KAZAKHFILM 1976
THE GOLDEN BITA
screenwriters K. Tanayev, Bulat Omarov
director Bulat Omarov art director G. Merkasimov
musical designer P. Novitskiy camera S. Artyomov, sound K. Kusayev
ass. director L. Radionova ass. camera N. Fomenko ass. monstage R. Belyakova
painters M. Muhametkarimov, Ye. Kim, B. Kalistratov, G. Bekishev
animators G. Tashranova, B. Shalbayev, G. Dusenko
script editor B. Nugerbekov production director B. Tagayev
Long ago, there lived in the steppe an old man and his grandson,
and they had a wolfhound who was their faithful friend.
They tended to their cattle
and knew not that the black sands were home to a cunning witch named Mystan.
Her dream was to take over the whole world and turn it into a desert.
Her designs could be thwarted only by true friendship,
a brave heart and the golden bita.
The steppe lived in peace.
But one day...
Like an insatiable boa constrictor
the desert swallowed up the flowering land.
Mystan rejoiced,
but it was not to be -
From generation to generation,
the people passed along the magic bita
and cherished it like the apple of their eye.
Old Chaban cherished it too,
and now its hour had come.
Mystan decided to obtain the bita through trickery.
With sweet sounds she bewitched the boy.
The wolfhound felt that something was off about the wondrous melody,
but the boy did not believe his friend.
So the old man lost the bita,
and with it,
dropped also the staff of life from his hands.
The boy remembered the words of his grandfather that in evil hands,
the golden bita would turn into a black stone.
If the bat were not saved that same day,
Mystan would take away all its remaining power.
Now the boy had to find a foal
who would not look away, nor lower his head.
And the foal turned into a tulpar, a swift stallion.
Faster than the wind he carried the boy into Mystan's domain
and helped save the bita.
The magic tulpar raised barriers one after another,
but Mystan did not fall behind.
The stallion's strength was fading.
Only the golden bita could save the boy,
but it had only enough magical power remaining for one more wish.
If the boy used it to save himself,
the steppe would have forever remained beneath the sands.
Then the boy remembered his faithful wolfhound
and sent the tulpar after him.
Thus was Mystan defeated.
And the golden bita
gave up its magical power to the earth
and the steppe became even more beautiful,
and people lived in it better than before.
THE END (subs by Niffiwan - animatsiya.net)