The white fox had changed into a white hare deft and nimble in action. Although the white hare avoided being killed by Chubak, Almambet had kept a close on its retreating way. When the Khitan prince aimed his arrow carefully at the hare, the hare galloped across the mountain slope like a shot arrow and vanished once again. Immediately after that, the hare burst upon the sight of Manas. No sooner had Manas sighted such a mutant of the evil monster than he began to ride fast and chase after it. The magical horse named Ak-kula did its utmost to pursue and successfully traversed a total of three deep valleys. The horse lost the trace of the hare so that the horse had to chase by instinct. Unfortunately, the try made by Manas and his magical horse did not pay off finally. The white hare disappeared before their eyes at last. In fact, the hare had already turned into a rat lurking secretly on the ground shortly before the magical horse caught up with it.
All the four heroes felt terribly sorry for failing in catching the cunning animal. After taking a short break, Almambet went on encouraging other
Legend of Manas
heroes not to give up.
As the rat ran all in a fluster, it bumped into another hero named Serhaq. Hardly had it seen the fierce countenance of Serhaq when the rat began to let out a sigh. “The tough guy must be smartest throughout the world. I have nothing on him. I will be absolutely done for if I fall into his hands,” the rat thought. The rat kept trembling with great fear. While the rat made its getaway across the desert, it bumped into Chubak once again. However, the reckless warrior thought nothing but catching the sly animal. It never came to him that the animal was adept at changing. The rat continued running out of great joy until he came face to face with Manas and his magical horse. When the magical horse tried to tread on the rat with its hooves, Manas almost fell down from the horseback. In order to find a way out, the rat changed into a tortoise and a serpent in succession. “How can you think that you can scare the hell out of me?” Manas exclaimed while trying to catch the monster. Manas thrust his spear at the head of the serpent at full tilt without hesitation. All of a sudden, a hedgehog substituted for a serpent-liked monster. The hedgehog huddled itself up into a ball in front of the horse, seeking a chance to flee away. Manas flew into a rage because he was fed up with such a deceitful trick. He set out to think about the best way to deal with the wicked animal.
In order to further muster up strength, Manas cried out repeatedly: “Manas! Manas! Manas!” The loud cries compelled the evil monster to come out in its true colors. Manas vigorously waved his spear which moved faster and faster. Finally, it stab the beast on the waist and all its ribs were completely broken because of the forcible prick. After losing all the physical strength, the fox flopped onto the ground finally. On top of that, Manas used his spear to lift up the dead fox. Almambet was overjoyed to see that the fox was killed after all the warriors pegged away long enough at the painstaking hunt. On the occasion of much-awaited triumph, Almambet thought that other people’s misgivings and complaints towards him counted for little and were not worth making any issue of. The magnanimous prince with such an open mind was often likened to a vast expanse of grassland or a boundless ocean.
Just at that moment, a fierce wind gusted from the north. Owing to certain mysterious power related to such a violent gust of wind, the dead fox revived and began to run away once again. It turned out to be the trick of Konurbai. The cunning war warmonger expected that Almambet would
Legend of Manas
come. He practised the mysterious theurgy which would enable the dead fox to revive as long as a violent gust of wind blew over the animal’s fur.
After seeing the fox had come to, Manas was not confused at all. In his opinion, it was imperative that he kill the evil animal as soon as possible. As a result, he and his magical horse chased the animal without hesitation. Before the beast could play a trick, the spear of Manas had already pricked a hole in its heart. Such a sly fox taking on the role as a sentry lost its self for ever. The warriors were so happy that they clapped hands upon seeing the corpse of the animal. The fox’s hide could be made into a delicate work of art. So the Khitan prince asked Manas to present it to him as a gift.