Legend about Akyrtas

At the end of the 19th century, the county governor, V. A Kallaur, was engaged in the collection of folk legends and traditions. He wrote: "The local Kirghiz legends about Akyrtas do not explain anything and rather have an ethnographic interest than a historical one." Here's what they say:

“In ancient times, the valleys of the Talas and Chu rivers represented two independent khanates. Chu was ruled by an elderly khan, Talas - a young beautiful maiden named Bakhmal.The son of the ruler of Chu, a young strong man, fell in love with this indescribable beauty of the princess. Matchmakers were sent - the princess refused. The old khan was indignant for this offense and sent to tell Bakhmali that he would take it by force for his son and, if necessary, go to war. The beauty did not give up.Then the old khan decided before the war to build a stone palace near the border of both possessions. And the border passed just along the ridge of the Alexander chain, from which a wide view of both valleys, separated by mountains, opened up. The son had to climb the ridge, take stones from it and throw them to the place of construction, which the father remained in charge.Letting his son go to the mountains, the old man knew that the village of Bakhmali was visible from there, and therefore strictly, strictly ordered his son not to look back to the south and not to look at Talas, where the proud beauty's dwelling was. Work started. A strong man, like small shards, threw huge stones from the mountain to his father at a distance of twenty versts.But his unfortunate day came, the young man could not resist, looked in the forbidden direction. There, the beautiful princess bathed in Talas ... The heart of a strong man trembled so much that he immediately weakened, not only to throw, he could not even lift a single stone from the ground ... That is why the construction of Akyrtas remained unfinished, as did not take place itself wedding with Bakhmal ... "

Folk legends are a centuries-old rich heritage of oral folk art and indicate a significant prescription of the construction of Akyrtas, information about which is completely intertwined with legends and fabulous fictions in the people's memory.

* Source: Minutes of meetings and reports of TKAL members. Historical and cultural monuments of Kazakhstan. "Turan" -2011