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All the people in Kazakhstan know Aldar-Kose. They like to read and hear stories about him. In these stories Aldar-Kose is a gay man who could make a joke and who liked to laugh and liked when other people laughed. His friends knew him as an organizer of different celebrations. He wanted to make every week-day a holiday and he was always the first to laugh, dance and sing.
But on the other hand, he was a good friend to poor people, always ready to come to their help and to fool rich people. And to this day the people of Kazakhstan remember him and tell stories about him. Here is a story about Aldar-Kose.
One cold winter day Aldar-Kose wanted to go to town. As usual he went on horseback. Aldar-Kose was a tall man, thin and quick, with a light brown oval face and dark thick hair. His brown eyes were bright and gay. His clothes were old and poor. His coat did not warm him: it was old and thin and had seventy holes in it. A cold wind blew right in his face and made him very cold. Aldar-Kose's horse was slow, it was too old to hurry. Aldar-Kose was hungry, but if there was one thing which he wanted more than to eat, it was to have a good coat to make him warm. As he had nobody to speak to Aldar-Kose began to sing a song. It was a beautiful and very long song. It was about everything that Aldar-Kose saw around him: about the ground under his horse’s feet, about his horse slowly going on and on, about the birds flying high up in the cold grey sky and about a camp-fire which he wanted to see on his way to town. There was nothing around him—no woods, no rivers, no orchards, no villages, only fields and nothing but fields. Now there are many collective farms and large towns there, but at that time, long long ago, Aldar-Kose saw neither camps nor even tents on his way. He went on and on for a long time and never met a man and soon he began to think that he was the only man in that large country.
Time passed very slowly and suddenly Aldar-Kose saw something dark far in front of him. Soon Aldar-Kose saw that it was a man, also on horseback. The horse was a fine animal: quick and beautiful with long thin legs, nice dark brown eyes, a long tail and back and sides like silk. It carried a short thick man with a round face, small black eyes, rosy cheeks and thick red lips. The very minute he saw the man Aldar-Kose understood that the man was very rich. He wore very good clothes and had a warm coat on, a large hat decorated his head.
You remember, of course, that Aldar-Kose liked to fool rich people. So when he saw the man he said to himself, “Well, I shall certainly fool him. My name is not Aldar-Kose if I don’t.” And with these words he sat up straight on his horse, threw his thin coat open and began to sing a gay song.
When Aldar-Kose was near the man he saluted him and was going to pass him by. The rich man eyed Aldar-Kose over his horse’s head, his little black eyes jumped from Aldar-Kose to his open coat.
“Man, aren’t you cold in your thin coat, and open too?”
“Oh, no,” answered Aldar-Kose. “I cannot be cold in my coat.”
“But why not? It’s thin and it has a lot of holes in it. I think that you are singing to warm yourself.”
“Oh, no,” Aldar-Kose laughed back. “I’m singing because I am gay, and happy and warm.”
“I don’t understand. What kind of coat is it? What is it made of?”
“It’s a wonderful coat, one cannot be cold in it.”
“Oh, isn’t that fine! But why cannot one be cold in it?”
“You see,” said Aldar-Kose, “the wind comes in one hole and out another, that’s why I am always warm in it. As for you, I think you must be really cold in your thick coat.”
“Yes, of course I am cold, the weather is very cold today and I don’t understand how you can be warm in your coat,” laughed the man.
“You may laugh if you like, but it is really so,” answered Aldar-Kose dryly. “It’s a wonderful coat.”
The man looked open-mouthed at Aldar-Kose’s coat.
“I want a coat like that too. Where can I get one?” he asked.
“You can’t,” said Aldar-Kose, “there’s only one of this kind and I have got it.” And he told his horse to go on.
“Oh, no, no, don’t hurry,” said the rich man and there was honey in his words. “Let’s talk things over. I can give you some money for your coat.” He took a lot of money out of his pocket.
“No, I don’t want your money,” said Aldar-Kose. “But if I give you my coat I must have something to wear. Better give me your coat and your horse, then you may have your money.”
The rich fool was very happy. “Oh, thank you, thank you,” he repeated. “Don’t mention it,” answered Aldar-Kose.
He helped the rich man to get off his horse, gave his horse and his coat to the man and picked up his warm coat. Then he got on the man’s wonderful horse and hurried away.
That evening Aldar-Kose reported to his friends about his meeting with the rich man.
“Aren’t you afraid? Won’t you have any trouble with him?” his friends asked him.
“The rich man will want to pay you back for making him look a fool before the people.”
“Well, I don’t think he will tell anyone about it. Nobody likes a thing like that to happen to him,” said Aldar-Kose.
His friends nearly laughed their heads off when they thought of the rich man and his wonderful coat.