EP. 10 - KAZAKH FAIRYTALE: FEMALE KHANATE
The Female Khanate
read by Saltanat Nauruz
Long ago, when the earth, the sky, the people, and customs were all different from today, there existed a great khanate on earth. It was a unique khanate, one that might never be seen again.
In this khanate, the ruler was a woman. The viziers were women too.
The Khan was named Zanai, and she resided in the city of Samiram. This city was extraordinary, unlike any present-day city. It stood not on the ground but high above it on thirty-seven thousand pillars. No one could enter it at will, perhaps the reason it endured so long. There were men in the city, but few. They stayed indoors, locked up, caring for the household and nursing small children - though not all children, but only boys, for all the girls were gathered in one place and lived in the palace of Khan Zanai until they grew up.Women managed everything: they held councils, judged the people, went to war, and hunted. All newborn girls were kept, while boys were collected and laid in a row, with only one in a hundred left alive; the rest were thrown down to wolves, tigers, lions, and birds of prey to be torn to pieces. An old, blind woman chose the fortunate boy, guided by fate's hand rather than her own will.
When the time came for Zanai herself to give birth, the old blind woman wept. She wept as the autumn sky sheds its blue coat and puts on a grey one, crying over the earth, swelling rivers and filling lakes, yet the tears above seemed endless. The old woman cried rivers of tears as Zanai's labor approached, her sorrow signaling great misfortune for the female khanate.
The people gathered around the weeping woman, asking why she cried. She declared, "Great sorrow looms over us; our Khan Zanai will bear a boy, and this newborn will doom our female khanate." The old woman cried so much that she melted away, leaving only a wet spot that soon dried under the sun.
Zanai and all the women pondered deeply. A council of elders deliberated for thirty-seven days and nights but found no solution. Then the young council thought for another thirty-seven days and nights, yet they too found no answer.
Finally, they gathered the smallest children, and the tiniest girl, only two hand palms tall from the ground, spoke to Zanai and the people: "Why are you so sad? When Zanai gives birth to the boy, throw him down to the wolves, lions, tigers, and birds of prey to be torn to pieces. Do not place him in the row for fate to decide whether he lives." Now that They found out how easy it was to get rid of the evil doom Her words brought relief and joy to the city, except for Zanai, who became even more sorrowful.
the unfortunate mother to be, thought even more than before, sitting on the carpet of gold she couldn’t raise her eyes at the people.Then they guessed what snake was eating the khan's heart
Realizing Zanai's heartache, they assigned two most fierce and vigilant guards to watch over her childbirth, locking her in her palace. They ordered them to keep a strict watch, so that Zanai, for the sake of her maternal heart, would not ruin the khanate. Zanai suffered for a long time, her body wracked with the pain of approaching birth. The sun had risen and set twice.
Then Zanai, the unfortunate mother to be, spoke to her watchful maid guards: "I will give you as much gold as you can carry with you, as many colored robes as you can lay on the ground to your houses....please, I beg you, Save my son. - No! Your grace, We cannot do that, - answered sharp-eyed bailiffs. - I'll let you choose your husbands according to your own choice, not by lottery, but whomever you want. If you wish I will let you take husbands from other wives, but save my child," Zanai begged, her tears streaming down. "No! My lady, We cannot do that, - answered the sharp-eyed maids. But when Only three hours were left before the birth. Zanai was approached by her watchful maidens. Zanai's heart was filled with joy. They began to whisper: "We don't want to take husbands from here," they said, "but give us husbands from those folk who ride down the stairs, who are forbidden from our khanate.
When she heard the voice of the newborn in her last agony, she agreed and said to the wicked maidens: "Take your husbands from among those folk who walk below, but save my child. The guards took the newborn boy, hid him, and presented a swapped girl to Zanai. Then they went out to the people and said: "The blind old woman deceived you. That's why she died, because she had let her tongue turn to untruth in her old age. Zanai gave birth to a girl, not a boy. Here she is, this newborn.Joy and celebration spread throughout the entire city, across the whole women's khanate. Gifts for the birth were brought from all directions to the khan: adrasses, silk fabrics, gold, sugar, silver and naan bread. Horses, sheep, and camels were driven to the khan, each type of livestock numbering a thousands. The sharp-eyed, cunning maidservants had already picked out husbands for themselves: two riders from the steppe, wearing black hats from which their eyes shone like stars behind night clouds, their robes embroidered with gold, and their horses adorned with precious stones from head to hoof. Ladders were lowered for them, and they were brought up into the city along with their decorated horses.Each day, the sun rose into the sky and each day, it descended behind the earth. Time flowed on steadily: days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years. The khan’s son grew up in the home of another mother, while the khan’s daughter, a foundling, also matured. Zanai found great solace in watching her son from afar, and the cunning, sharp-eyed maidservants were content with their husbands.
