Xinjiang Folk Tales: CowHerd Wasset

A long time ago, there was a child named Seth who lost his parents and became an orphan at the age of seven. He had no brothers, and the distant relatives had no pity for him, did not regard Seth as brothers at all, and did not give any help. Seth was desperate and had to beg for a living.

One day, a Bayi saw Seth wandering around, and he was agonizing over the childlessness under his knees, thinking that this child could be a helper, so he led Seth home, dressed him, and let him eat. But Bayi's wife was a miserly, harsh woman, who fed the child leftovers, dressed in old clothes, and let him work all year round.

In the summer, just after dawn, as soon as the dodo called, he had to get up and drive a group of two-year-old calves to graze in the pasture. The calf was bitten by the cow fly and ran around, and Seth, in order to catch up with the running calf, had wooden thorns and branches stuck in the soles of his feet, and blood flowed from the wound outward. Despite this, a few calves could not catch up and ran away to find their mothers. At dusk, he was beaten up by Bayi with a stick. Seth was in tears and had to look for calves in the darkness. On the way, he met a lonely old man, and when the old man learned about his miserable situation, he said, "My child, you are too tired, you can sit here and rest for a while, and in a moment the sky will be light." Go find the calves after dawn. "After saying that, disappear into the night."

Seth thanked the white-bearded old man for those warm words and went to sleep under a bush. In the dream, he saw the old man again, and he begged the old man to think of a way for himself. The old man said to him, "Poor boy, I'll tell you a way." In the future you will drive the calves to this pasture to graze, and at noon you will bring them to this shade, and then you will say, 'My name is Seth, and your name is Bought', and your calves will lie down when they hear it. Then you can rest on your own, and after the fatigue is eliminated, you just have to say 'Seth' and the calves will stand up and walk freely. The old man finished speaking and blinked and disappeared.

The child woke up and realized that it was dawn and the sun was about to rise. So he looked for the direction where the calves ran away yesterday, and finally found it. He drove the calf back, and he wanted to try saying "Buy, Seth" didn't work. He swung the noose, drove the calves together, and said, "Your name is Now Mait." As soon as the words fell out, the calves immediately lay on the ground at the same time. After the child rested for a moment, he shouted "Seth, Seth" and knocked on the ground with the sleeve rod, and the calves jumped up.

January after month, year after year. The calves grew into big cattle, the big cattle gave birth to calves, and the livestock of Bayi were more and more, and the pastures could not be stuffed, and people called this bayi "cow bayi". As the children grew into lads, Bayi and his wife became worried: "If we die, who will inherit our livestock and wealth?" Instead of letting outsiders divide up, it is better to give the media. This Bayi was greedy for money, so he agreed with his mouth. But when he got half of Niu Bay's livestock, he said, "I promised your own child, but I didn't expect it to be a hired man working for your family." My daughter can't marry him. So he fled with his livestock to another place. Not long after, the elderly Cow Bayi and his old partner and children died one after another, leaving the livestock and property to Seth.

A cunning young man came from the tribes near the area, and he swore to Seth, "The Bayi who broke the covenant but took away many of your possessions, I know where he fled." You take me with you as your best man, and I can assist you in bringing back your woman.

Seth took some of the treasures left by Bay as gifts and rode on his horse. They walked day after day, all the way for a month, and finally they were not far from the woman's Awule. Then the sinister man said to Seth, "If we were not cunning with this Bay, he would not have easily married his daughter to you." We can't let them know that Niu Bayi and his wife are dead, and besides, you only say your name is Cowherd Baby. Otherwise, this Bayi will say that he can't marry his daughter to you and run away. So, let me pretend to be the only son of a cow to pass on to my brother's family, and you will call me 'the bridegroom' for the time being. We said to him, 'Our father' told us to come and marry him, and then we handed him a letter that read, 'I have given you my only son,'your true son-in-law—that I have passed on to my brother—and you will easily believe it."' After entering the cave room, isn't the woman yours? So the boy asked Seth to write a fake letter and stamp it with niubay's seal.

They came to the woman's house, Awule, and the groomsmen became the 'bridegroom'. Bayi read the letter from his relatives and had to hold a wedding. Before the wedding ceremony and the erection of the new felt room, the groom and groomsmen lived together in a separate room. On the day of the wedding, the groom was invited into the new felt room, and the bride price was moved in, and the final ceremony of the wedding was carried out. Seth was left alone in the separate room, troubled and irritated. Just then, the old man he had seen before came to his side: "Why are you sitting here?" Have you forgotten what I once taught you to say, 'Buy, Seth'? The old man's scolding made him wake up violently. Only then did he realize that he had done something wrong and had fallen for someone else's deception. He immediately ran to the new felt room, and looked in through the felt slit, and the others had already left, and the girl and the young man had just met and were embracing each other. Seth saw all this in the felt cracks and hurriedly shouted, "Buy!" In the blink of an eye, the girl and the young man hugged each other and froze there. The sisters-in-law, who lived nearby, heard their cries and rushed to them, and then immediately panicked and told Bayi what had happened in the new felt room. The girl's parents were also so frightened that they lost their claims.

When his daughter and son-in-law suddenly fell ill, Bayi was ashamed to tell others, so she asked Seth to invite the witch who lived nearby and said to him, "You and we are not outsiders, you are my son-in-law's closest groomsmen, don't let anyone know about this, and quietly invite her."

The witch came to Bayy Awul, recited the words along the way, finished the spell, wiped her face at Seth and said, "Good good fellow, I'm going to break your punishment, wait and see!" Seth had been waiting to see what the witch was capable of. So the witch, whether it was Bayi, or the cunning boy, the witch all swore an oath and asked for forgiveness. Seth listened and let them all regain their freedom. Bayi held a thirty-day celebration and forty-day feast for Seth and his daughter, and married her daughter to the cowherd Vaset to send them blessings.

Seth returned to the tribe and lived a happy life, fulfilling his wishes