‘It was king Ossounes’ who ruled the area once upon a time. He had tow ears shaped as that of ass! It was a top secret and the barbers who did the job of his hair-dressing were killed after the job to keep the secrecy. One barber soon after the job yelled in to an unused well that ‘the king has ass ears’ before he could be killed. The well kept on repeating the words in loud echo. King and his cronies filled the well with rubbles to silence it, but the water from the well over-flowed and flooded the entire empire! This lake Issyk Kul was born and beneath the lake are there the palace and all the treasures the king kept.
Its water is crystal-clear but a bit salty when scooped in the palm of the hand it appears to have a slightly bluish tinge (the reason for this lake appear turquoise in a cloudless day. Many rivers and streams flow in to this lake (altogether 118 among them Djyrgalan and Tyrup are major ones) but there is no outlet from the lake, There are many underwater ground springs which pumps hot ground water in to this lake; so that this lake is always warm (it doesn’t freezes even in the harshest winter). This phenomenon is responsible for controlling the microclimate of the valley where winter less cold and summer less hot...
The water is here described as having the same salinity as sea water.