Mythical and fabulous creatures of the Tatars. Creatures from Tatar legends

The mythology of the Tatars is basically Muslim.

Of the pre-Muslim mythological representations, some images of lower mythology have been preserved. A number of mythological characters are associated with the ancient traditions of the local, apparently Finno-Ugric population, which joined the Tatars (for example, from the mythology of the Mari and the Udmurts).

Ancient Turkic and Iranian mythological representations are poorly reflected.

Many characters of the lower mythology of the Tatars and Bashkirs are not known to most other Turkic-speaking peoples: Bichura, Shurale, Ubyr, spirits - the owners of the dwelling (oh iyase, obzar iyase, yort iyase), the spirit - the owner of the water su iyase, the monstrous snake yuha (see Yuvkha) , the ghost oryak, the personification of the diseases of the ulyat, chyachyakanasy, etc.

In general, Tatar fabulous and mythical creatures, it seems, can conveniently be summed up under the following two divisions:

1) creatures that live in the water,

2) creatures living on land.

The first include the following fabulous creatures: su-babasy, su-iyasi, su-anasy, yukha;

and to the second: ubyr, albasty, uryak, bichur, uy-iyasi” abear-iyasi, chyachyak-anasy, chyachyak-iyasi, shurali, gin and diu-peri.

Let us first consider the fabulous creatures whose element is water.

1) Under the name sous-babas Tatars mean living in the water (according to the tales I have collected, it is in the lake) the lord of the water, the water grandfather. But not a single fairy tale shows that this grandfather ever came out of the water and related directly to people; to this, he, apparently, has a creature related to him, like a servant, speaker and executor of his commands, this is -

2) Su-yashi(i.e. "water master"). In one of the Tatar tales I recorded, su-iyashi appears to the Tatar in the form of a lively boy, an intermediary between the Tatar and his master, the water grandfather, and the image of an intermediary of a stupid, cowardly, inexperienced, not knowing well Tatar, but stronger than the Tatar and less than a bear.

3) Su-anases, as the words themselves show, is a female creature, for in Russian it means “water mother”. Since the Tatars no longer have names for water creatures, except for the yuhi, which is unrelated in origin to those described now, and since, according to the Tatars, the said creatures are related to each other, I conclude that the su-anasy is the mother of the su-iyasi and the wife of the su -babasy. It should also be noted that su-anasy is sometimes visible to a Tatar who accidentally approached the will in the form of a woman combing her hair with a comb - visible both day and night. I can't say anything more about her; I will only note that in the stories the word su-anasy of the Tatars is often and arbitrarily replaced by the word su-iyasi. Of course, this could not have happened in the old days; otherwise, why two words for one concept?

However, as regards the fact that, according to the concepts of the Tatars, fabulous creatures perform marital duties, this will undoubtedly appear both in my research, which I will report below, and in the Chuvash fable, which allows husbands, wives, children, etc. between the gods. Chuvash, therefore, we must bear in mind here that they, like the Tatars, are of Turkic origin. Su Anasy

4) All known peoples snakes served and serve as the subject of fabulous tales; so do the Tatars. They have a fable about snakes with the following features: all snakes are black, except for their prince (jilan-padshas), who is white. Black snakes are malicious in relation to the Tatar, and the white one favors him, and moreover, he has the gift of foresight and prediction and uses it for the benefit of the Tatar. In addition, the skin of a snake generally seems to drive away a fever. If the serpent (jilan) lives for a hundred years, then when it becomes old, it turns into a dragon (azhdag). Moreover, the dragon lives in the world no more, no less than a thousand years and is not at all found in the Tatar region. Where does the hundred-year-old who has just turned into a dragon go? - A cloud picks him up, carries him to a sea island and throws him here. The Tatars assure that at the time when the dragon is rushing through the air, it can even be seen in the clouds how it beats with its tail and gets excited. On the island, after a thousand years, the dragon turns into a yoohoo girl. Having turned into a yukha, the dragon can take on various sensual images and appear to the Tatar in them in order to harm him in every possible way; among other things, he sometimes assumes the form of a girl of extraordinary beauty, who combs her hair, sitting on the shore of the lake. Turning into a girl, yuha can become a wife, can get married. At the same time, the husband will certainly ardently love his wife; but at the same time will be more and more thin. That's what yuha-kyz is, yuha-girl! But the question is: can a Tatar somehow find out that instead of a human woman he is married to a yukha girl? - Maybe, and this is how: 1) yuhi always gets the most bad breath; 2) yuha cannot do without water; 3) yuha does not have a navel, and finally 4) impossibilis est virilis pudenti erectio coiti causa corporei. But does a Tartar who has married a yukha have the means to get rid of the yukha without being in danger of being eaten by this monster? (The ultimate goal of the marriage of yukha with a Tatar is, on the part of yukha, to eat the Tatar if the latter succumbs to deceit). I don't know if it has. However, in one of the fairy tales I recorded, something similar to such a means is seen. A case of this kind: one prince married a yuhe-maiden (of course, out of love and ignorance), and when, by all the signs just said, he was convinced that he was living with a monster, he built a tower, decorated from the outside and inside, without windows and doors, from one iron ; after several efforts, he invited his mysterious wife there, then instantly snapped the entrance to the tower behind her, and having surrounded it on all sides with firewood, lit a strong fire around him and thus betrayed the yukh to be burned. At the same time, the prince even heard how the yukha-maiden, turning again into a snake, with her huge tail, beat the tower in all directions, and because of this the whole building shook terribly.

From another tale, it can be seen that the yukha turns from a maiden into a snake even when, quietly from her husband, during his sleep, he goes to the lake at night to drink water, since the husband did not put water in the hut for the night, and the lake was near the house. In the tale about the prince and yukha-maiden, the remark is given that when yukha decayed in the tower, people began to take her ashes and make medicine from it, called teryak1.

Now let's move on to the fabulous creatures that live on land.

1) Ubyr, the Little Russians have a ghoul, the Chuvash have a vobur (actually a vampire, a bloodthirsty animal found in South America), according to the concepts of the Tatars, there is this kind of fabulous creature, which, although sometimes it acts separately and independently, but always has in one or a person, who is therefore called ubyrlykshi (“human vampire”). Ubyrs in fairy tales, I met old women (ubyr-karchyk). A Tatar can easily recognize an ubyr-man because under his arm there is a hole inside the body through which the ubyr enters the person. Ubyr, like the Russian “brownie”, can crush the Tatar and even appear to him in reality. When an ubyr crushes a Tatar, this latter cannot move; but only if he manages to somehow bite the ubyra. then the face in which the crushing ubyr has its stay will certainly be bitten on the same member in which the crushed Tatar gnawed the ubyr.

Ubyr-old women always, according to fairy tales, live in the wilderness and far from Tatar dwellings, where a Tatar can get, only if he has lost his way - when he is walking or driving. They live in huts, but not on chicken legs, as in Russian fairy tales. However, there are cases when the Tatars, having the need to learn about the loss of something important, try to find the ubyr-old woman themselves; but these are lucky people, worthy people, strong men, cunning. How do they find out about the whereabouts of the Ubyr-old woman? And here's how: they set off on a journey wherever their eyes look, and after a long wandering, they finally find a beautiful woman on the shore of the lake, combing her hair with a comb; she says where the Ubyr lives. But do not think that this is yuha-kyz; yuha only harms the Tatar; and this is the wife of a Diu-Peri, a Tatar, abducted in childhood by this terrible and mysterious creature. Not about that after. However, there are cases when the way to the ubyr-old woman is shown to the Tartar not by the wife of the diu-peri, who usually sympathizes with the person, but by the one who has already been with the old woman: in this case, unworthy, money-loving and voluptuous people visit the ubyr-old woman. Both those and others always look for the old woman's housing during the night, by the light, visible from afar from the hut. At the entrance they find an old woman eating: she eats fire. The one who entered must certainly greet the old woman with the usual words: “es-salamu galeikum!” (peace be upon you!), otherwise trouble: the old woman will eat him. However, strong men, like those who carry a 40-pood club on the road, are shod in 10-pood shoes and throw a troika with a driver and an alpaut (“master”, but actually a police officer or police captain, that is, people generally heavy), they never give salam to an ubyr-old woman, and when she, furious, announces to them that she is crumpling them, the strongmen (jigit, “well done”) with one swing of a saber will decide the life of an ubyr-old woman. These people always and on their own, without the advice of the ubyr-old woman, to whom they go, apparently only out of curiosity, perform their difficult undertakings.

If the visitor of an ubyr-old woman is a female person, then the ubyr-old woman always asks her to heat a bath for herself and to steam her in the bath. But, due to her cunning, the ubyr-old woman does not express her desire directly, that is, instead of saying: “I want you to carry me to the bath in your arms,” she says: “daughter, I’m old, I can’t go myself (the sly one is lying: it’s not for nothing that the Tatars always call the nimble ubyr!), lead me by the arm, and if I don’t walk soon, push me faster in the ass. Instead of saying: “beat me well,” the old ubyr woman says: “you beat me with at least a little bit of a broom.” At the same time, honest and disinterested, or brought into the forest to perish, Tatar women know how to please the old woman; they carry it to the bathhouse and back on their hands, soar with leaves, and not butt. But the mercenary will correct her verbatim: they shove her in the ass and blow on the shelf with a broom - that is urine. On the way out of the bathhouse, the ubyr-old woman makes a test of her guest's honesty. This is done like this: “daughter,” the old woman says to the guest, “throw a comb in your head - something itches.” And when the guest opens the old woman's head - lo and behold! sees that her whole head is studded with pearls, precious stones, gold, silver. Of course, the honest one will not be carried away, according to Tatar fairy tales, with such a headdress; but the mercenary will always fill her bosom and pockets with jewels. But both are not hidden from the Ubyr-old woman. “Daughter,” the ubyr says to the guest, “please me: dance!” It is clear that the thief, while jumping, everything flies out. The old woman angrily accuses the guest of theft and takes away her property. But this is not the end of the matter; the ubyr-old woman makes a new skill for her guest. “Look, my daughter, malt was drying in my oven in the bathhouse; hasn't it dried up? The guest leaves, and instead of malt, he finds in the oven, in a large trough, heaps of jewelry. The honest one, of course, will again resist temptation; but the greedy one, forgetting the first denunciation, steals again. In the hut there is again a dance - and again the denunciation of a thief. I also forgot to say that the Ubyr-old woman treats her guests, people, with human food. Next comes the reward for virtue and the punishment for vice. It happens like this: for virtue, the ubyr-old woman gives the guest a green chest; and for a vice greedy for wealth gives a black chest. She forbids both of them to look into the chest before arriving at her house in the village. Both do the will of the old woman. The one and the other, in their native village, run out to meet the barking dogs, but call out not the same thing. The first to call out: “departed sister to die, enriched returns, wow! Wow!" The second one shouts: “Get rich sister gone, dying returns, wow! wow!> And in fact: the first finds jewelry in a green chest, and the second - a snake that instantly jumps out of the chest, rushes at her, and wrapped around her neck, suffocates.

If a visitor to an old Ubyr woman goes astray and turns to her with a request to help her grief, she gives him a magic ball and tells him to roll on the ground, and then follow him. The ball will always lead the lost one to the right place.

According to Sboev, the Chuvashs ascribe to their wobur stealing and eating the month; but it is not clear that the Tatar Ubyr reached such ability and courage.

2) Albasty(from el-“hand” and basmak - “to crush”: a creature that crushes someone with a hand; or from alt - “before” and basmak - “to crush”: a creature that crushes in front, that is, the chest). This fabulous creature, like the Russian brownie and Tatar Ubyr, leans on the Tatar and crushes him during sleep, and in addition, according to the belief of the Tatars, he drinks blood from the heart. It is strange, however, why the imagination of the Tatar did not attribute bloodthirstiness exclusively to the ubyru, which apparently got its name from the beast, which actually attacks people and large animals, bites through their skin and sucks out blood. True, we said above that the ubyr threatens to eat the guest, but not out of bloodthirstiness, but out of annoyance that the guest did not give salam. Therefore, it is not blood that constitutes the food of the ubyra. By the way, I note: in a figurative sense, the Tatars call a hard-working and nimble person an ubyr, and a clumsy and lazy person is called a name Albasty. Why is this?

3) Uryak(from urmyak, “to blow”). This is the name of a fabulous creature that appears to a Tatar somewhere in the forest or on the road above the deceased with a violent death. He is seen by a passer-by Tatar, according to legend, in the form of a man or a shock, waddling and going forward. The Tatars also say that the uryak can transform into a cloud. If a passer-by Tatar did not immediately see a dead body on the way, then the tearing click of the uryak would certainly draw his attention to this body. If at the same time a person would want to look at a close-up visible from a distance and screaming uryak, then the uryak would become invisible. Out of fear of seeing an incomprehensible and mysterious creature and hearing his soul-rending voice, the Tatar is in every possible way careful not to stumble upon a dead body on the way at night. When a Tatar is too scared of something, he says: “My uryak has risen!” It can be seen that every Tatar has a uryak. Since at present the Tatars use someone else’s Persian word jan to express the word soul, and how, however, the word uryak is Tatar, it can come from the Tatar verb urmyak - to blow, it can be concluded with certainty that in the fable about uryak some pre-Muslim concepts of the Tatar about the human soul.

4) Bichura Tatars have the same thing as Russian commoners - kikimora. She does not cause any significant harm to the Tatar, but strongly and in various ways disturbs him at night: she screams, plays, laughs, jokes, drags the sleeping person from place to place; things put in one place, hides in another. The Tatars have a saying about her: “where did this thing go; didn’t Bichura steal?” If they close the pipe, it will open at night, and in general it is naughty. How does a bichur get into the house? The Tatars say this about it: she gets into the house when the Tatar does not put a stove in it for a long time, and then moves into it to live. Is there a way to get Bichur out of the house? Some say that for this you need to dismantle the whole house and build it in another place, while others argue that it is enough to bring a bear into the house, and the bichur will run away.

Among the Tatars, the bichur was represented as a woman of small stature in an old headdress. It was believed that Bichura could settle in houses under the floor or in baths. Unlike oi iyase, it does not happen in all houses. Sometimes a special room was assigned for the bichur, a plate of food and a few spoons were left in the room for the night. It was believed that Bichura plays pranks in the house (opens a pipe in the furnace, makes noise, hides things, leans on sleeping people, scares), but favors some, brings money, helping to get rich.
For some groups of Western Siberian Tatars, Bichura corresponds to the spirit of sera tsats (literally, "yellow-haired"). Among the Tatar-Mishars, Bichura is a kind of evil spirits of feasts. The Bashkirs represented the bichur in the form of little men of both sexes in red shirts. It was believed that Bichura live in dense forests in clearings, people who wandered into the forest are persuaded to cohabitation, and then they patronize them, carry money and help them get rich.

5) Uy-iyasi (householder, brownie). He differs from the bichur in that he does not play pranks in the house, but is engaged in useful work: in one house he mints fines, in another he spins, in the third he writes with a creak of a pen on paper and leafs through books. However, the Tatar does not directly use the labor of the uy-iyasi; but his work has a predictive value for the Tatar: where the uy-iyasi mints penyazi, there he heard the sounds: “chik! chick!” enriches himself through trade, if he only engages in it and forges capital for himself, where the uy-yashi spins, there those who have heard something that sounds like a parcel will enrich themselves in this case or will prosper when they are engaged in this needlework: where, finally, in the house someone will hear the scratching of a pen and leafing through a book, he will become a scientist. But in the latter case, there is no word about wealth in fairy tales, it can be seen by workers of science everywhere that it is little known! The Tatars only say that the presence of the patron spirit and the herald is only felt when there is silence in the house and when someone sits alone - and naturally!

6) Abzar-iyasi (owner of stables). So, the imaginary ruler of livestock, horses and cows is called - mainly, having stables and stables as his capital. The cattle that he loves are always fat, smooth and beautiful, and the one he hates is sweaty and quickly loses weight. There are such eccentrics from the Tatars who, noticing thinness or frequent sweating on a horse, sell it and at the same time express themselves like this: “This horse is not my color,” that is, they do not like the Abzar-iyasiya.

7) Chyachyak-anases and yyachyak-iyasi(“smallpox mother” and “smallpox owner”). According to the belief of the Tatars, when a child has smallpox, then the said creatures are present in large pockmarks. It should be noted here that some of the Tatars admit the existence of a chyachyak-anasa, while others affirm the combined existence of both fabulous creatures.

8) Shuryali, a fabulous creature like the Russian goblin. Shuryals are found in the forests and not one at a time; are visible to a Tatar in human form. They all have very large breasts, of which one is thrown over the right shoulder, and the other over the left. If they meet a Tartar in the forest, they invite him to play tickling, but if he agrees, they tickle him to death. But the Tartar can outwit the shyurali; but as? He will offer the shyurali to play in the slot, and he, foolishly agreeing, dies. What is this game? The Tatar, with a blow of an ax along a thick tree, makes a gap in the tree, and in order to make it wider, he clogs it with a wedge, and when the shurali sticks his finger into the gap, the Tatar instantly snatches his wedge from there and thus infringes the shuralia.

Mythical and fabulous creatures of the Tatars

Shuryali will scream in pain in a wild voice so that creatures like him run away, and freeing him from trouble, they would take revenge on the Tatar by tickling him to death. But if earlier the Tatar answered the question: “What is his name?” guessed to answer: “my name was tyr” (last year), then, having pinched the shyurali and rushing to run, he escapes, because the shyurali will then shout in a hurry: “last year hurt!” over the poor fellow: “what to look for last year, you will not find!” - they will say to him then in response - It can be seen that they were very stupid!

Now it remains to tell about two more fabulous creatures - gin and diu peri.

First of all, I note that now the numbered beings are not completely generated by the restless imagination of the Tatar: they belong to the Persians and through Islam, which accepted them into their worldview from the Arabs, came to the knowledge of the Tatars. I, of course, would not talk about them, if in the legends about them there was not a shade of pure Tatar; the Moslem here is so insignificant that the quick-witted reader will see for himself what it is expressed in. So, I will continue.

9) Jin (damn)in itself is not a sexless being; but can cohabit with a Tatar or a Tatar woman in the form of a husband or wife.

In addition, a genie is sometimes seen by a Tartar in the form of a dog, a cat, a snake, and the Tatar who sees the genie begins to fall ill with some kind of nervous illness, will delirium at night or get dropsy. However, it is very rare for a Tatar to see a genie, and then by accident, because the genies themselves run away from him. But many genies are wandering about on the roads in the form of blind, lame, and, moreover, still invisible: if a Tatar accidentally touches such a creature, then such a poor genie will certainly have to enter into a Tatar. The Tartar will suffer, and it will not be easier for the genie, and he will certainly fall ill himself. Others imagine the genie as some kind of persistent creature who not only does not run away from the Tatar, but even extends his persistence to the point that he dares to visit the Tatars at night, and when they sleep, lies down beside them and treats them as only one can. spouse. But, according to the belief of the Tatars, a Tatar woman who has an involuntary and unconscious relationship to gin cannot give birth to children. And it is also not clear from the Tatar legends that a genie, turning into a man’s wife, could give birth to a child for him. But from the union between themselves, the genies give birth to children, and this is evident from the same legends, for they contain an indication that the genies substitute their children for Tatar children in the cradle and even in the womb of their mother. The genies are afraid of iron (and therefore the Tatars who are afraid of them, going to bed, put an ax or some other iron tool under the bed); juniper gins are still afraid - why? I think because the Tatars ascribe dropsy to gins, by the way; and juniper is used by both the Tatars and the Russians of the Kazan region as a remedy for this disease.

10) Diu Peri. Divas usually appear to the Tatar in the forests and in the fields, and, moreover, in various forms: sometimes as a haystack, sometimes in the form of a maiden, and they can marry a Tatar. They live in their special cities, have kingdoms under the earth and the sea, and invisibly on the earth. On our planet, by the way, they live and own those places and where the treasure is laid; and even the pantries themselves, usually unacquired, from a long stay in the earth give rise to divas, similar in everything to their ancestors. It should be noted about the divas that they are irreconcilably hostile to the Tatar: 1) they kidnap girls; they keep them until they are old, and then they marry them; 2) divas swear at the Tatar: for example, in the form of some acquaintance or good-natured diva, he takes the Tatar to his city, treats him in his house; but if the Tatar says: “bismillu” (in the name of God!) Before eating the food set by the diva, then it will be obvious to the Tatar that this is not food, but horse droppings; 3) the diva will certainly try to bring the Tatar invited to visit him to the ground and usually like this: he will order his wife to heat the bath, lead the guest into it, and when he undresses, the diva will offer him his services with visible cordiality - to wash, evaporate, and when the Tatar turns his back, then the diva will beat him to death with a butt of a broom and bury the dead under the shelf of his bath. However, the diva is afraid of “bismilli”; although rarely, he can be defeated by such jigits, which were noted above in the story about the ubyr. Such fellows do not succumb to deception in the bathhouse: with a forty-pood club, sneaking up from behind, they will move the diva in the roof and give him a karachun, that is, they will kill him. However, when the diva, out of curiosity, tries the weight of a cudgel in his hut, then from the effort, when lifting it, he will make indelicacy; or, when he sees that a strong man (in the tale from which I speak, he is ten years old) twirls a cudgel like a wand, then even without sneaking up behind him, the horseman diva is all in his hands. The div will frankly tell how much he put under the shelves of the Tatars, at the request of the horseman he will dig them out, and having drunk them with spiritual medicine (dzhan-daruy), he will resurrect everyone. Consequently, the divas of the Tatars attribute the power to resurrect the dead.

But here you can make a digression and ask yourself the question: how and why do strong men get to the diva, and where does their courage and unusual strength come from against the strongest and most hostile creatures in the world?

To this, fairy tales give the following answer: the strong men go to the diva to steal from the hands of his girlfriend, his sister, who was captured by the diva in childhood. They wander wherever their eyes look, a lot and for a long time; they go to the ubyr-old woman not so much to consult with her on how to find the way to the monster’s house and take the magic ball, but for the purpose of curiosity, and they will certainly cut off her head (perhaps in order to try ahead of time to be daring in murder). Then they wander further and finally find a sitting woman (his sister) by the lake, and at her direction, they reach the dwelling of the diva, kill him and free the captive. The natural strength of a dzhigit is increased by the fact that he drinks water from the lake where he met his sister, because this is water that gives strength. It should also be noted that the diva sometimes defeats the cunning of a lazy and timid Tatar.

What the Tatar cunning consists of, I consider it so entertaining for the reader that I decide to tell about it in more detail, and in order to make the matter more accurate, that is, instead of any abstract conclusions, I will tell the whole Tatar fairy tale on this subject, in which - I remark in passing - the Tatar- the villager is outlined no less accurately than in any deliberate writings about the Tatars.

Tulpar (head tolpar, kaz. Tulpar, Kirg. and tat. Tulpar) is a winged (or flying) horse in Kypchak (Bashkir, Kazakh, Tatar) mythology. Corresponds to Pegasus in ancient Greek mythology.

Currently, the word is found in the names of many organizations and firms, the image - in emblems.

Tulpar in the Bashkir folk art Tulpar in the Bashkir heroic tales acts as an adviser and assistant to the batyr, whom he helps to overcome the monsters; carries the batyr on himself through the air, throws lightning, raises the wind with his wings, trembles the earth with his neighing. With a blow of the hoof, Tulpar knocks out a spring, the water of which gives inspiration to sesens (singers-storytellers).

In the Bashkir folk art, the tulpar, as a protagonist, appears in the epics Ural-batyr and Akbuzat.

“Another type of magic horses - winged tulpars, which act most of all in heroic tales and legends, have a relatively small stature. As a rule, they are plain-looking shearers, the first to respond to the ringing of the bridle when the heroes choose a riding horse in the herd of mother or ... father ... As soon as the batyrs saddle them and set off, they turn into heroic horses. Sometimes tulpars ... come out from the bottom of the sea or a well, or fairy-tale heroes catch them on the shores of lakes and other bodies of water ...

According to the ancient ideas of the Bashkirs, no one, including the owner, should have seen the wings of a tulpar, otherwise he could die ... Tulpars can talk like a human, think, dream, resent, take revenge. They are faithful comrades, reliable companions and wise advisers of heroes. When parting for a while with the batyr, the horse always tells him to pull out three hairs from his mane or tail; it is enough for the hero to set them on fire - the tulpar will appear before him ... Tulpars are fabulous horses of earthly (less often - water) origin, not connected with the heavenly, upper world. They appear in myths as magical helpers and patrons of fairy tale characters.

Peri, pari, pairica (Persian پری‎) - fantastic creatures in the form of beautiful girls in Persian mythology, later preserved in the legends of many peoples: the Kyrgyz, the Turkic-speaking peoples of Asia Minor and Central Asia, Kazakhstan, the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia, the Volga region and the Southern Urals (cf .: In in this dream - the peri of holy beauty ... (the epic "Idegey"), "Dev, azhdaha and peri are the leading antagonistic mythological images of the Azerbaijani people" and others).

Presumably the word itself comes from Avesta. wig - "witch":

who was victorious

Above all devas and humans,

All the magi and parik.

Who rode on Angra Manyu... Avesta, Yasht 19:29

In the earliest legends, they acted as carriers of dark forces (Avesta and others). Peri were later seen as servants of both good and evil:

The origin of another demonic image, the peri, is also connected with Iranian mythology and the Avesta. Ideas about the spirits of peri among the Yurt people are currently very scarce and are at the stage of extinction. It is known that peri are evil spirits that have much in common with shaitans. Peri can appear in the form of animals or beautiful girls. They can bewitch a person in such a way that he becomes "mad", mentally unhealthy, loses his memory. Peri "circle the head" of a person, paralyze him.

In later representations, peri are beautiful supernatural beings that appear in the form of a woman. Peris provide assistance to their earthly chosen ones. The messengers and executors of their will are magical animals and birds that obey the peri. The appearance of the peri itself is accompanied by an unusual aroma and fragrance. Peris are very powerful creatures that can fight and defeat evil demons and genies. Stars falling from heaven are a sign of such a battle. Peris are indispensable participants in the action in the myths and fairy tales of the peoples of Iran and Central Asia: Persians, Afghans, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Balochs, etc., where they play the role of fairies of the Western European cultural tradition:

There was a spring known as the "long spring"; peris were located at that source. Suddenly there was confusion among the sheep; the shepherd was angry with the leading ram, stepped forward, saw that the maidens-peri intertwined their wings and fly; the shepherd threw his cloak over them, caught one of the maidens; feeling lust, he immediately copulated with her. There was confusion among the sheep; the shepherd made him gallop (horse) ahead of the sheep; the maiden-peri, beating her wings, flew away. "Kitab-i dedem korkut"

Peris can marry people they like and have children from them.

In European culture, the first mention of peri is associated with the largest work of the Irish writer Thomas Moore "Lalla Rook", published in 1817: one of the four poems that compose it is called "Paradise and Peri". Based on this poem, the composer Robert Schumann wrote the oratorio "Paradise and Peri" in 1843. And the French composer Paul Dukas created the ballet "Peri" in 1911-1912.

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SOURCE OF MATERIALS AND PHOTO:

Kayum Nasyrov, St. Petersburg, 1880

http://www.tattravel.ru/

http://maslova.ucoz.ru/

http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/

In addition to the brownie, according to the belief of the Kazan Tatars, there is also Abzar iyase -
the owner of the barn, who lives in the yard or in the barn. Russians don't have
the corresponding name for Abzar iyase, since his “duties” are
the same brownie.

Abzar iyase par excellence is the lord of cattle. Sometimes Abzar iyase
is shown to people in the form of a person or animals, but only from afar and
at night. He is closely related to livestock. Favorite horse has an owner
barn braids the mane, brings her food. The horse that Abzar iyase
for some reason dislikes, he torments all night, rides on it all night, takes away
her feed and passes on to her beloved horse. Disgraced horses become boring
thin, it is best to sell them from the yard as soon as possible so that they do not die.

Here is what was said about the actions of Abzar iyase.

We kept bay horses with my father. Eight years later, after the death of my father, I
he slaughtered one nest, because in his old age he did not work well, and instead of him
bought a good black horse. But no matter how much I fed this new purchase, she
all of us got thinner and thinner. Her mane at first, like other horses,
was beautifully curled, and then day by day began to develop and completely
shortened. A year later, I sold this horse for only half the price and bought
another nest that came to the yard. Now I know well what
in our yard you can’t start black-colored cattle - neither horses nor cows,
no sheep. Abzar iyase does not like cattle with a black suit and destroys it.

As with brownies, you need to maintain good relations with Abzar iyase,
to please him and at times propitiate him.

The name of Albasty among the Tatars is called a force or an evil creature that lives and
appearing to people mainly in non-residential buildings, in wastelands, fields and
in the meadows. It appears to the people of Albasty in the guise of a man, and most of all in the form
a large cart, mop, haystacks, stacks, fir trees, etc. Albasty is dangerous in that
can crush a person to death, and sometimes even drinks his blood.

When Albasty crushes a person, he feels a strong heartbeat and suffocation.

Once, a student of the Kazan madrasah once said, in the month of Ramadan
At night after supper I went to bed. In a dream, I saw that I was going to the mosque for prayer.
When I entered the mosque, the mullah and the people were already praying.

Suddenly I see a hefty old beggar who comes up to me, rudely
grabs and pushes. He pressed so hard that he could not breathe. I
gasped and lost consciousness. I wanted to scream, but my voice wouldn't come out.
throat. After some time, Albasty disappeared and I, screaming in horror,
woke up exhausted, tired, and fell ill the next day.

However, Albasty does not always crush a person, sometimes he gets off easy
fright, and the mysterious creature does not bring much harm.

A man was driving in the winter from the city of Kazan to his village at night. Not
reaching the village some two or three versts, he sees that on both sides
two stacks of hay are moving from it, and near these stacks something is glowing.

Looking more closely, the peasant was horrified, recognizing Albasty in the haystacks.
He began to drive the horse, but no matter how much he urged her, he could not get past
glowing haystacks. He was finally convinced that Albasty was pursuing him, and
began to whip the horse even harder. But all to no avail.

After two or three hours of the race, he drives up to a dark forest, which was not there.
in this area. Hears the sounds of music, distant human voices,
mooing cows, neighing horses. The peasant was even more frightened and with a prayer
went further. And the luminous haystacks do not lag behind a single step, everyone accompanies
his. He looked around - the same haystacks and the same unusual light around them.

The man lost all hope of deliverance. Attacks, thinks to himself,
Albasty and crush. “Well, come what may!” He lay down in the bag and let go
reins.

He hears, suddenly the roosters crowed, and immediately both haystacks and the light near them disappeared.
After that, the horse, feeling relieved, ran no longer at a trot, but
took off straight at a gallop, so that it was impossible to hold her back. Finally found myself
a man in an unfamiliar village and can not understand where he is. For a long time
thought and guessed that this was the same village through which he passed
still in the afternoon.

Gathering his last strength, the peasant went to his village. Meanwhile already
it became light. As he rode, he kept looking around, marveling at the footprints
his sleigh and remembered the night journey. He eventually recovered
and, feeling liberation from Albasty, safely arrived in his native
village.

However, after this incident, the man fell ill and barely survived. If in that
the dark night the roosters did not crow in time, his death, surely, would have been
inevitable.

Bichura is the same as the Russian kikimora or “neighbor”.

This creature is presented in the form of a woman - from one and a half to two
arshin. On her head is an irnak, an old Tatar headdress.

Bichura lives in living quarters - on the ceiling, underground and in baths, but not
everyone, but only some owners. Others set aside a special
a room where she is fed and watered. A plate of food is left overnight and
several spoons. The next morning the plate is empty, Bichura leaves nothing. And if
gets angry with the owner for something, she will break the cup in which she
food is served, and will scatter everything that comes under her hand.

Bichura often crushes a person in a dream, likes to suddenly scare him and in general
pissed off people. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a brick will fly by, a log.
Who threw the log is unknown. Because of Bichura, sometimes they leave home, live
sometimes impossible, especially lonely.

According to old stories, one mullah was simply exhausted with Bichura: then
he will let him in with a felt boot, then with a log from the stove, then with a brick from behind the stove, it’s simple
trouble and nothing more. What to do!

The mullah had a gun. He charged it during the day, and in the evening put it in his
bed. As soon as midnight came, a brick flies from the stove and right on
bed to the mullah. Mulla, without thinking twice, grabbed a gun and fired directly at
stove. No matter how much, however, he shot, it was of little use: felt boots, ichigi,
an old hat, splinters fell on the mullah.

This went on for more than one night. But one day a mullah lies in bed and
hears as if a voice from the stove: “Mulla, you are a literate person, read
prayer, then shoot!” Mulla did just that, made a prayer and
fired. Whether he got into Bichur or not is unknown, but he only heard from
stove plaintive crying. Since then, the mullah slept peacefully, no one threw at
him with all sorts of rubbish.

How Bichur crushes a man, the following story is told about this,
heard by the narrator from his father.

In 1863, my father served as a miller at the mill of the landowner Yunusov.
near the village of Mordva. One day at eleven o'clock he came with
mill to a worker's house, where two workers slept - a Russian peasant with his
fifteen year old son. At exactly twelve o'clock, when my father
fell asleep, suddenly a woman falls from the ceiling, no more than half a yard tall, with
irnak on his head, and comes to the feet of his father. Father without hesitation pushed her
foot, and she fell with a thud, as if a two-pound weight had crashed to the floor.

A few minutes after that, the boy sleeping in the house suddenly began to
it is hard to breathe and pronounce various obscure sounds in a dream, as if he had dreamed
he had some kind of nightmare or someone crushed him. Undoubtedly worried the boy
fallen from the ceiling Bichura. When the father woke the boy, he said that
in a dream someone pressed him hard.

But Bichura not only crushes people in their sleep and is mischievous, she sometimes happens
very helpful. She is kind because she brings money and much to the owner of the house.
whatever else he needs. Whoever lives Bichura often gets richer, and
on the contrary, having expelled Bichur, he becomes poor.

There is a story about this too.

Once upon a time, at the specified mullah of the village of Kiskya Asta, Laishevsky district, she lived
Bichur. Mulla grew richer every day. He had a lot of money and cattle, cattle
was well fed and handsome. It turned out that Bichura brought him money at night,
stealing them from neighbors, and feeding the horses with oats from the neighbors' barns.

When the mullah got rich enough, he no longer needed Bichura, got tired of it, and he
I decided to send her out of my house. For this, the mullah brought from one
the village fortuneteller, who was supposed to remove Bichur by whispering. How
As soon as the fortune-teller drove into the yard, the mullah's outbuildings caught fire.
After five or six hours, the mullah became a beggar, everything burned down with him: both the house and
property, and livestock.

Neighbors' houses survived

Bogatyr Idel and beauty Akbike

On the banks of the Shirbetle River once stood a large city, where in a luxurious
the rich khan lived happily in the palace. His wife Fatima was reputed to be skillful
sorceress.

The joy of the parents was their only daughter, the beautiful Akbike. Many
the young men were secretly in love with her, but bypassed the palace, fearing
sorceress Fatima.

The daughter of the Khan fell in love with the hero Idel. One day he plucked up courage and
stole the beautiful Akbike to always be with her.

Fatima demanded that her daughter be returned to the palace. But Idel and Akbike
did not listen to her. The sorceress got angry, blew and spat at the kidnapper and
she drove the Idel-Volga away from her eyes, to where the current riverbed is.

Since then, the lovers have never parted.

In ancient times, people were completely different - tall, powerful. Through
spruce forests made their way as if through great grass, ravines and gullies,
lakes easily crossed.

Once the son of one of these giants played and frolicked and saw completely
little man plowing the land. With a horse, with a plow. Put the boy
little man with a horse and a plow into his palm and wondered for a long time: from where
such curiosities? Then he put them in his pocket and took them home.

Tells father; - When I was playing, I found this toy man, -
and showed me the find.

The father looked and said:

- Son, don't hurt him. Where you find it, take it there. This is one of those people
that will live after us.

The boy carried the little man, along with the horse and plow, to their original place.

girl and water

There lived in a peasant family a girl, an orphan from birth. unkind
her stepmother did not love her, she made her work from dark to dark.

Early one morning, before the sun had risen, the stepmother sent her stepdaughter for
water. There is nothing to do, the orphan went to the sleeping lake. She draws water and cries.

She saw her reflection in the water. As if similar and unlike: the eyes are hers, and
hair - to the knees. Look - out of the water, hands reach out to her, and behind them - a fish tail!

The girl grabbed the bucket and, not feeling her feet under her, well, run to the house. Hears -
someone ran after her. Not lagging behind, catching up. And he says: "Wait,
sweetheart, listen to me!"

From fear, the girl screamed, so much so that she woke up the whole village.
People jumped out of the houses, they see: a water girl is chasing a girl.

They grabbed the uninvited guest, locked it up with the strongest lock and began to judge
yes to row, what to do with it. It took a long time to decide, but nothing came up. A
as if the water man doesn’t care about people: know yourself preening, dissolving
green shoulders her thick hair and everything combs them
with a big, big comb, And people are unaware that her mermaid
sorcery power so tries.

The mermaid could not catch up with the orphan by the lake, but against her witchcraft charms
the girl did not resist. She herself will not understand what is happening to her, but only attracts
her to the water, and that's it. I want to watch, admire how she strokes
luxurious hair, and it is a pleasure to listen to her insinuating voice as the most beautiful
song. It seems to the girl that the mermaid is calling, but her speeches sound so sweet, so
gentle and melodious voice, that the former fear was gone, but only anxiety,
languor, sadness-longing unaccountable and boundless.

The girl crept up to the house where the water house was locked, trembling all over like a leaf on
wind: afraid, like a thief, that one of her fellow villagers will notice her, and passion
how you want to look at the mermaid with at least one eye. Found a crack in the door
clung to her and was stunned: the mermaid was right there right at the door, looking and
smiles so mischievously. And - not a word, just stuck a comb in her hair, yes
makes a sign with his hand, as if calling to him.

The girl's heart began to pound, fluttering about like a bird in nets. neither alive
not dead, she recoiled from the door and away from the terrible place. Didn't make it in time
run home, how he feels - his legs seem to be numb. And in the ears - a voice
mermaid, plaintive such as if she is saying goodbye forever. Unable to
hear, the girl turned back, but ran again - now to
mermaid abode. She looked through the crack in the door: the water one was in the same place, and
eyes sad, sad.

The girl decided to free the captive at all costs. And how - does not know.
She walks like a mad woman around the house, killing herself. Life has become unkind to her.
because the mermaid cannot be rescued from captivity. From the eyes - tears stream,
running - you can't stop.

They noticed in the village that something was wrong with the girl. See how she
secretly runs to the mermaid, and guessed her intention to free the lake
witch.

They also put the girl under lock and key along with the mermaid. Yes, firmly
everyone was ordered not to let go anywhere under any pretext. No matter how you asked
the girl, no matter how she swore that she would be obedient, no one heeded her pleas.

Then the girl either said she was sick, or she really got sick. AND
began to beg her older brother, who more than others loved and pitied
her, let them go free with the mermaid.

“There is no life for me without her,” she repeated as if in delirium. - In the village I am everything
now as a stranger. Have pity on the poor sister!

What should a brother do? On a dark night, he unlocked the lock, hugged his sister. Looks -
captives and the trace caught a cold.

In the morning, a girl's voice was heard on the shore of the lake. She took it out quietly
drawn out. Either she greeted her fellow villagers, or she said goodbye. ran away
the whole village to the lake, they look - no one.

But since then, in the evenings and at the dawn, the girl's voice has not ceased,
thoughtful and sad. Year after year went by, and he still sounded somewhere on the shore,
confusing human souls, not giving them rest.

Fellow villagers decided to get rid of the water and rescue from captivity
girl, Whatever they did: they threw nets into the lake, and
dams were arranged - all in vain.

For a long time they thought and wondered in the village what to do with the water one, and decided
finally poison the water in the lake. So they did.

Early in the morning they hear: the cows do not moo - they roar with a roar. Look - at one
a dead calf was born, another miscarried. And no milk at all
one, as if someone had milked them.

No matter how they courted the cows, no matter how much they guarded at night - all to no avail.
Cattle suffer, no milk, no offspring.

This went on for a year and then another. Finally gathered the oldest
wise people in the village and ordered everyone, young and old, to dig a new channel
for water from springs that filled the lake. I had a lot
work hard before a new lake is formed. Liked the lake
mermaid, and she moved into its clear water. And the cows will soon have milk
appeared - fatty, tasty.

And then one day, on the shore of the old lake, a girl's voice was heard again -
pure, transparent, like spring water. The villagers saw the poor
an orphan walking towards them. No matter how much they asked, he does not say that
was with her. I don't know, I answer, I don't know.

The girl became quiet, silent. Every evening she came to the lake and
sang the same song. Lullaby. And her older brother could not understand
take where the sister knows the words of this song, with which his mother lulled him to sleep.
After all, the sister did not happen to hear the gentle voice of her mother.

Before man, there were Jinn, or geniuses, on earth. Just like people
they were born and died, but like angels they also dwelt in the air.
The jinn sought to penetrate the secrets of the sky, but each time they were driven away
"protective flames".

Once it was the Jinn who dominated the earth. We have created, says
Koran, a man of clay, and before that we created geniuses from fire
Samum. After some time the Jinn became proud and thought
weaken the power of God on earth, became subject to many
delusions.

To punish them, God sent Iblis with angels who defeated the Jinn in
the battle, the survivors were driven from the earth to the islands and mountains. After
expulsion of the Jinn, God turned to the angels for advice on the creation of man.

According to folk tales, Jinn do not cause much harm to people. But,
distinguished by obtrusiveness and taking on carved forms, they frighten a person, and
meeting with them is at least undesirable.

About three years ago, in the winter, I poisoned myself early in the morning to inspect the traps,
placed on the wolf. Moving a little away from the village, I looked back and saw: he was following
me a black cat. At first I paid no attention to her and continued my
path. I looked back again, and what! - I no longer see a cat, but a black dog. And here I am
did not attach any importance to this and went another part of the way. When I looked back at the third
once, I saw that the dog turned into a man dressed in a black robe.

Then I began to guess that none other than Genie was following me. A
a man in a black coat is already close to me and, I see, wants to get around.
He overtook, approached a lonely stump and stood facing me. I stopped too,
knowing what to do.

At this time, the azan was shouted in the nearest village. I perked up and
throwing up his gun, he shot directly at the Genie standing opposite me. He immediately
disappeared. And I went up to the stump: the whole charge fell into it.

I went on and, having examined my hunting devices, safely
returned

Once there lived a girl named Zuhra. She was pretty, smart,
reputed to be a great craftswoman. Everyone around admired her skill,
promptness and respect. Zuhra was also loved for the fact that she did not
proud of her beauty and diligence.

Zuhra lived with her father and stepmother, who envied her stepdaughter and scolded her for
any trifle, charged the girl with the hardest work around the house. At
father, an evil woman held her tongue, but only he was beyond the threshold, as she began
harass the adopted daughter. The stepmother sent Zuhra for brushwood to a terrible
dense forest, where there were many snakes and ferocious animals. But they are neither
never touched a kind and meek girl.

Zuhra worked from dawn to dusk, tried to do everything that she was ordered,
trying to please his father's wife. Yes, where is it! Humility and Patience
stepdaughters completely pissed off their stepmother.

And then one evening, when Zuhra was especially tired of
unceasing work, her stepmother told her to drag water from the river into the bottomless
vessel. Yes, she threatened

- If you don’t fill it to the brim before the morning dawn, so that your feet in the house do not
was!

Not daring to argue, Zuhra took buckets with a yoke and set off for water.
So much sleep had piled up during the day that her legs could hardly carry her, her hands were taken away, and
shoulders were bent even under the weight of empty buckets.

On the shore, Zuhra decided to rest at least a little. She took off the bucket from the yoke,
She squared her shoulders and looked around.

It was a wonderful night. The moon poured silver rays on the earth, and everything around
basked in sweet peace, illumined by its rays. In the mirror of the water flickered
stars, uniting with their round dance in the heavenly ocean. Everything was full
mysterious captivating beauty, and for some moments Zukhra was forgotten,
gone away sadness and adversity.

Fish splashed in the reeds, a light wave rolled onto the shore. Together with her
memories of a sweet childhood flooded in, as if affectionate words sounded again
words of a beloved mother. And from this it became even more bitter for the unfortunate girl,
awakened from a momentary slumber. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks
large diamonds falling to the ground.

Sighing heavily, Zuhra filled the buckets and the yoke with an unbearable weight.
lay not girlish shoulders. And even harder lay a stone on the heart. Again
Zuhra looked at the moon - she still floated freely along the heavenly path,
beaming and beckoning. And so Zukhra wanted to forget herself again, like a heavenly
the wanderer knows neither grief nor worries and gives kindness and affection.

At that moment, a star fell from the sky. And while she fell to the ground,
became brighter and brighter. Zukhra's soul suddenly felt better, heavy
the stone stopped pressing on the girl's heart. Sweet languor seized her,
it was comforting, calm. Zuhra felt how the buckets of water were becoming
almost weightless. Her eyes closed on their own. And when Zuhra again
opened her long eyelashes, she saw herself on the moon, into which she
stared for so long. She was surrounded by a round dance of many stars, one of
which shone especially brightly.

It turns out that this star has always followed Zuhra. She saw her suffering
who did not harden the girl against the evil stepmother. This very star embraced
Zuhru with her rays and lifted her up to the moon itself. Nobody on earth
I did not see this, nothing disturbed her nightly peace. Just twitched
rippling the smooth surface of the river near the shore and again became clear, like a mirror. And from the morning
the moon and the stars disappeared like a dawn.

Zukhra's father came ashore, searched for his daughter for a long time, called - called her
beloved and invisible. But I saw only two buckets filled to the brim
water. And either it seemed to him, or it really was - as if it flared up and
a small clear star disappeared into the clear water.

It darkened, dazzled in the father's eyes. He touched the buckets with his hand - it stirred
water, sparkled, played. It was as if the buckets were not full of her, but of many
precious diamonds.

If you look carefully at the moon on a clear night, you will see a silhouette on it
girls with a yoke on their shoulders. And next to the moon, notice a brightly shining
star. This is the very star that raised a good soul to heaven. Her
called the star of Zuhra.

Fabulous creatures, according to the belief of the Kazan Tatars, live everywhere - and in
houses, and in the field, and in the forest, and in the water. Among those who dwell in houses and yards,
next to a person, the place of honor is occupied by Ii iyase, or the owner of the house,
brownie.

Iy iyase usually chooses the underground as his dwelling, from where he comes out
at night. He appears as an old man with rather long hair.
A brownie is a caring owner and even a useful creature: he protects the house, in
in anticipation of trouble, he walks all night, worries and sighs. If at night
some misfortune happens, wakes people up, shakes their legs or knocks.

At night, the brownie usually scratches his head, sometimes he sows flour with a sieve -
a good sign that promises wealth. Howling brownie is not good - it means
approaching poverty. You can sometimes hear how the brownie is spinning flax, but
he himself is not visible at this time. Brownie spins only that yarn,
which remains unfinished on the spinning wheel. If someone will spin
after him, he will certainly fall ill, so it is best not to leave
yarn, or, if you need to leave it, throw it from front to back on a spinning wheel.
Then the brownie will not spin.

With good relations with people, the brownie is complacent,
caring owner. It is good to propitiate him sometimes. To propitiate
brownie, the head of the family should give alms called
“yakshambe sadakasy”.

When the brownie is angry, and the owner does not try to please him, with
living in the house various misfortunes can occur, scabies appear,
boils and other diseases. There is also a loss of livestock, although the culprit of it
becomes rather another being, Abzar iyase. The brownie is busy
only animals living in the house itself, for example, a cat.

He does not like the brownie when he is crossed. Let's say he has a habit
to braid the hair on the head, the beard not only for themselves, but also for those living in the house
people. Do not unwind them until they unwind themselves. If not
if you wait, unwind, or, even worse, cut off, then you will certainly die or
you will become a freak, or another misfortune will happen.

When part of the family is allocated to live in a new house, it is necessary
observe certain rituals in relation to the brownie, propitiate him or
how to say goodbye. Then life in the new house will be calm and
prosperous.

This is what the son does for this when he separates from his father. At midnight he comes with
bread to the parents' house, of course, having previously agreed with them, and
goes underground. There he, lighting three candles, takes a handful of earth,
takes it home and pours it into the underground of a new house. At the same time, it should
make sure you don't meet anyone along the way. If someone meets
there will be no use from this rite. Again it is necessary to take the earth from the underground in order to
life in the new house was calm and happy.

* * *

Previously, different stories were told about brownies. For example, such.

One moonlit night, waking up, I see before me something similar to
person. Guessing that it was a brownie, I tried not to notice,
how I watch him. The brownie sits quietly on the bench and spins,
the sound of the spindle resounds throughout the room. He himself is white as a sheet, his head
covered as if with long hair, but I couldn’t
make out, because he was sitting with his back to me. Then the brownie, it must be
felt that I was awake, quickly got up, took his spinning wheel and disappeared behind
stove.

And we also had a white cat, which lived well and freely. After
we got her black. No matter how much they fed her, she was still thin. We
constantly wondered why the cat is not getting better. Then they started
to guess: probably, the brownie is tormenting her. This conjecture was confirmed.
One day, returning from the field, I enter the hut and hear someone rustling on
ovens. I looked - there is no one. And the cat is all exhausted and lies on the floor. It is her
tormented by the brownie.

After that, we gave a black cat to a neighbor, and we ourselves got a white one again, and
she was always full, fat and cheerful

The deceased father said that in our village there lived a man named
Persiam Satdin. Once he and his two sons spent the night in the forest and saw
shurale.

They guarded the felled trees. Suddenly they hear someone with a bang
walks through the branches, goes straight to them. In the moonlight you can see: long, thin,
all covered with fur.

- “Wow-wow” is there? - asks.

- No, - they answer him.

- "Choo-choo" is there?

- No.

One of the sons hides the dog behind his back. She is torn, she is about to jump. A
shurale is getting closer.

- Let's play ticklish? - speaks.

They let the dog go right away - where did the agility come from at Shurale, he rushed where his eyes
are looking.

The next morning we got up and saw: where the shurale ran, there the trees fell in a strip.

He appears to be afraid of the dog and the whip.

Abzar iyase

Albasty

The name of Albasty among the Tatars is called a force or an evil creature that lives and
appearing to people mainly in non-residential buildings, in wastelands, fields and
in the meadows. It appears to the people of Albasty in the guise of a man, and most of all in the form
a large cart, mop, haystacks, stacks, fir trees, etc. Albasty is dangerous in that
can crush a person to death, and sometimes even drinks his blood.

When Albasty crushes a person, he feels a strong heartbeat and suffocation.

Once, a student of the Kazan madrasah once said, in the month of Ramadan
At night after supper I went to bed. In a dream, I saw that I was going to the mosque for prayer.
When I entered the mosque, the mullah and the people were already praying.

Suddenly I see a hefty old beggar who comes up to me, rudely
grabs and pushes. He pressed so hard that he could not breathe. I
gasped and lost consciousness. I wanted to scream, but my voice wouldn't come out.
throat. After some time, Albasty disappeared and I, screaming in horror,
woke up exhausted, tired, and fell ill the next day.

However, Albasty does not always crush a person, sometimes he gets off easy
fright, and the mysterious creature does not bring much harm.

A man was driving in the winter from the city of Kazan to his village at night. Not
reaching the village some two or three versts, he sees that on both sides
two stacks of hay are moving from it, and near these stacks something is glowing.

Looking more closely, the peasant was horrified, recognizing Albasty in the haystacks.
He began to drive the horse, but no matter how much he urged her, he could not get past
glowing haystacks. He was finally convinced that Albasty was pursuing him, and
began to whip the horse even harder. But all to no avail.

After two or three hours of the race, he drives up to a dark forest, which was not there.
in this area. Hears the sounds of music, distant human voices,
the mooing of cows, the neighing of horses...
went further. And the luminous haystacks do not lag behind a single step, everyone accompanies
his. He looked around - the same haystacks and the same unusual light around them.

The man lost all hope of deliverance. Attacks, thinks to himself,
Albasty and crush. “Well, come what may!” He lay down in the bag and let go
reins...

He hears, suddenly the roosters crowed, and immediately both haystacks and the light near them disappeared.
After that, the horse, feeling relieved, ran no longer at a trot, but
took off straight at a gallop, so that it was impossible to hold her back. Finally found myself
a man in an unfamiliar village and can not understand where he is. For a long time
thought and guessed that this was the same village through which he passed
still in the afternoon.

Gathering his last strength, the peasant went to his village. Meanwhile already
it became light. As he rode, he kept looking around, marveling at the footprints
his sleigh and remembered the night journey. He eventually recovered
and, feeling liberation from Albasty, safely arrived in his native
village.

However, after this incident, the man fell ill and barely survived. If in that
the dark night the roosters did not crow in time, his death, surely, would have been
inevitable.

Bichura

Bogatyr Idel and beauty Akbike

big people

girl and water

There lived in a peasant family a girl, an orphan from birth. unkind
her stepmother did not love her, she made her work from dark to dark.

Early one morning, before the sun had risen, the stepmother sent her stepdaughter for
water. There is nothing to do, the orphan went to the sleeping lake. She draws water and cries.

She saw her reflection in the water. As if similar and unlike: the eyes are hers, and
hair - to the knees. Look - out of the water, hands reach out to her, and behind them - a fish tail!

The girl grabbed the bucket and, not feeling her feet under her, well, run to the house. Hears -
someone ran after her. Not lagging behind, catching up. And he says: "Wait,
sweetheart, listen to me!"

From fear, the girl screamed, so much so that she woke up the whole village.
People jumped out of the houses, they see: a water girl is chasing a girl.

They grabbed the uninvited guest, locked it up with the strongest lock and began to judge
yes to row, what to do with it. It took a long time to decide, but nothing came up. A
as if the water man doesn’t care about people: know yourself preening, dissolving
green shoulders her thick hair and everything combs them
with a big, big comb, And people are unaware that her mermaid
sorcery power so tries.

The mermaid could not catch up with the orphan by the lake, but against her witchcraft charms
the girl did not resist. She herself will not understand what is happening to her, but only attracts
her to the water, and that's it. I want to watch, admire how she strokes
luxurious hair, and it is a pleasure to listen to her insinuating voice as the most beautiful
song. It seems to the girl that the mermaid is calling, but her speeches sound so sweet, so
gentle and melodious voice, that the former fear was gone, but only anxiety,
languor, sadness-longing unaccountable and boundless.

The girl crept up to the house where the water house was locked, trembling all over like a leaf on
wind: afraid, like a thief, that one of her fellow villagers will notice her, and passion
how you want to look at the mermaid with at least one eye. Found a crack in the door
clung to her and was stunned: the mermaid was right there right at the door, looking and
smiles so mischievously. And - not a word, just stuck a comb in her hair, yes
makes a sign with his hand, as if calling to him.

The girl's heart began to pound, fluttering about like a bird in nets. neither alive
not dead, she recoiled from the door and away from the terrible place. Didn't make it in time
run home, how he feels - his legs seem to be numb. And in the ears - a voice
mermaid, plaintive such as if she is saying goodbye forever. Unable to
hear, the girl turned back, but ran again - now to
mermaid abode. She looked through the crack in the door: the water one was in the same place, and
eyes sad, sad.

The girl decided to free the captive at all costs. And how - does not know.
She walks like a mad woman around the house, killing herself. Life has become unkind to her.
because the mermaid cannot be rescued from captivity. From the eyes - tears stream,
running - you can't stop.

They noticed in the village that something was wrong with the girl. See how she
secretly runs to the mermaid, and guessed her intention to free the lake
witch.

They also put the girl under lock and key along with the mermaid. Yes, firmly
everyone was ordered not to let go anywhere under any pretext. No matter how you asked
the girl, no matter how she swore that she would be obedient, no one heeded her pleas.

Then the girl either said she was sick, or she really got sick. AND
began to beg her older brother, who more than others loved and pitied
her, let them go free with the mermaid.

“There is no life for me without her,” she repeated as if in delirium. - In the village I am everything
now as a stranger. Have pity on the poor sister!

What should a brother do? On a dark night, he unlocked the lock, hugged his sister. Looks -
captives and the trace caught a cold ...

In the morning, a girl's voice was heard on the shore of the lake. She took it out quietly
drawn out. Either she greeted her fellow villagers, or she said goodbye. ran away
the whole village to the lake, they look - no one.

But since then, in the evenings and at the dawn, the girl's voice has not ceased,
thoughtful and sad. Year after year went by, and he still sounded somewhere on the shore,
confusing human souls, not giving them rest.

Fellow villagers decided to get rid of the water and rescue from captivity
girl, Whatever they did: they threw nets into the lake, and
dams were arranged - all in vain.

For a long time they thought and wondered in the village what to do with the water one, and decided
finally poison the water in the lake. So they did.

Early in the morning they hear: the cows do not moo - they roar with a roar. Look - at one
a dead calf was born, another miscarried. And no milk at all
one, as if someone had milked them.

No matter how they courted the cows, no matter how much they guarded at night - all to no avail.
Cattle suffer, no milk, no offspring.

This went on for a year and then another. Finally gathered the oldest
wise people in the village and ordered everyone, young and old, to dig a new channel
for water from springs that filled the lake. I had a lot
work hard before a new lake is formed. Liked the lake
mermaid, and she moved into its clear water. And the cows will soon have milk
appeared - fatty, tasty.

And then one day, on the shore of the old lake, a girl's voice was heard again -
pure, transparent, like spring water. The villagers saw the poor
an orphan walking towards them. No matter how much they asked, he does not say that
was with her. I don't know, I answer, I don't know.

The girl became quiet, silent. Every evening she came to the lake and
sang the same song. Lullaby. And her older brother could not understand
take where the sister knows the words of this song, with which his mother lulled him to sleep.
After all, the sister did not happen to hear the gentle voice of the mother ...

Genie

Asterisk Zuhra

Once there lived a girl named Zuhra. She was pretty, smart,
reputed to be a great craftswoman. Everyone around admired her skill,
promptness and respect. Zuhra was also loved for the fact that she did not
proud of her beauty and diligence.

Zuhra lived with her father and stepmother, who envied her stepdaughter and scolded her for
any trifle, charged the girl with the hardest work around the house. At
father, an evil woman held her tongue, but only he was beyond the threshold, as she began
harass the adopted daughter. The stepmother sent Zuhra for brushwood to a terrible
dense forest, where there were many snakes and ferocious animals. But they are neither
never touched a kind and meek girl.

Zuhra worked from dawn to dusk, tried to do everything that she was ordered,
trying to please his father's wife. Yes, where is it! Humility and Patience
stepdaughters completely pissed off their stepmother.

And then one evening, when Zuhra was especially tired of
unceasing work, her stepmother told her to drag water from the river into the bottomless
vessel. Yes, she threatened

- If you don’t fill it to the brim before the morning dawn, so that your feet in the house do not
was!

Not daring to argue, Zuhra took buckets with a yoke and set off for water.
So much sleep had piled up during the day that her legs could hardly carry her, her hands were taken away, and
shoulders were bent even under the weight of empty buckets.

On the shore, Zuhra decided to rest at least a little. She took off the bucket from the yoke,
She squared her shoulders and looked around.

It was a wonderful night. The moon poured silver rays on the earth, and everything around
basked in sweet peace, illumined by its rays. In the mirror of the water flickered
stars, uniting with their round dance in the heavenly ocean. Everything was full
mysterious captivating beauty, and for some moments Zukhra was forgotten,
gone away sadness and adversity.

Fish splashed in the reeds, a light wave rolled onto the shore. Together with her
memories of a sweet childhood flooded in, as if affectionate words sounded again
words of a beloved mother. And from this it became even more bitter for the unfortunate girl,
awakened from a momentary slumber. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks
large diamonds falling to the ground.

Sighing heavily, Zuhra filled the buckets and the yoke with an unbearable weight.
lay not girlish shoulders. And even harder lay a stone on the heart. Again
Zuhra looked at the moon - she still floated freely along the heavenly path,
beaming and beckoning. And so Zukhra wanted to forget herself again, like a heavenly
the wanderer knows neither grief nor worries and gives kindness and affection ...

At that moment, a star fell from the sky. And while she fell to the ground,
became brighter and brighter. Zukhra's soul suddenly felt better, heavy
the stone stopped pressing on the girl's heart. Sweet languor seized her,
it was comforting, calm. Zuhra felt how the buckets of water were becoming
almost weightless. Her eyes closed on their own. And when Zuhra again
opened her long eyelashes, she saw herself on the moon, into which she
stared for so long. She was surrounded by a round dance of many stars, one of
which shone especially brightly.

It turns out that this star has always followed Zuhra. She saw her suffering
who did not harden the girl against the evil stepmother. This very star embraced
Zuhru with her rays and lifted her up to the moon itself. Nobody on earth
I did not see this, nothing disturbed her nightly peace. Just twitched
rippling the smooth surface of the river near the shore and again became clear, like a mirror. And from the morning
the moon and the stars disappeared like a dawn.

Zukhra's father came ashore, searched for his daughter for a long time, called - called her
beloved and invisible. But I saw only two buckets filled to the brim
water. And either it seemed to him, or it really was - as if it flared up and
a small clear star disappeared into the clear water.

It darkened, dazzled in the father's eyes. He touched the buckets with his hand - it stirred
water, sparkled, played. It was as if the buckets were not full of her, but of many
precious diamonds...

If you look carefully at the moon on a clear night, you will see a silhouette on it
girls with a yoke on their shoulders. And next to the moon, notice a brightly shining
star. This is the very star that raised a good soul to heaven. Her
called the star of Zuhra.

Iy yase

scared of the dog

The subtlety of the East, the modernity of the West, the warmth of the South and the mystery of the North - all this is about Tatarstan and its people! Imagine how interesting the historical path was for the people living on such an abundant and rich land, the first to defend Rus' from the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars and built such magnificent cities as Kazan, Sviyazhsk and Yelabuga. And, of course, all this was reflected in the legends and traditions of the Tatar people. This section contains the most interesting and mysterious legends, stories, myths and legends of Tatarstan.

In general, Tatar fabulous creatures can be divided into the following two groups:

1) creatures that live in the water, and 2) creatures that live on land.

Creatures that live in the water: su-babasy, su-iyasi, su-anasy, yukha;

Under the name sous-babas Tatars mean living in the water (precisely in the lake), the lord of the water, the water grandfather. But no one saw this grandfather ever come out of the water and treat people directly; To this, he, apparently, has a creature related to him, like a servant, speaker and executor of his orders, this is Su-iyashi.

Su-yashi- (that is, “water master”) appears to the Tatar in the form of a lively boy, an intermediary between the Tatar and his master, the water grandfather, - and in the form of an intermediary of a stupid, cowardly, inexperienced, not knowing well Tatar, but stronger than the Tatar and less, than a bear.

Su-anases- "water mother". Su-anasy is the mother of the su-iyasi and the wife of the su-babasa, sometimes she is visible to a Tatar who inadvertently approached the water in the form of a woman combing her hair with a comb - visible both day and night.

Yuha- a dragon that turned into a yuhu-maiden. The dragon can take on various sensual images and appear to the Tatar in them in order to harm him in every possible way; by the way, he sometimes assumes the form of a girl of extraordinary beauty, who combs her hair, sitting on the shore of the lake. Turning into a girl, yuha can become a wife, can get married. At the same time, the husband will certainly ardently love his wife; but at the same time will be more and more thin. That's what yuha-kyz is, yuha-girl!

Creatures that live on land: Ubyr, Albasty, Uryak, Bichura, Uy-iyase, Abear-iyase, chyachyak-anasy, chyachyak-iyasi, shurali, gin and diu-peri.

Ubyr - always exists in one person, which is why it is called ubyrlykshi (“human vampire”). Ubyrs in fairy tales meet old women (ubyr-karchyk). A Tatar can easily recognize an ubyr-man because under his arm there is a hole inside the body through which the ubyr enters the person. Ubyr, like the Russian “brownie”, can crush the Tatar and even appear to him in reality. When an ubyr crushes a Tatar, this latter cannot move; but if only he succeeds somehow in biting the ubyr, then the face in which the crushing ubyr has its stay will certainly be bitten on the same penis in which the crushed Tatar gnawed the ubyr. Ubyr-old women always live in the wilderness and far from Tatar dwellings, where a Tatar can get, only if he has lost his way - when he is walking or driving. They live in huts. However, there are cases when the Tatars, having the need to learn about the loss of something important, try to find the ubyr-old woman themselves; but these are lucky people, worthy people, strong men, cunning people.

Albasty. The name of Albasty among the Tatars is called a force or an evil creature that lives and appears to people mainly in non-residential houses, in wastelands, fields and meadows. It appears to the people of Albasty in the guise of a man, and most of all in the form of a large cart, mop, haystack, stack, Christmas tree, etc. Albasty is dangerous because he can crush a person to death, and sometimes he also drinks his blood. When Albasty crushes a person, he feels a strong heartbeat and suffocation.

Uryak (“to blow”) - a creature that appears to a Tatar somewhere in the forest or on the road above the deceased with a violent death. He is seen by a passer-by Tatar, according to legend, in the form of a man or a shock, waddling and going forward. Uryak can transform into a cloud. If a passer-by Tatar did not immediately see a dead body on the way, then the tearing click of the uryak would certainly draw his attention to this body. If at the same time a person would want to look at a close-up visible from a distance and screaming uryak, then the uryak would become invisible. Out of fear of seeing an incomprehensible and mysterious creature and hearing his soul-rending voice, the Tatar is in every possible way careful not to stumble upon a dead body on the way at night. When a Tatar is too afraid of something, he says: “My uryak has risen!”. Every Tatar has a uryak.

Bichura- the same as the Russian kikimora or “neighbor”. This creature is presented in the form of a woman - from one and a half to two arshins tall. On her head is an irnak, an old Tatar headdress. Bichura lives in living quarters - on the ceiling, in the underground and in the baths, but not at all, but only at some of the owners. Others set aside a special room for the Bichura, where she is fed and watered. At night, a plate of food and a few spoons are left. The next morning the plate is empty, Bichura leaves nothing. And if she gets angry with the owner for something, she will break the cup in which food is served to her, and scatter everything that falls under her arm. Bichura often crushes a person in a dream, likes to suddenly frighten him, and generally plays pranks on people. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a brick, a log will fly by. Who threw the log is unknown. Because of Bichura, sometimes they leave at home, it can be impossible to live, especially lonely.

Uy iyase - fabulous creatures, according to the belief of the Kazan Tatars, live everywhere - in houses, and in the field, and in the forest, and in the water. Among those living in houses and courtyards, next to a person, Ii iyase, or the owner of the house, brownie, occupies a place of honor. Iy iyase usually chooses the underground as his dwelling, from where he comes out at night. He appears as an old man with rather long hair. The brownie is a caring owner and even a useful creature: he protects the house, walks all night in anticipation of trouble, worries and sighs. If some misfortune happens at night, wakes people up, shakes their legs or knocks. With good relations with people, the brownie is a benevolent, caring owner. It is good to propitiate him sometimes. To propitiate the brownie, the head of the family must give alms, called “yakshambe sadakasy”. When the brownie is angry, and the owner does not try to please him in any way, various misfortunes can happen to those living in the house, scabies, boils and other diseases appear. There is also a death of cattle, although another creature, Abzar iyase, becomes the culprit. The brownie, it happens, is occupied only by animals that live in the house itself, for example, a cat.

Abzar iyase - besides the brownie, according to the belief of the Kazan Tatars, there is also Abzar iyase - the owner of the barn, who lives in the yard or in the barn. The Russians do not have a corresponding name for Abzar iyase, since the same brownie bears his “duties”. Abzar iyase par excellence is the lord of cattle. Sometimes Abzar iyase is shown to people in the form of a person or animals, but only from a distance and at night. He is closely related to livestock. The owner of the barn braids the mane of his beloved horse, brings her food. For some reason, the horse that Abzar iyase dislikes, he tortures all night, rides it all night, takes food from it and hands it over to his beloved horse. Disgraced horses become boring, thin, it is best to sell them from the yard as soon as possible so that they do not die.

Chyachyak-anasy and chyachyak-iyasi (“smallpox mother” and “smallpox master”) - according to the belief of the Tatars, when a child is ill with smallpox, then the said creatures are present in large pockmarks.

Shuryali - a fabulous creature like the goblin of the Russians. Shuryals are found in the forests and not one at a time; are visible to a Tatar in human form. They all have very large breasts, of which one is thrown over the right shoulder, and the other over the left. If they meet a Tartar in the forest, they invite him to play tickling, but if he agrees, they tickle him to death. But the Tartar can outwit the shyurali; but as? He will offer the shyurali to play in the slot, and he, out of his stupidity, having agreed, dies. What is this game? The Tatar, with an ax strike along a thick tree, makes a gap in the tree, and in order to make it wider, he hammers a wedge into it, and when the shyuryali puts his finger into the gap, the Tatar instantly snatches his wedge from there and thus infringes the shyuryali. Shuryali will scream in pain in a wild voice so that creatures like him run away, and, freeing him from trouble, would take revenge on the Tatar, tickling him to death. But if earlier the Tatar answered the question: “What is his name?” guessed to answer: “my name was tyr” (last year), then, having pinched the shyurali and rushed to run, he escapes, because the shyurali will then shout in a hurry: “last year hurt!” they will laugh at the poor fellow: “you won’t find what to look for last year! It can be seen that they were fooling around very stupid!” - they will tell him then in response.

Genie. Before man, there were Jinn, or geniuses, on earth. Just like people, they were born and died, but like angels they also lived in the air. The jinn sought to penetrate the secrets of the sky, but each time they were driven away by “protective flames”. Once it was the Jinn who dominated the earth. We created, says the Qur'an, a man from clay, and before that we created geniuses from the fire of Samum. After some time, the Jinn became proud and decided to weaken the power of God on earth, and became subject to many delusions. To punish them, God sent Iblis with angels, who defeated the Jinn in battle, drove the survivors from the earth to the islands and mountains. After the expulsion of the Jinn, God turned to the angels for advice on the creation of man. According to folk tales, Jinn do not cause much harm to people. But, distinguished by obsession and taking on carved guises, they frighten a person, and a meeting with them is at least undesirable.

Diu Peri - divas, usually appear to the Tatar in the forests and in the fields, and, moreover, in various images: sometimes a haymack, sometimes in the form of a maiden, and they can marry a Tatar. They live in their own special cities, have kingdoms under the earth and the sea, and invisibly on the earth. They live and own those places and where the treasure is laid. And the pantries themselves, usually unacquired, from a long stay in the earth give rise to divas, similar in everything to their ancestors. About the divas, it should be noted that they are irreconcilably hostile to the Tatar:

1) they kidnap girls; they keep them until they are old, and then they marry them;

2) divas swear at the Tatar: for example, in the form of some acquaintance or good-natured diva, he takes the Tatar to his city, treats him in his house; but if a Tatar says: “bismillu” (in the name of God!) before eating food, then it will be clearly seen that this is not food, but horse droppings;

3) the div will certainly try to bring the Tatar invited to visit him to the face of the earth, and usually this way: he will order his wife to heat the bathhouse, lead the guest into it, and when he undresses, the div will offer him his services with visible cordiality - to wash, evaporate, and when the Tatar turns his back, then the diva will beat him to death with a butt of a broom and bury the dead under the shelf of his bath.

Literature:

Kayum NASYRI "Beliefs and signs of the Kazan Tatars"

Udmurt legends, Bashkir legends, Tatar legends, Chuvash legends, Mordovian legends, myths and legends of Mari El, Kalmyk legends

Tatar myths and legends

Tatars (self-named - Tatars) - the people, the main population of Tataria (1.77 million). They also live in many republics and regions of Russia. The Turkic-speaking communities of Siberia (Siberian Tatars), Crimea (Crimean Tatars), etc. are also called Tatars. According to data for 1995, about 5.6 million people live in Russia (excluding Crimean Tatars). The total number is 6.7 million hours.

Anthropologically, the Tatars are extremely heterogeneous. Among the Tatars of the Middle Volga and the Urals, representatives of the large Caucasoid race predominate. Part of the Astrakhan and Siberian Tatars in physical appearance approach the South Siberian type of the large Mongoloid race. The ethnic basis of the Tatars of the Middle Volga and the Urals was made up of Turkic-speaking tribes that penetrated into the region of the Middle Volga and the Kama region from the 2nd floor. I millennium AD e. The Volga-Kama Bulgarians, together with other Turks and Finno-Ugric peoples, created in the beginning. 10th century state - Volga-Kama Bulgaria.

Believing Tatars, with the exception of a small group of so-called. Kryashens and Nagai-bakov, who adopted in the XVI-XVIII centuries. Orthodoxy - Sunni Muslims.

The Tatar language belongs (according to one of the classifications) to the Kypchak group of Turkic languages. The Tatars of the Middle Volga and the Urals speak the Tatar language of the Kypchak subgroup of the Turkic group of the Altai family. The language of the Astrakhan Tatars - basically Nogai - was strongly influenced by the Tatar language and was transformed towards rapprochement with it. The literary Tatar language was formed on the basis of the middle (Kazan-Tatar) dialect. Writing on the Russian graphic basis (until 1927 - on the basis of Arabic graphics).

All works presented in this section are printed according to the book "Myths of the Ancient Volga" - Saratov: Nadezhda, 1996.

WHY THE CITY IS NAMED ZAINSKY

A long time ago, from the distant eastern steppes, nomads came to the banks of the river with their wagons. Tired of long wanderings through the waterless expanses, they happily noticed the silvery stream of a cool river, and someone was the first to shout enthusiastically: “Sai! Sai!" And the word "sai" from the Turkic language is translated into Russian as follows: "River!"

So they began to call the nameless river the river - Sai. And after that, the letter "c" was replaced by "z", and the river became Zai.

In those times when the Bulgars settled on the banks of the Kama and the Volga, a large city appeared on the rich lands of the Zai River. Hard-working townspeople raised cattle, cultivated the land, many artisans dressed skins, made boots, made furniture, sewed clothes, wove linens ... They lived peacefully and happily on the banks of beautiful rivers.

But suddenly a disaster struck their city: a terrible dragon Baraj appeared in the vicinity of the city, devouring livestock and people. Many brave men dared to fight the dragon, but not a single hero was able to cope with the huge monster, they all died in the mighty paws of Baraj. Fear and despondency seized the Bulgars. And they decided to leave their beloved city of Zainek.

In the new place they built another city and lived as before - freely and calmly. So many years have passed.

And again, trouble followed the Bulgars: the enemies destroyed and plundered their new city, killed many, and took some into captivity to a foreign land. And then one brave hero named Yskhan-bek said: “I will go to the Zay River, the homeland of my ancestors, I will kill the dragon, and then we will settle there again.”

And so he did. He returned to his native place, looks: and the dragon-devourer has long been gone. He was delighted, called his fellow tribesmen, and life began to boil here again, the ancient city of Zainek revived.

LEGEND ABOUT KAZAN

One day, a rich man ordered his worker to drag water into barrels to water the garden. The worker grabbed a copper cauldron in his hands (and in Tatar the cauldron is called a “cauldron”) and ran to the river, the bank of which was very steep and inconvenient. The worker tried to scoop up water with a cauldron, but it was not there: the cauldron slipped out of his hands, fell into the water and drowned. After that, they began to call that river Kazanka, and the city built on its banks - Kazan.

And others, knowledgeable people, argue that it was not at all like that. But as? Here listen.

Khan Aksak Timer decided to capture one Bulgarian city. For a long time he fought with the townspeople besieged in the fortress, but he could not defeat the courageous defenders. Then the cunning khan decided: I will find out the secret why my fearless warriors cannot overcome this fortress.

The khan dressed as a beggar, made his way into the city and asked to spend the night with an old woman. Not knowing who her guest was, she blurted out:

Aksak Timer will never capture our city by force, and will be able to defeat the Bulgars only by cunning. For example, if he guesses to lure all the pigeons out of the city, tie rags to their paws, set them on fire and let them go, then the pigeons will fly to their homes, returning to their nests, then the city will burn down, and then Khan Aksak Timer will be able to defeat the Bulgars.

Aksak Timer was delighted and decided to follow the advice of the old woman. He took pity on the old woman and ordered her to take her things and follow him. He took her out of the fortress and ordered:

Settle down where a fire will light itself under the cauldron.

Then the woman guessed what a misfortune through her fault would happen, but it was too late. She had no choice but to obey the Khan. She took her cauldron, gathered her belongings and set off. She walked for a long time, got tired and stopped to rest. She put the cauldron on the ground, and suddenly a fire flared up under it by itself. She remained to live in this place, as Khan Aksak Timer ordered her. Other people from the devastated city soon settled next to it, and little by little a whole city grew up, which they called Kazan.

Was it so, was it not so, but the legends tell. And the glorious city of Kazan has been reflected in the mirror of the great river - Idel-Volga for many centuries.

WHY KAZAN MOVED?

One hundred and four years later, Kazan moved from its original place. Why? Tradition says so.

One rich inhabitant of ancient Kazan, or Iski-Kazan, as it was called, kept bees in the forest on Jelan-tau (Snake Mountain), where the present Kazan stands. Going to inspect the hives, he often took with him his beautiful daughter, who fell in love with this mountainous forest area on the banks of the Volga. The Tatar grew up, got married, and this is what once happened to her: according to the custom of all Eastern women, she herself went to the river for water; once she climbs with a heavy jug on her shoulder to the steep bank of the Kazanka and begins to scold the khan who had the idea to build a city on such a steepness. Her words were overheard by someone and reported to the then reigning Khan, one of the descendants of the founder of ancient Kazan. He demanded the impudent young woman to answer, but she was not at a loss.

What she said, she said, - my fault, - she answered. - And what's true, it's true: your grandfather probably didn't walk on the water himself, he didn't know what it's like for us sinners to carry heavy jugs on such a steep slope.

Well, where do you think the city should have been built? asked the Khan, softened by the beauty and courage of the young Tatar woman.

Yes, even where my father's beekeeper is, on Jelan-tau, - she answered.

And what about wild boars and snakes, of which there are so many between Kazanka and Bulak (the rivers at the confluence of which Jelan-tau is located)? Khan objected.

What about our sorcerers? Can't they cope with these vile creatures? - the Tatar answered with confidence.

(According to the concepts of Muslims, there is no creature more vile than a wild boar or a wild pig, the meat of which is recognized by Mohammed as filthy and harmful.)

Khan himself did not like his city; therefore, he decided to follow the advice of a young Tatar woman and sent his son, the heir, with two nobles and detachments of horsemen to the mouth of the Kazanka, in order to find a place there to build a city. The messengers were given a sealed envelope, which they had to open at the place chosen for the city and immediately fulfill what was written there. The choice of the envoys stopped at the place where the present Kazan stands. Having opened the envelope, they were horrified to learn the will of the khan, which consisted in the fact that one of the three sent, by lot, should be buried in the ground alive, so that the new city would “stand stronger”. The lot fell on the khan's son. The nobles felt sorry for the young prince, and they hid him from the khan, and buried a living dog in the ground.

Soon the khan began to grieve greatly for his son. The envoys then confessed to him that they had been deceived and brought the prince to his father. The Khan was very happy, but the old mullah reacted unsatisfactorily to this and predicted that the new city, which was based on deceit, would eventually fall into the hands of giaurs (Christians), enemies of the Muslim faith, considered by Muslims on a par with dogs.

The extermination of snakes was entrusted to the sorcerer, who did an excellent job with this matter. Since autumn, he has prepared a huge fire from firewood, brushwood and straw, and around the fire he also laid firewood in the form of a fence. Snakes crawled here from all sides to spend the winter in a ready-made room made of brushwood and straw. With the onset of spring, the sorcerer added dry hay to the heaps, poured everything with pitch and sulfur, and lit it. The snakes are all burned out. In order to drive out the wild boars, they set fire to the forests near Lake Kabana, which is still in the vicinity of Kazan, which is why all these forest-loving animals retreated from the city.

However, one, a large winged serpent, Zelant, with two heads, flew away and settled on a mountain not far from the city, which is why this mountain is called Jelan-tau (Serpent Mountain) or Zelant's Mountain. On it was the Assumption Monastery, founded in 1552 in memory of the soldiers killed during the capture of Kazan. It was also called most often the Zelant Monastery.

Zelant, according to legend, was about two heads, of which one, a snake, he devoured animals, and the other, an ox, plants. Zelant lived in clover: every day at noon he flew to Lake Kaban to drink water; then all the inhabitants fell on their faces before him, and in this case he did not harm them. However, Zelant could not fly to the city to quench his thirst, but drink from his lake, which was a few steps from his home; this lake is still called Serpentine.

For a long time Zelant terrified the surroundings, but, finally, he was put to death by the art of wizards. In memory of this event, the Khan made his image in the coat of arms of the city of Kazan.

The legend of Zelant is also explained in an allegorical, that is, allegorical sense: Zelant is, according to Tatar legends, the personification of ancient idolatry, defeated by Mohammedanism.

FROM AMUR-BATYUSHKA TO VOLGA-MATUSHKA

The Volga is the largest river in Europe. Amur is the largest river in the Asian part of Russia. The legend of the Bulgar people preserved a vague memory that the ancestors of the Volga people of the 15th century once lived near the Pacific Ocean.

Even in ancient times, on the lands near the Amur River, among other tribes, a tribe of Turks called Ta-Tan, Tatars roamed. The Turkic tribes then were at enmity with each other, and in the end the Tatar tribe subjugated the surrounding tribes. Those who were conquered were also called Tatars, and their lands were Tatar. Some Tatar tribes migrated to the north and west.

The Ta-Tan tribe, having mixed with other Turkic tribes, began to be called Tatars.

Centuries passed, and in the same places in the north of China, where the Turkic-Tatar tribes roamed, the Mongols tribes formed. Wars broke out between Tatars and Mongols. They ended with the fact that the Mongols conquered all the Tatar tribes and occupied their lands.

The conquered lands were called Tatar, so the Mongols who settled here also began to call themselves Tatars. And then Genghis Khan - the Mongol leader - completely destroyed the Tatar tribes in northern China, they were completely gone. But their name remained, and the Mongols began to call themselves Tatars.

The Mongols moved from China to the west, conquered the lands of the Polovtsians, Bulgars, Khazars, approached the borders of the Russian principalities. In ancient times, it was customary to call the conquered people the name of the winner. Therefore, the Mongols, who called themselves Tatars, began to call all the conquered Turkic tribes that way. And there were many of them, and they occupied the lands near the Black and Caspian Seas, in Siberia, the Volga region, in the Crimea. Thus, the entire Turkic population conquered by the Mongols began to be called Tatars.

Many years passed, the Mongols were completely gone on the lands they conquered, and the state of the Golden Horde was gone. And in Russia for many centuries all the Turks were called Tatars. They even wrote in the documents: Caucasian Tatars, Kazan Tatars, Uzbek Tatars. Azerbaijanis, Circassians, Khakasses, Dagestanis and many other peoples were considered Tatars.

And today the Tatars are the Turkic population of the former Bulgaria, Crimea, the Volga region, the Urals, Western Siberia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus. The Tatars also have their own republic on the Volga - Tatarstan - where in the X-XIII centuries there was the state of Volga Bulgaria.

Myths and legends of the peoples of the world. Peoples of Russia: Collection. - M.: Literature; Book World, 2004. - 480 p.

April 24, 2019

1184 BC- according to legend, the ancient Greeks were able to penetrate Troy with the help of a Trojan horse

624- died Mellit, the first bishop of London, the third archbishop of Canterbury, the founder of the Cathedral of St. Paul in London

1581- born Vincent de Paul, French monk, Catholic saint

1682- in the Pustozersky prison (now the Arkhangelsk region), archpriest Avvakum and other leaders of the Old Believers, protesting against Nikon's church reforms, were burned in an earthen log house

1793- Russia adopted a decree on the creation of an Orthodox diocese in Right-Bank Ukraine

1824 dies Hermann Mantinge, Dutch theologian

1889 Solomon Formstecher, German philosopher of Jewish origin, rabbi, died

The Creator sat on the Throne and thought. Behind Him stretched the boundless expanse of heaven, bathed in the splendor of light and colors, before Him the black night of Space rose like a wall. He rose to the very zenith like a majestic steep mountain, and His divine head shone in the sky like a distant sun...

Sabbath day. As usual, no one follows it. Nobody but our family. Sinners everywhere gather in crowds and indulge in fun. Men, women, girls, boys - everyone drinks wine, fights, dances, gambles, laughs, shouts, sings. And do all sorts of other nasty things...

Received the Mad Prophet today. He is a good man, and, in my opinion, his mind is much better than his reputation. He received this nickname a very long time ago and completely undeservedly, since he simply makes predictions, and does not prophesy. He doesn't claim to be. He makes his predictions based on history and statistics...

The first day of the fourth month of the year 747 from the beginning of the world. Today I am 60 years old, for I was born in the year 687 from the beginning of the world. My relatives came to me and begged me to marry, so that our family would not be cut off. I am still young to take such care upon myself, although I know that my father Enoch, and my grandfather Jared, and my great-grandfather Maleleel, and great-great-grandfather Cainan, all entered into marriage at the age that I reached on this day ...

Another discovery. Once I noticed that William McKinley looked very sick. This is the very first lion, and from the very beginning I became very attached to him. I examined the poor man, looking for the cause of his ailment, and found that he had an unchewed head of cabbage stuck in his throat. I couldn't get it out, so I took a broom stick and pushed it in...

... Love, peace, peace, endless quiet joy - this is how we knew life in the Garden of Eden. Living was a pleasure. The passing time left no traces - no suffering, no decrepitude; sickness, sorrow, worries had no place in Eden. They hid behind its fence, but they could not penetrate it ...

I'm almost a day old. I showed up yesterday. So, anyway, it seems to me. And, probably, this is exactly so, because, if it was the day before yesterday, I did not exist then, otherwise I would remember it. It is possible, however, that I simply did not notice when it was the day before yesterday, although it was ...

This new creature with long hair is very annoying to me. It sticks out in front of my eyes all the time and follows me on my heels. I don't like it at all: I'm not used to society. Go to other animals...

Dagestanis - a term for peoples who originally live in Dagestan. There are about 30 peoples and ethnographic groups in Dagestan. In addition to Russians, Azerbaijanis and Chechens, who make up a large proportion of the population of the republic, these are Avars, Dargins, Kumti, Lezgins, Laks, Tabasarans, Nogais, Rutuls, Aguls, Tats, and others.

Circassians (self-designation - Adyge) - people in Karachay-Cherkessia. In Turkey and other countries of Western Asia, Circassians are also called all immigrants from the North. Caucasus. Believers are Sunni Muslims. The Kabardino-Circassian language belongs to the Caucasian (Iberian-Caucasian) languages (Abkhazian-Adyghe group). Writing based on the Russian alphabet.

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