Uzbek folktales

The Eagles

As they say, once there lived a prince, a bear, a fox and an eagle in a cave at the foot of a mountain. The eagle was the king of all the eagles in the world. The fox, too, was the king of all the foxes in the world and the bear was the king of all the bears in the world.

One day the fox and the eagle went to a city. The king of that city had a beautiful daughter. The fox, walking around, happened to see the princess and when he returned to the cave, he described her so well to the prince, that he fall in love with the king's daughter without having seen her, and he became very unhappy. Then the eagle, the bear and the fox asked him why he was so sad. The prince said: "If you can take me to the king's daughter, then I'll be happy." The eagle got up from his place and said: "Oh, my prince, don't worry about it, I and the fox, both of us will accomplish this task." The prince was very happy. The fox and the eagle came to the city. The fox went inside the king's palace and swayed his tail in front of the princess. The eagle, however, was watching from above the princess' portico. The princess saw the fox and chased him away, but the fox tricked the princess and slowly made her come out (on the street). At that moment, the eagle flew down from sky, grabbed the princess, flew away with her and brought her to the prince. The fox also came back soon. Then they married the princess to the prince. The prince and the princess started to live a happy life. They say that everyday they left the princess in the cave and, assigning the bear as her watchman(guard), they went into the forest to hunt. Soon the princess' father, the king, had announcements made in the city, but no one could find his daughter. Then an old witch came and said: "My king, I'll find your daughter, and what will you give me as a gift?" The king said: "Whatever you desire from me, I 'll make it possible".

Then the old woman took a horse, which was able to fly, and left. The old woman was riding on the flying horse, and finally came to the forest in front of the cave in which the princess lived. The witch hid her horse inside the forest and came to the princess as a beggar. At that moment, the prince, the eagle, and the fox happened to return. The old woman tricked them: "I am a beggar, I have no money nor wealth, please take me in with you and let me cook your food," she pleaded. The prince felt sorry for her and took her into the cave. Every day the old woman and the princess stayed in the cave, while the prince (and the animals) went hunting. One day the old woman took the princess outside to show her the forest. There the old woman showed her the horse, which was able to fly, and she said: "Well, let's try to mount this horse!" She made the princess mount the horse and after she had mounted the horse herself, she brought the princess back to her father. But the princess was very unhappy, because she had been separated from the prince.

In the evening, when the prince, the bear, the fox and the eagle returned from hunting, they discovered that the princess and the old woman were not there. The prince was again unhappy and the eagle and the fox brought her back to the prince in the same way as before. Again they started to live a plentiful life.

When the king realized that his daughter had again disappeared, he immediately called all his soldiers to duty. The old witch showed them the way and the king came with all his soldiers to the cave and he shouted: "Hey, Prince! Why did you steal my daughter? Well, we will start a war, so call your soldiers!" While the prince was standing there, not knowing what to do, the bear just howled once, and all the bears in the world gathered and were standing in rows on one side, and the fox also howled once, and all the foxes in the world gathered, came and lined up at the other side. However, when the eagle shouted just once, then all the eagles in the world came with rocks they had picked up from the mountains and they stood lined up on a hill.

Then the king said to his minister pointing at the bears and the foxes: "You see he has few soldiers, so let's start the fight." The minister was a wise man. When he looked up the hill and saw the eagles, his heart dropped. He turned to the king and said: "My King,, look above you! Do you see them? We will not fight, we will make a truce agreement with the prince."

The king realized his situation and immediately concluded a truce with the prince. He took him as his son-in-law to his own country and after that all of them reached their goals and wishes...