– And it’s me who is the most useful! – mooed the calf. I feed the humans. Everyone needs my milk!
– No, I am the most useful! – bleated the lamb. – Humans make all their clothes from my wool…
– Well, I am the most clean! And the humans love me for it. – the little goat interrupted. – And they say that goats’ milk is the best medicine!
– You mean the best medicine apart from horses’ milk! – snorted the foal. – How can you forget our fresh saumal and kumys?
– You’re both wrong! The best milk comes from camels. It’s called shubat! – said the little camel. … More Kind Askar – a translation of some fairy-tales by the Kazakh author Bayangali Alimzhanov

‘Grandad! Ata! How did you even stay alive? How did you live to be a hundred in such good health and sound mind?’ my loved ones asked.

‘I’m surprised myself,’ I answered. ‘Probably the Almighty wanted you all to be born, and he had to keep me alive to drag me through the fire and ice of the godless people.’

– Bayangali Alimzhanov – A Hundred Years on the Steppe … More A Hundred Years on the Steppe – my translation of a novel by the Kazakh author Bayangali Alimzhanov