There is a village with a unique name, Forty Tatars (Keturiasdešimt Totorių), located int the territory of Vilnius District Municipality, 16 kilometers south-west if Vilnius. This is one of the first settlements of Lithuanian Tatars formed next to the Vokė River. The settlement most probably was set up in the late 14th century when the defeated khan Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde arrived in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with his remaining followers. Forty Tatars village originated from a camp of Tatar soldiers, later it grew into an estate village. The village bears an exceptional name, the only one in Lithuania; while legends and stories about the emergence of this village are no less unique. One legend has it that, in the old times, a “king”of Lithuania gave some land to Tatars as a gift and then allowed polygamy among them for their number to increase sooner.
Another story holds that, first, four rittmeiters settled in Forty Tatars village, namely, Sobol, Lashkutis, Bairash and Tygush. The letter story is related to surnames of families residing in Forty Tatars village as of old: the families of linked to Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas, whereas the second one is of genealogical origin. Several more legends about the emergence of the village are common to all Turkoman peoples.
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