Either it was or it wasn’t, the widow Batsulay raised three little daughters.
One day she was going to the mill to grind grain and said to her daughters:
“The witch Katsulay got into the habit of visiting our village. She walks around with her dog and steals small children. Lock the doors tightly and don't open them to anyone. And you will recognize me by my voice. I will tell you two words: “I am Batsulay!” And the witch Katsulay was standing around the corner with her dog and heard everything.
The mother shouldered the sack and went to the mill. And Katsulay quietly crept up to the door and said in a gentle motherly voice:
“Didn’t Katsulay come to you, kids?” Open soon! I am your mother Batsulay.
The children believed the witch. The older girl ran to the door, opened it, and the dog Katsulay grabbed the girl and took her away.
Soon the mother returned home. He sees that his eldest daughter is missing.
Poor Batsulay searched for her girl for a long time. She walked around the entire village, climbed high mountains, descended into deep gorges, and there was no trace of her daughter anywhere.
After a month or two, Batsulay went to the market to sell yarn and buy salt.
- Look, kids, don’t open it to anyone! – she strictly punished. - Just open it for me when I say: “I am Batsulay!”
The children promised her not to open the door to anyone and not to let strangers into the house. And the mother left.
And as soon as she disappeared from sight, Katsulay was right there. In her mother's voice she said:
“Didn’t Katsulay come here, kids?” Open up, I’m your mother Batsulay!
And the middle girl opened the door, and the dog Katsulay grabbed her and took her away.
The mother returned from the market, only her youngest daughter was crying at home. Batsulay searched for a long time for her middle daughter. She walked around the entire village twice, climbed high mountains, descended into dark gorges, called, screamed - no one responded.
Winter has come. My mother had to go to the forest for fuel. Only the youngest daughter remained at home. Batsulay strictly ordered her:
- Remember, daughter: you can’t open it to anyone! I’ll come back and say: “I’m Batsulay,” then you’ll open it.
In the evening the mother returned with a bundle of brushwood, and the doors were wide open and the house was empty.
Batsulai walked around the entire village three times. She climbed the highest mountains and descended into the deepest gorges. It's all in vain!
She met an old hermit in the mountains.
– What brought you to these wilds? - asked the old man. “People don’t dare come here...
Batsulay cried:
- My grief brought me here! The witch Katsulay stole my children...
– She and her dog often hunt in my area... And she lives in a gorge, which is tightly closed by a rock. The witch's rock is magical. At her word she diverges like a gate, at her word she converges.
And the hermit climbed with Batsulay to the neighboring mountain and from there showed her the magic rock, and behind it the lair of the cannibal Katsulay.
The woman bowed to the hermit’s feet, said “thank you,” and was about to leave, but the hermit stopped her:
- That's not all! Listen to me. Katsulay should return from hunting soon. Try to sneak behind her when the rock is open. There, inside, nothing threatens you. Katsulay and her dog will immediately fall asleep after the hunt. They will sleep like the dead for three days. During this time, open the cellars and release all the little children who are locked up by the witch. And then run, and quickly...
The hermit gave Batsulay a jug of doe’s milk, a thorn branch and a flint sharp as a knife.
Batsulai thanked the old man again and hurried to the magic rock. She came and hid behind the stones.
She didn't have to wait long. A whirlwind arose, the tops of the trees bent down to the ground, and a dog barking was heard through the noise of the wind. Riding a dog, sitting backwards, was the cannibal Katsulay. She was carrying khurjins full of stolen children.
Having approached the rock, Katsulay stopped the dog and shouted: “Halt!” It was a magic word, and the rock, like a gate, swung open. The rock let the dog and the witch pass, and Batsulay slipped after them.
The rock immediately slammed shut. She pinched the hem of Batsulay's dress. The woman cut off a piece of her hem with a sharp flint that the hermit had given her, looked around and saw that she was standing in front of the witch’s house. The house was carved from solid stone. There were seven locks on the doors of his seven basements, and children were crying loudly in the basements.
Batsulay hid and waited until the witch and her dog began to snore. She then rushed to open the locks. I released all the children from the basements and found my three girls. She hugged them, caressed them, cried with joy.
Batsulay put the smallest children in khurjins, which she slung over her shoulder. And she ordered those who were older to hold hands and run after her.
Everyone gathered at the rock. Batsulay said loudly: “Halt!” – the rock swung open, and they all came out, and the rock behind them immediately slammed shut.
They ran as fast as children's legs could. But then the eldest daughter Batsulay looked back and saw: Katsulay and the dog were chasing them. But it was hard for the poor mother to carry the khurjins full of children, and she kept falling behind...
- Hurry, hurry, mother! - the girl screamed. - The witch is catching up with you!
The middle daughter Batsulay looked back and saw that the witch was about to overtake them.
- Hurry! Hurry! Run away, mother! – she begged. - The witch is already close!
The youngest daughter Batsulay looked back and saw that the witch was already showing her teeth: “I’ll eat all of you!” - Mother, dear! The witch will eat us now! - the girl cried.
Then Batsulay took a sharp flint in her right hand - a gift from the hermit - and threw it at Katsulay, saying:
- Let flint rocks stand between you and us! And impregnable rocks stood between them and the witch, and the mother and children ran even faster.
But Katsulay and her dog gnawed through the flint rocks.
Batsulay looked back and saw that the cannibal was catching up with them. Then Batsulay threw behind her the thorn branch that the hermit had given her and said:
- Let the thorny thorn grow between us!
And a thorny thicket grew between them, and the mother and children took a breath and ran as fast as they could.
But Katsulay and her dog gnawed their way through the thorny thorns, and the witch again caught up with the fugitives - on their heels!
What should they, the poor, do? Her strength was already running low... Batsulai was tired of carrying heavy khurjins, she could no longer run quickly... She looked: the witch and her dog - there they were, already heard behind her. Then Batsulay poured doe milk over her shoulder from a jug given by the hermit and said:
- Let the lake of milk flow between us! And a large lake overflowed behind.
The cannibal Katsulay and her dog remained on the other side. She didn't know how to swim. I decided to drink the lake. And he and the dog drank so much milk that their bellies swelled like wineskins and burst with a crash like thunder in the mountains.
And Batsulay and the children also drank milk. They danced and laughed with joy. We had a good rest on the grass and went home calmly.
Batsulay gave the children saved from the witch to their parents, and she and her three girls lived calmly and happily from then on.
And people praised the brave Batsulay and made up this fairy tale about her.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru