Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 22, November, 1878Various
History
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 22, November, 1878
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
After a little time the king sent for Naznai again, and said to him, "My
dear son-in-law, Hero Naznai, three _narts_ [giants] have invaded my
kingdom and are harassing my people with their raids: to-morrow you must
go out against them." Again Naznai's heart sank within him, and he ran
home. At midnight he fled a second time from the city, took refuge in
the same forest as before, and, climbing up the very same tree, went to
sleep. When it began to grow light he looked down, and there were the
three narts, who, having hoppled their horses and turned them out to
graze, were themselves resting under the tree. Naznai's soul went down
into his very toes: he almost fell from the tree in a swoon. Suddenly
one of the narts said to another, "Now that the king has in his service
the hero Naznai, who kills five hundred at a blow, we must be more
careful than we have been, and not turn our horses out in this way to
graze."--"We have never been afraid of any living thing yet," rejoined
the other: "are we going to let him scare us?" This led to a dispute
which ended in a quarrel, and the three narts all killed one another.
Then Naznai climbed down out of the tree, cut off their heads, stripped
them of their clothes and weapons, which he loaded upon two of their
horses, and, mounting the third, rode back to the city. Throwing down
the heads before the king, he said, "Then those are your narts? We
should have called them orphan children in our Daghestan. What was the
use of sending a man after them? Women would have done as well." The
king was surprised, so were all the people.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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