Ten years passed without any calamity over the khanate; no hint of trouble was detected from anywhere. Zanai and her sharp-eyed maidservants began to mock the old fortune-teller to themselves. The khan's son grew up to be the handsomest man in the city, named Iskander—the only such name in the entire city.
But then, dark clouds began to gather in the sky, hanging ominously over the city of the women’s khanate. A sinister spirit emanated from these black clouds. A great misfortune was felt in the steppe wind, and a heavy, bitter calamity arrived from an unexpected direction.
The men began to talk among themselves, whispering in hushed tones and casting sidelong glances at the women. Eventually, they all gathered in the town square, forming a large circle with Zanai’s son at the center. Then the men spoke. Though all of them talked, only one voice was truly heard. All heads were thinking, but it was Iskander’s head that thought for them all.
"We no longer wish to live by your order, old, womanly order," the men said to the women. "We don’t want your woman khan anymore. We have chosen a new khan, Khan Iskander. With the new khan comes a new era for us. Men will govern the people, men will go to war, men will hunt. We will choose our own wives. You women will take our places, go to the courtyards to tend to the children, cook our meat, and sew our robes." We will not allow our sons to be thrown down and torn to pieces by wolves, tigers, lions and birds of prey.
"Give us your helmets and iron hats, and take for yourselves the cast-iron pots and copper kumgans and qazans. Give us your sharp swords, long pikes, strong lassos, sturdy bows, and feathered arrows. You take the needles and shovels, pokers and spoons to stir in the cauldrons. If you won’t give them willingly, we will take them by force. Come out, all you women, and fight us. Whoever’s strength prevails will rule."
The women's army gathered, and the khan herself girded on her sword. They fought the men for thirty-seven days and thirty-seven nights. The streets and squares were awash with blood, and the women prevailed over the men. The women encircled the men with a triple iron chain, binding their khan from head to toe with hair lassos. A court was assembled to judge the rebellious men, especially the one who had brought grief to the khanate, the one who had stood in the center of the circle, and fought the fiercest against the women.
Iskander was sentenced to death, a cruel and merciless execution designed to strike fear into anyone who witnessed it. The judges decreed that his heart would be carved out with a crooked, sharp knife and displayed high above the city on a long pike. But before that to skin him alive, and to remove his skin slowly, every hour one palm at a time The executioner was appointed none other than Zanai herself.They brought Iskander to a high platform where everyone in the city could see. The intent was for all to witness the brutal execution and rejoice the victory.
Zanai approached the condemned man. She looked at him but saw nothing. She did not see her unfortunate son, nor the people gathered around, nor her city, nor the khan’s court, nor even the sky. The sun did not blind her eyes. Everything before her was veiled in mist of tears. Tears flowed in two wide rivers down her cheeks, streaming westward to the distant sea surrounded by sands.
It was hard for a mother to raise the curved, sharp knife against her own child. Her hand felt as if it were shackled in iron. Zanai then spoke to her people, her voice trembling with confession and remorse.
"I deceived you," she began, her voice breaking. "I have ruined myself and our entire women's khanate. My loyal servants, the sharp-eyed guard maidens, aided me in this. I bore a son, not a daughter, and hid him from you. Here he is, my son. The blind old woman spoke the truth, and we laughed at her. It is easier for me to raise this knife against myself and destroy the khanate than to strike my own son with it. My own flesh and blood... I am guilty, so let me be the first to perish."
With those words, Zanai plunged the sharpened knife into her chest, straight into the center of her heart. She fell dead onto her golden-embroidered carpet. The sky trembled and darkened with black clouds, and the tall pillars of the city shook. As one, all the women sighed, while the men rejoiced. Fear gripped the women, and they fled to their homes, hiding in terror and abandoning their weapons in the square.
The men picked up these weapons, placed heavy locks on the doors of the houses where the women had hidden, and began to rule the city in their own wicked way.
The end
