Almighty Katgyrgyn

Enlight

A long time ago there lived an evil witch in Chukotka. Her name was Katgyrgyn. No one knew where her yaranga stood, but she appeared everywhere and did a lot of harm to people. It used to be that a man would come from a hunt, knock a walrus off the sled, and as soon as he began to cut it up, he would see that under the knife he had not a walrus at all, but a stone. And it also happened like this: a hare will come running to the camp and dance, as if asking: “Beat me!” Hunters grab their guns, take aim, but cannot fire. They look: instead of guns, they have dog tails in their hands.

They said that Katgyrgyn had such a secret power: if she wants, she will turn a person into a beast. They also said that she had as her workers a cod fish, a gray hare, an antlered deer, a toothed wolf, a slippery jellyfish, a white fox, a guillemot - a black bird, a northern birch and snow moss, which is called reindeer moss. And all these workers also had secret power. True, they could not turn their enemies into everything, but only into the most harmless creature for themselves, and then only once in their lives, when they themselves were threatened with death.

Hunter Tynen heard a lot about this, but didn’t believe it all...

One day he came home from work and said to his wife:

- Why are you still lying there? I could at least fix the kitchen. You see: it’s all full of holes!

“Take it and fix it if you want,” his wife tells him.

I'm tired, and this is not a man's business...

- Well, as you know, I want to sleep!

- What is this?! - Tynen got angry. “I’m cold, I’m hungry, but I can’t get a kind word from you!”

Tynen had a heated argument with his wife and decided to leave her - this was not the first time she treated him this way. “Anyway,” he thinks, “there will be no life.” He put a piece of dried meat in his bosom, threw the gun over his shoulder and walked wherever his eyes led him.

Whether he walked for a long time or for a short time, he suddenly saw a gorge in front of him. To the right and left, black rocks prop up the sky with sharp peaks. And then evening came. Tynen thought: “Where will you go in the dark? We need to settle down for the night.” He saw a cave ahead, but before he could even take a step, an old woman came out of it - thin, hunchbacked, with a hooked nose, a sticky head, teeth like the tusks of a walrus - long, very long.

- Ahh, Tynen has arrived! I've been waiting for you for a long time!

The hunter was surprised: how does she know his name? And the old woman says:

- I know everything!

And Tynen realized that he had fallen into the clutches of Katgyrgyn herself.

“I have a lot of all kinds of workers - birds, animals, and various plants, but no people,” says the old woman. “Listen, hunter: from now on you will be my worker!” You will do whatever I order!

Tynen raised his gun:

- I don’t want to be your employee!

- Ha-ha-ha! Do you want to kill me? Just look at what you're going to shoot from!

The hunter looked, and in his hands instead of a gun, he had a stick. He swung his stick, and the old woman somersaulted over her head - and immediately such a blizzard arose that it became dark around, nothing could be seen. Tynen buried himself in the snow, waiting for the snowstorm to subside, but it was getting stronger and stronger. He waited, waited, and saw: you can’t sit still; got up and went. I walked for a long time in the deep snow, but never found the road to the camp. Tynen got tired, fell into the snow and fell asleep. And when he woke up, he saw: in front of him was the same cave, the same terrible old woman sitting, combing her hair with deer antlers.

- Well, hunter, do you agree now? - asks.

Tynen thought - there is no way out.

“Okay,” he says, “I agree.” Just feed me first.

The old woman shook her hair and immediately a reindeer team appeared. And on the sleds there are all kinds of food - seal liver, venison, and dried meat, which is called kopalkha. Tynen tried everything, ate his fill and put something else in his bosom.

“Well, that’s good,” says the old woman. “Now I’ll go to bed, and you be careful not to let anyone come to me.” If you let me in, I’ll turn you into an ice icicle!

Tynen stands by the cave, thinking sad thoughts. And then suddenly a polar bear approaches.

- What do you want? - asks the hunter.

- I want to see the almighty Katgyrgyn! - the bear answers.

- I won’t let you in! - says the hunter.

- How come you won’t let me in? Do you know who I am? I'm her first employee!

- Whoever you are, get out of here!

The bear got angry, bared his teeth, and was about to pounce on the hunter. Tynen raised his gun and cocked the hammer.

“Oh, wait,” says the bear. “Don’t shoot!” - And then he barks: - Be a hare!

And Tynen turned into a hare. I jumped near the cave, tried to take the gun, but nothing worked. And the hare realized that now he had only one salvation - his legs. He turned around, galloped into the camp, and found himself near his yaranga:

- Open up, wife. It's me, your husband Tynen! The wife looked out of the yaranga and laughed as much as she wanted:

- Have you ever seen my husband be a hare! Leave before the dogs are unleashed!

The hare got scared and ran into the tundra. He ran for a long time, got hungry, and there wasn’t a blade of grass around, everything was covered with white snow. He sat down and cried bitter tears. Suddenly he sees: where the tears fell, the snow has melted and moss has appeared. The hare reached for the reindeer moss, and the reindeer moss was afraid that the hare would eat him, and when he shouted:

- Be a seal!

And the hare became a seal. He lies in the snow, dreams of water, but is far from the sea. I crawled all day. Crawled after all! A seal is swimming in the sea, and a cod fish is playing in front. “Aha,” the seal thinks, “I’ll have dinner.” I just chased the fish, and she said:

- Be a wolf!

And the seal became a wolf. It hits the water with its paws and is about to drown. But he still made it to shore. Standing by a stone, covered in ice icicles, trembling. And at this time a white fox ran past. The wolf is behind her. It’s about to catch up, but the fox turns to the side and shouts:

- Be a guillemot!

And the wolf became a guillemot. A guillemot flies over the sea, barely able to stay on its wings - it’s so hungry. I noticed a jellyfish and went to it. And the jellyfish whispered:

- Be a deer!

And the guillemot became a deer. A deer is swimming in the sea, only its antlers sticking out of the water. It's about to drown. But, fortunately, the sea began to freeze, and he walked ashore on the ice. He is shaking from the cold, wants to eat, but everything around him is empty - only snow and rocks. And the deer ran into the tundra. He runs, and a white birch tree stands in the way. “Let me at least devour some bark,” the deer thinks. And as soon as I touched the birch tree, it perked up:

- Be a man!

“I’ve seen a lot in the world, but I’ve never seen anything like this!”

- You won’t see it yet! - says the wife. - Don’t you dare force me to work! I am the almighty Katgyrgyn!

A shiver ran down Tynen’s spine, but he didn’t show that he was scared.

“No way,” he says, “I won’t believe that my wife could do this.” Katgyrgyn can become a fly, but can you?

“Not only will I become a fly, I’ll become a mosquito!” - the wife said proudly.

And as soon as she said it, she disappeared before her eyes, and a small mosquito appeared in the yaranga instead. It flies and buzzes. Tynen offered him his hand: sit down.

A mosquito sat on the hunter's hand and began to stick its thin nose into the skin, and Tynen - bang! - and crushed it.

And the hare became a seal. He lies in the snow, dreams of water, but is far from the sea. I crawled all day. Crawled after all! A seal is swimming in the sea, and a cod fish is playing in front. “Aha,” the sloth seal thinks, “I’ll have dinner.” I just chased the fish, and she said: