The next morning everything turned out as she had imagined.
Here were the three of them - in the midst of the celebration of the spring holiday. Ataq had no idea that Saule had planned a surprise.
The people who were gathering there were shepherds like themselves.
Several yurts were set up close together in a row and beside each of them was a qazan in which holiday food was prepared.
The scene in front of her reminded her of scenes from the novel Abai. The most unusual thing that grabbed Saule's attention was the 'Alty Bakan' - a kind of national swing.
The sight of a jigit and a girl rocking together on this swing was very romantic.
Saule walked toward the Alty Bakan area. From here she continued to watch people go out of one yurt and into another.
Everyone was in a fine mood. The girl's eyes searched for Ataq among the groups of people.
Suddenly she noticed a large crowd; some were holding dombras and others had musical instruments unfamiliar to her.
Saule hurried towards the caravan in which they had arrived... She didn't want to miss the music contest, which was crowded with people.
Ataq was watching the men's wrestling competitions that were being held in the yurts. Standing with the fans, he watched the men compete, wrestling to win various prizes.
He himself wanted to wrestle and win a prize, but he was waiting for Saule to appear. She hadn't shown up yet.
The referee called for a jigit who was ready to come to the carpet to compete with the winner for the grand prize of today's tournament - a horse. With his right hand he raised the hand of the three-time winner who, according to the rules of the game, would take the trophy with his fourth victory on the mat. But if his attempt failed, then the wrestler who defeated this three-time champion would get the horse.
Ataq thought it was a shame that Saule wouldn't see this match, but he couldn't wait any longer, and so he confidently went over to the carpet.
This pumped-up wrestler who was proudly bouncing around and showing his 'game' with muscles was annoying Ataq. He was making noises like a squealing wild boar.
At the judge's signal, Ataq calmly approached his opponent and suddenly out of the blue threw him down.
It became very quiet: The fans fell silent in surprise.
Usually Ataq liked to fight for a long time, gradually showing the opponent his own technical mistakes. But that wouldn't do for this boastful winner, because a true jigit would never act like such a show-off. An embarrassing loss would have to serve as punishment.
