There once lived a man called Näsni who was very fearful. He was most afraid of flies. When a fly flew by, he hid under a blanket, he was so afraid.

One time, however, Näsni had a tummy ache and had to go to the toilet. But it was outside the house and there were lots of flies there. So Näsni took his sabre with him. He stepped outside the house and waved it wildly in the air. And just imagine: He hit three flies so that they fell to the ground dead. Näsni looked at the dead flies and said to himself: "I've killed three flies at once, I'm a hero! Surely I could kill the giant Narten too!"

He went to the blacksmith and had the following written on his sabre: "This is the sabre of Näsni, who killed sixty-three Narten."

Näsni hung the sabre around his neck, took a bag of flour and set off into the world to show everyone that he was a hero.

He walked long and short and came to a ravine where there was a pear tree. "I want to rest here," thought Näsni. He put bags of flour on the ground, covered it with earth and fell asleep.

Seven Narten lived in the ravine, they were giants. "Who is sleeping under our tree?" they asked.

The bravest of the giants went closer and looked at the sleeping man. He saw the sabre and read: "This is the sabre of Näsni, who has slain sixty-three Narten." Full of fear, the Narten wanted to sneak away, but Näsni woke up. He saw the seven giants, jumped up and shouted: "Wait, I want to show you how strong I am!". He took his sabre, raised it in the air and stamped his foot firmly on the ground where the bag of flour was hidden, sending the flour flying in all directions.

"Look," cried Näsni, "I am so strong that the earth turns to dust when I step on it."

The giants were amazed and finally said: "We have never seen anyone as strong as you. Please stay with our people. You can marry our sister and get half of our wealth."

Näsni agreed. The Narten built him a house and Näsni moved in with the Narten sister and lived happily.

One day, a rhinoceros appeared in the forest near the Narten village. It was so dangerous that it even killed people.

"We have to catch it," said the Narten and fetched Näsni to go hunting with them. Näsni didn't want to at first, but his wife sent him off and so he crept after the giants. In the forest, he climbed the first tree to hide there. But the rhinoceros was hiding under this very tree. The rhinoceros fled from the giants through the forest to his tree and hit it on the trunk with his horn. Näsni fell down in fright, directly onto the rhinoceros and held on to its horn. Startled, the rhino jumped towards the village with Näsni on his back.

The giants saw the two coming, shot the rhino dead and asked: "Why are you sitting on the rhino?"

"I wanted to tame it," said Näsni, "but unfortunately you killed it."

He pretended to be offended, but in truth his legs were trembling with fear.

Not long afterwards, strange soldiers came and wanted to attack the giants.

"Get Näsni," said the giants, "he should fight with us!".

Näsni didn't feel like it, but his wife sent him off. So Näsni secretly sneaked to the horses to escape. But he wasn't very good at riding, so he chose the oldest horse. He mounted it and rode off. When the horse heard the guns firing, it neighed loudly and leapt towards the enemy at lightning speed. Näsni tried to hold on to a tree, but the horse was so fast that he pulled the tree down with him. Together with the tree, the horse ran down all the enemies, causing them to flee and never come back.

Näsni was led into the village with cheers and everyone told of his heroic deeds. The sword still hangs there in his hut. If you don't believe it, you can go and have a look.

Fassung Djamila Jaenike, nach: A. Dirr, Kaukasische Maerchen, Jena 1922, englische Fassung Lysander Jaenike © Mutabor Märchenstiftung