Pkharmat (Ingush Variant)

From Above Abyss by Issa Kodzoyev

(This variant is different from Chechen variants and is influenced by Islam. It has some similarity with the myth about Amiran.)

Satanic jinns took away fire from the earth, locked it in a cave in a mountain, and put a heavy stone there. People began to freeze and die. Beasts stopped fearing people, people became their victims. Then, Pkharmat went to the mountain, took the stone away, and returned fire to people. Because of that, jinns chained Pkharmat to the mountain. A huge bird with an iron beak came to him. It tore away the hero's side and pecked his liver, causing him terrible pain. Pkharmat strived and his chains clattered. Ingushs stormed the mountain several times in order to release their hero. However, jinns made a thick fog in order to make our people to lose their way. Pkharmat's wounds ached and he suffered from thirst. The hero's fiancée Toi went to the mountain and took her dog Pursha. She almost reached the mountain top. Suddenly, she saw that the water in the ladle "slept." When somebody sees "sleeping" water, his desire will be fulfilled. Toi asked: "Let the three of us (Pkharmat, I, and Pursha) become stones so that my beloved would not suffer." It happened so. There, Pharmat is lying on his back, Toi is standing at the left, and Pursh is sitting at her feet. At the holy Friday night, they become living. There were people who heard how Toi called her beloved one, how Pkharmat's chains clattered, and then how Pursha barked three times.