress and Verahan the beautiful, the daughter of an aldar, a recluse of the tower. She was an unusually slender girl. Word about her spread throughout the world. The aldar did not give her away to anyone, though many people were trying to marry her. He kept her in a tower, and the tower was such that no one could find its doors without destroying its top.

One day the aldar announced:

– “I will only marry my daughter to the man who can destroy her tower.”

And the tower was unusually tall. The aldar gave a deadline of two days:

– “Whoever can destroy the tower will be my son-in-law”, – he said. “Let everyone try his prowess!”

The suitors began to flock from all sides. There were suitors from the Nart people. The sorceress's son showed up too. Everyone wanted to destroy the tower of the aldar daughter, but none of the suitors could think of a way.

The sorceress's son began to go around the people, hoping to find a good man among them. He entered a small house and found a widow with a boy lying in a cradle in front of her.

– “Do you have no one else?” – asked the sorceress's son.

– “There is no one else besides this child and myself”, – the widow answered him.

Then the boy in the cradle tore his bandages and turned to the son of the sorceress:

– “I am ready to fulfill your wishes!”

(And this boy was pointed out to her son by his mother, the sorceress: “There is such a young man born there, check him up!”) The son of the sorceress rejoiced and said to the boy:

– “May God give you years of life! You are the one I need, you will be useful to me.”

The boy made himself dressed and said;

– “I'm going out of the house!”

The sorceress's son took him, and they appeared before the assembled people. And on the way, the sorceress's son made a deal with the boy:

– “We shall do this in such a way: I will load a cannon with you and shoot you at the top of the tower. Maybe you'll be able to destroy it. There is no other means.”

– “All right!” – said the boy. “That's a good idea! I agree; if I get to the top of the tower and hold on there, I will proceed to destroy it with my heels; but if I fall off-anything is possible-then you be sagacious and don't let me touch the ground, or it will be my death.”

And he also added:

– “When you carry me, do not put me to the ground until you have carried me across the seven rivers.”

They loaded a cannon with the boy and shot him at the top of the tower. The boy got there, began to strike his heel from one side or the other and thus destroyed the tower. And the sorceress's son was watching him from below, making sure that he did not fall from there. Then the tower began to shake and the boy fell from it. The sorceress's son put up his hem, caught the boy and began to carry him across the rivers. When the sorceress's son carried him across the second river, Sirdon, the evil man, learned that if the boy was put on the ground, he would die and the girl would not go to the sorceress's son.

So Sirdon decided to deceive him. To prevent the sorceress's son from recognizing him, Sirdon changed his clothes and took on a different appearance.

The sorceress's son had already carried the boy across the second river and across the third. Then Sirdon was ahead of him and said:

– “Good man, where else are you carrying him? He is already dead, and the tower has already been destroyed, and the girl is passing by you into someone else's hands.”

But the sorceress's son did not believe him and carried the boy further. He carried him across another river – the fourth. He kept on his way, carrying the boy who had fallen from the tower.

Meanwhile, Sirdon again took on a different appearance and once again outpaced the sorceress's son:

– “Drop the dead man!” – he said to him. “You'll miss the girl!”

The sorceress's son was doubtful: perhaps it was true. But still he did not leave the boy.

When the sorceress's son was carrying the boy across the sixth river, Sirdon, taking on a different appearance, again overtook him and said:

– “What a madman you are, good man! You keep carrying a dead man! The girl will obviously go to one of the Nart people, and you will be left with nothing!”

This time the sorceress's son believed Sirdon and said to himself:

– “Indeed, if it came to that, where am I carrying this dead man? And I'm also losing a girl!”

He put the dead man on the ground and turned back to the tower.

Then the sorceress's son guessed:

– “It's all Sirdon's fault! And I have ruined the boy and achieved nothing!”

He came back, stood over the dead man and thought: “What else should I do? Take him to his mother? But what shall I tell her?”

Suddenly he remembered:

– “We have a felt whip, let me try it out! He came back and told his mother what had happened.”

– “I've come back for the felt whip”, – he said to his mother. “Will she be able to help the boy or not?”

His mother said to him:

– “You must try it, take it with you!”

The sorceress's son took the felt whip with him and hurried back to the place where he had left the dead man. He arrived there, struck the dead man several times with the felt whip and said:

– “May God turn you into what you were before!”

The boy raised himself up and said:

– “Oof, oof, how long I slept!”

The sorceress's son told him how it was, what had happened to him. The boy said to the sorceress's son:

– “If so, carry me across two more rivers, otherwise my case will be bad.”

The sorceress's son took the boy and carried him across two more rivers.

In the meantime, Sirdon tells the Narts: