The Legend of the origin of music and poetry In ancient times, when, as Kazakhs say, «the goat was still tallies» not a single nation inhabiting the Earth knew what was a verse and what was a song. Life is a widow without verses and it is fruitless without songs. People lived without joy and laughter when they did not hear the recitative and regular rhythm of verses. There were no holidays and tois, merry and noisy assemblages in those times. People were gloomy, they were depressed because at the moment of sorrow they could not call on a magic song for help to dispel grief and encourage heart and soul. A man who at least once experienced trouble, was mournful for the whole life and died in grief because in those times song lived far from the land. In those times even the streams, running from the springs, streams with earthen banks, with clean rocky bottom didn’t babble. The forest didn’t make noise. When the sun solemnly rose and the beautiful steppe dawn was coming in. The birds didn’t sing; dead silence, heavily pressing the steppe, was broken by the wild wail of wind, and only the sky possessed song power and the song still was not closely linked with the earth’s nature.
At last, the beautiful, mysterious, powerful and magic song decided to leave her old dwelling and started on a journey to look around all the four corners of the  Universe.  Maybe,  the song bothered to stay uselessly in the seventh heaven, or it wished to fly above the wide steppe under the limitless blue dome, or it felt sorry for the people, lacking in joy and delight of art, mournful and sorrowful people and decided to be good to them - no one knows, but the song started on a flight. Depending on mood the song sometimes flew low above the earth, sometimes shot upwards, sometimes flew high up to the inaccessible sky. When the song flew low, the whole people, living in that land, distinctly heard all its melodies, tunes, kiuis, zhyrs and kept in mind and learned it by heart forever. Where the song flew higher, people heard only part of its treasures. And the people, above whose lands the song flew too high, were almost deprived of songs, verses and zhyrs.
They say, that the song flew low above the Kazakh steppe - this is the secret of generosity and wealth of Kazakh poetry.
M.Magauin.- from the book: Kazakh Musical Literature.- Alma-Ata, 1993