Azhveipsh, or as he is also called - Azhveipshaa - the ruler of forests and mountains, animals and birds; he is the patron of hunting. Azhveypsh has a family: a married son named Iuana, forever young beautiful daughters; He also has a faithful servant - the fleet-footed Shvakvaz.
Azhveipsh, although gray-bearded, is still a strong old man. All animals form his herd; he grazes it like a good shepherd, milks the females and distributes the game among the hunters. They get only those animals that Azhveipsh ate, and the rest of the animals from Azhveipsh’s herd are invisible to hunters and therefore inaccessible. Only game eaten and resurrected by Azhveipsh catches the eye of the hunters, and they can kill it.
Azhveipsh has its own shepherds. These are white animals; they graze other animals. Hunters do not kill white animals because they know that Azhveipsh will punish them for this - he will not give them any more game.
One day it happened that some hunter accidentally shot a white kid, and suddenly a girl’s crying voice was heard from somewhere: “Mom, mom, they killed my little goat!” It was the voice of Azhveipsh's daughter. Since then, that hunter has had no luck. No matter how much he wandered through the mountains and forests, no game caught his eye. This is how Azhveipsh punishes.
Over time, the lord of animals and the patron of hunting became decrepit and deaf, so they began to talk to him loudly. Game among the hunters, at the direction of Azhveipsh, is distributed by his servant Shvakvaz. He, too, like his master, had aged and had become a little hard of hearing. Azhveipsh is fair and kind. He wants to distribute the game equally to all hunters. It happens that he will say: “Give to those to whom you did not give!” And Shvakvaz hears: “Give to those to whom you gave!” So it turns out that Shvakvaz gives the game to the wrong person. That is why some hunters are always lucky, while others cannot get anything.
The only person who managed to see Azhweipsh was the hero-hunter Akun-ipa Khatazhukva. And it happened like this.
One day Akun-ipa Khatazhukva and his comrades went hunting. On the way, he fought off them and wandered into a dense forest. Suddenly a deer ran at him. The hunter shot at him and hit him in the side, but did not kill him, but only wounded him. The deer disappeared into the thickets. Akun-ipa Hatazhukwa followed in his footsteps. For a long time he tracked the wounded deer and in the evening he came to a clearing, where he saw a large herd of deer, aurochs, and chamois. A handsome gray-haired old man in a cone-shaped felt hat was milking one of the deer. The old man noticed the hunter and called out to him:
- Welcome! Come to my house. I can’t move away from the herd yet, otherwise it will scatter.
The hunter realized that it was Azhveipsh himself. The house was small, but built of copper. Akun-ipa Hatazhukwa entered it.
After milking the herd, Azhveypsh and Shvakvaz brought a large copper cauldron of milk into the asura (Asura - an extension to the house for household needs).
“Hunter, you are tired and hungry,” said the lord. “Sit down and eat.”
Azhveipsh served the guest akhartsva (Akhartsva - matsoni (sour milk)). Akun-ipa Khatazhukva ate three spoons and felt that he was full. Then Azhveipsh chose from his herd and killed the very deer that the hunter had shot. We cooked the meat. The owner handed the guest a spatula. Hatazhukwa took out his knife, cut three slices of meat from the shoulder blade and ate it, and then quietly stuck his knife between the meat and the bone of the shoulder blade.
After eating, Azhveypsh collected the bones of the deer and the remains of meat, folded them into a skin and hit them with a whip. In the blink of an eye, the deer came to life, jumped up and joined the herd.
Akun-ipa spent the night in the house of Azhveipsh, and in the morning, having eaten three spoons of akhartsva and having had his fill, he thanked the hospitable host and set off. In the forest he met a deer and killed it. Soon Akun-ipa Hatazhukwa found his comrades. They were waiting for him in the hunting clearing. They brought the deer, skinned it and cooked the meat. Everyone got a big piece. Akun-ipa took a spatula for himself. He began to trim the meat from her, and suddenly discovered his knife. The comrades were very surprised: how did Akun-ip’s knife get into the deer’s body? Then the brave hunter told about how he visited Azhveipsh and how he stuck his knife between the meat and the bone of the deer’s shoulder blade.
You see,” Akun-ipa said in conclusion, “our great golden prince Azhveipsh sends us only those animals that he slaughtered himself, ate with relatives or guests, and then revived for us mere mortals!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru