Once Badynoko and Sosruko, having not caught anything on the hunt, returned home. This was the only case, since this had never happened to them before. Suddenly, a wild goat ran out onto the path to them, the fur of which shone with unusual brilliance in the sun. Nobody has left the arrow of Badynoko, he aimed directly at the animal, and it fell.
This is how the plot of the Adyghe tale famously spun about how Badynoko defeated the one-eyed giant. The summary can be continued by the fact that when the pleased Badynoko approached the goat, she jumped up and ran away. Then the hunter again shot an arrow at her, and she fell again, and then fled. The same thing happened a third time. Then the hunter chased this goat, which suddenly disappeared in the courtyard of one of the houses of the Nart villages. Badynoko followed her into this courtyard.
How Badynoko defeated the one-eyed giant. World of fairy tales
The owner of the house turned out to be a one-armed man, he went to the hunter and introduced himself as Hagur. He recognized the glorious knight Badynoko, because it was he who defended the Country of the Narts from insidious chints. The overjoyed owner invited an honorary warrior to his house and ordered the slaughter of a bull. But Badynoko did not eat, and he turned around all night without sleep.
In the morning they brought him various dishes, but even then he refused food. Then the owner, enraged by such disrespectful behavior, went out to the guest with a drawn sword. Badynoko asked not to quarrel and said that he did not get out of his head a goat that he could not kill, because it constantly came to life, and this greatly saddens him. Hagur was surprised that such an insignificant event haunts him. And he wanted to tell the warrior his tragic story.
One-eyed monster
Then the tale “How Badynoko defeated the one-eyed giant” (a brief summary of it, to be more precise) continues with the fact that Hagur once had six brothers, and they heard about a place in the Black Gully where there is a lot of game. They went there and saw that at the foot of a high mountain lies a huge one-eyed giant and a cave nearby. He had fun throwing stones to the top of the mountain, and then they rolled down, and with his heels he threw them up. The brothers decided it was impolite to run away from him and went up to greet.
One-eyed, without ceremony, ordered them to cook him a cauldron of food from six fat tail sheep. But the men could not cope with this matter on time, and then the angry and hungry giant drove all the herds and brothers into his cave and blocked the entrance to it with a mighty stone. When he returned and rolled off the stone to kill the sheep, the brothers decided to run, but the giant easily caught and killed six brothers in front of the only surviving Hagur. Having prepared his own food, the giant fell asleep. Hagur constantly thought about his salvation and decided that he would not succeed in killing the monster, but if he poked out his only eye, he would have a chance to escape.
The rescue
He crept up to the giant and, drawing a sword, hit him in the eye. He cried out in pain and began to look for his offender, not finding him, he began to feel his every sheep and let him out to pasture. Hagur saw a long-haired goat among a herd of sheep and lay under his belly. The giant, feeling his back, pushed the animal out of the cave.
Is it not true that the plot of the fairy tale “How Badynoko defeated the one-eyed giant”, the summary of which is presented here, recalls in this moment the heroic deeds of Odysseus? This is how far folk legends and tales about the glory of brave warriors creep across the earth, and where is the truth, it doesn’t matter at all, the main thing is that each nation has its own Odysseus or Badynoko.
So, when the monster realized that he had lost, and the one he was looking for was free, he decided to outwit and give the fugitive a huge golden ring in which all his strength was enclosed. Hagur, barely putting it on his arm, thundered to them, and the giant immediately pursued the hero. Then Hagur had to chop off his own hand. So his story ended.
Revenge of Badynoko
But here the most interesting part begins in the story of how Badynoko defeated the one-eyed giant. The summary later tells how Badynoko Haguru vowed to avenge his brothers and bring the giant's head to it. Immediately the knight galloped to the Black Gully and saw a cave there, near the entrance of which a hearth was burning, in front of which the giant was resting, and in the distance a herd of his sheep was grazed.
Badynoko greeted the giant with warm words. And he, seeing his next sacrifice in him, ordered him to cook dinner with three fat sheep. Badynoko quickly caught three sheep and cooked food, but he began to eat alone.
The giant thought that this guest was strong and cunning, and this could end badly for him. He himself went, felt for the worst three sheep, as he was very greedy, cooked and ate them. So Badynoko and the one-eyed giant ate three sheep every day until they ran out.
Deadly battle
Then a real battle began, the giant started a game, who would drive someone into the ground. The giant drove Badynoko only ankle-deep. Badynoko coped with this much better, and the monster was knee-deep in the ground. The fair land did not let go of the giant’s feet, and then the courageous sled beheaded this monster with his sword, the body remained in place, but he brought Hagur his head and thereby fulfilled his oath. So in summary, Badynoko defeated the giant.
Hagur's daughter
Hagur, looking at his head with an empty eye socket, recognized the killer of his brothers. He hugged Badynoko and admitted that he had been waiting for such a sled that would be able to fight the giant, and when the fame of Badynoko reached him, he thought that he was the savior and the avenger. Haguro admitted that the goat that Badynoko shot three times was his daughter, on whose body there were traces of these arrows.
Having finished his story, Hagur went out, brought his beautiful daughter and, revealing her back, showed three scars from Badynoko's arrows. But the noble warrior said that there is nothing worthier and better than disinterested friendship, and added that he left his beautiful daughter to her so that she herself could find a husband for her heart. Then he said goodbye and added: "May your deeds be worthy of the song." Hagur replied that the brave Badynoko is the same sled that is worthy of worship. Since then, he began to glorify his name in his songs.
“How Badynoko defeated the one-eyed giant” - the book is so interesting that you can get great pleasure by reading it in the original and really feel the Adyghe folk epic and folklore.