THE FOUNDATION OF BAKHCHISARAY
Once the son of Khan Mengli Giray went hunting.
He came down from the castle to the valley. The forests full of game spread right the outside of the city walls dense.
It turned to be a good day for hunting. Hounds and greyhounds were hunted a lof of foxes, hares and even three wild goats. But Khan's son wanted to be alone.
He sent the servants with prey in the fortress. He crawled into the thicket, jumped off his horse and sat down on a stump by Churuk-Su river. The tops of the trees, gilded by the setting sun, reflected in the water. Only the sound of the river that ran over the stones, broke the silence. Suddenly, a rustle appeared on the other side of the river. A snake crawled out quickly from the coastal bush. It pursued the other snake.
The mortal combat ensued. The twining snakes, having sharp teeth, started to tear each their bodies to pieces. The battle lasted long. One snake, all bitten, exhausted, stopped struggling and lifeless lowered its head. The third snake went out in hurry of the thicket to the battlefield through the thick grass. It threw itself on the winner - began a new bloody massacre. Ring snake bodies flashed in the grass, illuminated by the sun. It was impossible to keep track of snakes. In the heat of combat, one snake crawled away from the shore and disappeared behind a wall of bushes. The evil hiss and crackle of twigs came from there.
The Khan’s Son kept his eyes on defeated snake. He thought about his father, who is now with his army fought with the Golden Horde. There was a battle between the Golden Horde and Crimeans, somewhere far away from the Crimea, behind the the river Ugra. Who would overcome in it?
For a moment, the young Khan imagined, that one of the brave snakes was his father Mengli Giray, who couldn’t get up no more as the defeated snake. The young Khan noticed after some time, that the snake moved, endeavor to raise its head. With great difficulty it succeeded. Slowly it crawled to the river and plunged into it.
The young Khan could not believe to his eyes: after a certain moment, the snake began to come alive, squirming faster and faster. When it crawled ashore, even traces of the wounds had dissapeared. Then the snake again plunged into the water, quickly swam across the river and disappeared into the bushes, closed to the amuzed man.
Mengli Giray’s son was rejoiced. That wa a happy sign! They were destined to rise! They still come to life as that snake. He mounted his horse and rushed into the fortress. Mengli Giray Khan, who has returned to Crimea with the victory, was already in the fortress waiting for his son.
The young Khan told to his father about what he had seen at the river. The senior Khan also hurried to share the story of his win over Golden Horde’s Ahmad Khan, whose army was broken in the capital of the Horde, and that the most difficult fight was by the river.
Mengli Giray was impressed by the son’s story. The Khan ordered then to build a palace of unprecedented beauty, in the place where seized in deadly battle two snakes.
His retainers got settled around the palace. So there Bakhchisaray was founded.
The Khan ordered to carve a coat of arms on the palace, with two interlaced snakes in the battle. Mengli Khan Giray was a wise and brave person.