There was one man, he had two wives. One day he got ready to go fishing. He asks his elder wife:
– What will you prepare for me as a gift? The elder wife says:
“I’ll prepare clothes from head to toe.” He also asks his younger wife:
– What will you cook for me? She says:
“I will prepare a child, the sun will rise on his forehead, a star will rise on the crown of his head, and the moon will rise on the back of his head—I will prepare such a child!”
The guy went fishing. In his absence, the woman gave birth. The elder wife said:
“If he loves a child, he must stop loving me.” I will kill my friend's child.
The friend came out, and the older wife threw her child into the water. The child swam downstream.
Below them, one old woman had a visit. The child hit that driver in the face. An old woman listens: a child’s cry can be heard from the river. She left the house, went down to the shore, approached the stop, and there, it turns out, the child was caught in the face... She took him in and began to raise him. He grew up and said to his named mother:
– Who will my father be?
- The old lady said:
“I caught you with your muzzle in a race; your father has a house above me on the river.” Go to your father,” he says, “you will reach his house, his eldest wife will feed you - don’t eat.” Your father's youngest wife is your mother. Your mother will cook and eat. When it gets dark, they go to bed, they will tell you: Lie down on good skin - don’t lie down. Lie down next to your mother. Your father will say: “Tell a story.” Tell me this: A long time ago, one man, getting ready to go fishing, said to his eldest wife: What will you cook? The elder wife said: I will prepare the clothes. He said to his younger wife: What are you going to cook? The younger one said: I will prepare the child. Tell me such a tale.
The child went to his mother. I reached her house. When he arrived, the eldest wife cooked him something to eat. He did not eat what she cooked. Mother cooked; he ate it.
It got dark. The eldest wife brought a good skin - it doesn’t fall on her. He lay down next to his mother. His father said:
- Tell me a story.
Then he began to talk:
- There was one person. Getting ready to go fishing, he said to his eldest wife: What will you cook for me? “I’ll get some clothes ready,” he says. His youngest wife, when he asked, said: I’ll prepare the child.
The elder wife says to the boy:
- I want to sleep, don’t tell me. The child, continuing the tale, said:
“The eldest wife threw her friend’s child into the water, and the old woman caught him in the face and raised him. Having told this, he shouted:
- Here I am!
When he took off his hat, there was a sun on his forehead, a star on the crown of his head, and a moon on the back of his head.
The husband threw his older wife out into the yard. He sat down in the place of his younger wife. The younger wife said:
“My child has come, now I won’t die.” She told her husband:
- Live with your older wife. When there was no child, you constantly beat me.
The husband replied: “As she beat you before, so you beat her now.”
The old woman who had caught the child in the face was brought in, fed and watered. That's how we lived afterwards.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru