Bilba, the soft-haired dune rat, was once human and lived in the same camp with his comrade Meira, the spring wind. Meira was a strange companion - after all, you cannot see him. He could talk to Bilba, but no matter how much Bilba wanted, he could not see Meira.
One day Bilba said to Meira:
“Why don’t you become like me so that I can see you?”
“I see you,” Meira objected.
- Yes, I know that, but I don’t see you, I only hear you. I can guess that you are here by the way you eat the food in front of you. You catch possums, you get honey, Although I follow you, following your voice, I never see you, but I want to see someone.
“But I see you, and that’s enough for me.”
“But I don’t see you, and I really, really want to see someone again.” I will go and join the people of my kind. If I could see you, I could not wish for a better companion.
- OK. I'm going hunting now. Will you come with me?
- No, I'll stay here today.
Meira left and did not return until evening. Suddenly a noise was heard in the distance that Bilba had never heard before. Then he saw, in the direction from which the noise was heard, a spinning column of dust and leaves. “What kind of hurricane is this? - he thought. - I have never seen anything like it. I’ll go to the dune behind our camp, dig a hole and hide so that the hurricane doesn’t carry me away.”
Bilba rushed as fast as he could towards the dune, while a hurricane raged behind him. Bilba dug a hole and buried himself in it, and a hurricane came, hit the dune and began to spin around, scattering bark and branches. He spun around Bilba's hole, but could not move the dune. Howling in helpless rage, Meira rushed away, and his voice was heard in the distance, and then completely died away.
After some time, Bilba crawled out of his hole. He felt so warm and safe in the sandy hole that from then on he always lived in it, and when he got married, he brought his wife here.
The Bilba clan still lives in sand holes. They hear the voice of old Bilba's comrade, but never see his face, he no longer speaks their ancient language. He was so angry that Bilba, not seeing his face, wanted to leave him that, now rushing past their camps, he only howled and roared. None of their family saw where he lived. Only the six blowing winds know this, but they do not tell anyone their secret.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru