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eldest wife calmed him down, and he fell asleep again. He slept for seven days and seven nights.
Then all of a sudden he shouted, and screamed, and shrieked!
The grey stallion leaned against the yurt then. “I think I’ll tie him in a different spot,”
said Dudar-kys and stepped out of the yurt. She changed into a man’s clothes, mounted her
horse, and took her bow and arrows.
The grey stallion said to her, “Close your eyes, and don’t open them for three days and
three nights!” He leapt all the way to the skies. He flew for three days and three nights. On the
fourth day he landed. The girl opened her eyes.
“Take my saddle off,” said the grey stallion.
She undid his saddle-girth, and the saddle came off together with the horse-hide. The
grey stallion rolled on the ground, munched on some grass, and turned the same as before. He
galloped across the steppe. In the distance he spied a lone rider. He hurried back to the girl and
said, “Saddle me up, let’s go!”
They caught up with the rider. Dudar-kys said hello to him.
“Who are you?” asked the young rider.
“I’m a son of a bey. I’m hunting here.”
“Well, let’s swear to be brothers to each other: I’m the eldest, you—the youngest.”
So they started hunting together. Dudar-kyz shot an arrow, and with that single arrow she
killed two wild asses, her sworn brother by the name of Er-tostik—just one. They brought the
carcasses to his home.
Er-tostik’s mother asked him, “Who’s that with you?”
“Mother, this is my sworn brother. He must be stronger than me: I killed one wild ass,
and he—two in a single shot,” answered Er-tostik.
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