In the Northern part of Auliekol Lake (Burabai), between spurs of Kokshe and Temirtau, there is a beautiful gulf. In the middle of this gulf – there is a small rocky island – a pile of weathered granite formations. This rock is called Zhumbaktas, or Mysterious Stone, translated from Kazakh. Zhumbaktas is a “stone-mystery” or so called “Sphinx”, as well known as the “Girl-old woman”. Everything depends on imagination of the human. And if you have a look at the rock-island Zhumbaktas from different points, you will see the different pictures of it. From one point it looks like the profile of the old woman, on the other point it looks like a beautiful girl with her hair uncurling, and on the third point looks like USSR cartoon hero “Gena Crocodile” wearing a cap, and if you touch to it from the side of “Okzhetpes” sanatorium, then you can see the face of mysterious beast (Sphinks). One of the legends about Okzhetpes states that this is a captive Kalmyk that felt down from the top of Okzhetpes.

There is also another legend.

Once upon a time, there lived a very rich and strong ′Bay′ (landowner). He had many sons and the only one daughter. And she was beautiful and statuesque. She was also smart and a mistress of all trades. Parents doted upon her. The father wanted her to marry only a Khan or a ′Biy′ (judge). But one day a great ′Djighit′ (horseman) came to the ′aul′ (village) – he was beautiful in appearance and a sweet singer and master of playing dombra, the real sultan among Djighits. Both old and young, chokingly, spoke about the art of the guest. The Djighit and daughter of the Bay met and fell in love with each other at first sight. But will Bay ever agree to their marriage? Knowing that he won′t, the young decided to leave the aul for a distant place, far away, where spies of the Bay wouldn′t find them. They saddled two horses, and under cover of darkness fled the aul. It took many days and nights until they calmed down and decided that nothing threatens them.

These were neighborhoods of Burabay.

On the shore of lake Auliyekol, among fragrant greens, they put their shelter. Djighit built a boat and the young used to glide on the water. Later they found a beautiful bay in the northern part of the lake and started more and more frequently come here to rest under the canopy of young birches and firs. Is it because the bay is always in the shadow of the Burabay mountain or maybe the water here is special, but it′s so transparent that you can see the bottom of the lake and a blue-blue spring sky at the same time. Therefore our ancestors called this bay Kogildir koltyk (Blue Bay). Young lovers sailed here, enjoying the clear water, schools of fish, grace and faithfulness of swans. As an inseparable pair of swans themselves, they spent the happy days of their honeymoon.

Meanwhile, her brothers restlessly searched for their sister. The father, furious that his daughter ran away with a tribeless one-horse poor man, could not calm down and demanded to find the fugitives. His order was harsh — kill the kidnaper and return the daughter. Many days have passed, but the Bay′s trackers finally found the trail of the fugitives and almost caught them. The couple saw the trackers first and rushed to the boat. The pursuers, having lost them, were left with nothing, but were not going to just leave them alone. The order of the Bay was very strict, and they began to follow their victims. Knowing that the boat with the couple often comes into the bay, they settled in the shadow of the trees and waited. The young lovers were unaware of the treachery of the enemy. Once they sailed too close to the shore and brothers of the girl did not miss their chance. A well-aimed gray arrow pierced right into the heart of the lover. Djighit fell into the water, staining it with his blood. The girl, having lost her loved one, begged the setting sun and asked God to turn her into a stone, together with the boat built with the hands of her intended. The Almighty, seeing her sincere immeasurable grief, answered her prayer.

Later, our ancestors called this rock Zhumbaktas.

And, indeed, this is a mysterious rock. If you look at the rock from one side it resembles a boat, and if you look from the other side – a real girl with hair fluttering in the wind.