The trouble is when a person is lazy and envious.
There lived an old man in a village. He had a son named Ulenda. Ulenda was good to everyone: he was eloquent, broad-shouldered, strong, and handsome - not a guy, but a sight for sore eyes! But Ulenda didn’t like to work. I didn't want to do anything.
He will go hunting in the taiga - as soon as he sees moss, he will go to sleep. Ulenda's father will take him fishing - his son will sit on the shore, stare at the water, and sit idle all day. His father will send him to look for the deer: Ulenda will sit down on a tree stump, raise his head up, and begin to count the clouds in the sky - all the deer will scatter.
So it turned out that in his old age the father provided food for both himself and his son.
The old man felt offended. All the sons feed and respect their fathers, only Ulenda sits on the old man’s neck.
The old man went to Zangin, the judge, and asked:
- Help me, wise zangin! I can’t feed my adult son anymore. There is no power! Tell me what to do? What to do?
Zangin thought and thought and thought for a long time: he smoked a hundred pipes of tobacco while he was thinking. Then he says:
“A lazy son is worse than a stone on his neck.” A bow will not shoot with a damp string. We need to change the string. You need another son.
The old man groaned:
- I've become old! Where can I get my son? Zangin tells him:
- Go to the taiga tomorrow. There you will see an iron birch growing between two elms. That birch tree
bi. On that birch tree your youngest son is growing up, swinging in a small cradle. Grow it and it will help you!
So the old man went to the taiga. He walked, walked, and saw—surely, an iron birch tree stood between two elms.
The old man began to cut down a birch tree. Hit once, hit twice... The ax broke, but there wasn’t even a notch on the birch tree. This is a birch tree! The old man was tired. He lay down to rest and fell asleep.
He had a dream: it was as if a bear came up to him and said:
“Two rivers flow to the right in the ravine; in one river the water is white, in the other river the water is red. Take red water from the chumashka and sprinkle it on the birch!”
The old man woke up. Got up. I went to look for those rivers. While he was making his way through the storm, he tore all his clothes to shreds: a robe, a cape, trousers, and high boots.
I went down into the ravine - that’s right, rivers are flowing.
The old man picked up red water. I went back.
I got to the birch tree and sprinkled the tree with red water.
The old man began to chop down that birch tree. He hit it just once - the birch tree swayed and fell to the ground.
The old man sees a cradle hanging in the place where the trunk forked. The child lies in the cradle. A boy, no taller than a bone needle. The face is wide as the moon; The eyes are black, shining like two beads.
The old man says to himself:
- Oh-ya-ha! How long will I have to wait until my named son grows up and feeds me!
And the birch boy answered him:
- When you start your journey, don’t count your steps, father! The old man threw the cradle with his son over his shoulder,
I put it on my back and went home.
Walked, walked... What is it? The cradle becomes heavier with every step. By the time the old man reached the village, the cradle pulled all his shoulders back. The old man lowered the cradle to the ground - he was too strong to carry it! He looks - the cradle has grown very, very big. And birch
the boy has grown up a lot. He got out of the cradle, bowed to the old man, and said:
- Thank you, father, for putting me on my feet! They went together.
The old man named his youngest son Kalduca.
They began to live: the old man, Ulenda and Kalduca.
Before the old man had time to look back, Kalduka’s son grew up and caught up with Ulenda. Works for three. Both strong and dexterous.
If he starts fighting with someone with sticks, they won’t even have time to blink an eye before they find themselves empty-handed. And his reindeer herd became twice as large. And there’s no way to overeat yukola in the house. There are plenty of furs for ourselves and for sale.
And Ulenda is still what he was. The more he lies, the lazier he becomes. Ulenda is lying on the bunk, and his laziness is growing, he no longer fits in the house...
The old man was holding eagles. One with a red beak, the other with a black one. Every autumn he took the eagles' tails. Until now, the old man gave the tail of the red eagle to Ulenda. And when his hard-working son Kalduka became his, the old man gave the tail of the red eagle to Kalduka. Says:
“Kalduka feeds me, which means he’s the eldest.”
Ulenda remained silent. He endured the insult, but harbored a grudge against his younger brother. I began to think about how to repay the birch boy, how to harm him. And he forgot about his laziness: his anger turned out to be stronger than laziness.
Ulenda began to carry loot from Kalduki’s traps. Ulenda began to drag fish from Kalduki’s nets. Kalduca went to Zangin:
- Find the thief, sage! Zangin responds to Kalduca:
-Can you find your thief?
The fire was lit. He began to roast the cat on that fire. The cat screamed and squinted. Zangin says:
“Let the thief have a crooked face like this cat.” Let it be as the law dictates, then you yourself will find the thief.
Kalduca went home. And Ulenda hid in a corner and tied a rag over his face. Kalduca asks him:
- What's wrong with you, brother?
“Nothing,” Ulenda replies. - My teeth hurt.
Then the wind blew and tore off the bandage from Ulenda’s face. Everyone saw that Ulenda had a crooked face. Everyone saw that he was a thief. From then on they began to call him Ulenda Crooked.
Ulenda hated his birch brother more than ever. He began to think day and night how he could kill Kal-duk, how he could destroy him. However, while the old man was alive, Ulenda could not do anything. Some time passed - the old man fell ill and died. They held a funeral for the old man and cried. Zangin broke his spear over the old man. He threw the ends in different directions so that the hunter's soul would separate from his body. The old man was buried.
Ulenda Kalduca once says:
- Let's go, brother, to the island: we'll pick some sarans, some flowers, and eat some sweet roots.
They went in a boat - a moronic one. We arrived at the island. The younger brother went to collect saran and went far from the shore into the taiga. Ulenda jumped into confusion and left. Left my brother on the island:
- Let Cory the bird eat him!
In those days, the Kori bird lived on Khekhtsir Mountain. Big as a cloud. When the Kori bird flew out of the nest, it covered the sky with its wings so that it became completely dark. Trouble for anyone who gets caught by the Cory bird! Those people could not be found anywhere later.
Kalduka walked and walked around the island, returned to the shore, and saw that Ulenda was gone. Kalduka shouted, shouted, called his brother, called, but he did not respond. Kalduk ate the sweet roots of sarana and lay down. He lay there, lay there, warmed up and fell asleep.
The sun has set. The Kori bird rose from behind Khekhtsir and blocked the sky - it became completely dark. A bird is flying, making noise with its wings - as if it is raining heavily. The air whistles, as if a strong wind is blowing.
Kalduca woke up. I got scared. He grabbed the bow.
And the bird Cory is already above him. It clicks its beak. Her eyes are like two fires, burning.
Kalduca shot. Only in vain - iron feathers on the bird. She grabbed Kori Kalduca with her claws and said:
— Tell me three riddles. If I guess right, you'll die! If I don’t guess, I’ll take you home!
Kalduca thought, thought, agreed, and wished:
- What, what, what is it: a frog is sitting on a rock and can’t jump off?
I thought and thought, Corey, and couldn’t guess. Then Kalduca says:
- It's a nose on the face.
Kalduk asked a second riddle:
- What, what, what is it: he came out of one place, where he wanted to go, he came, but as he walked, he didn’t answer?
And again Cory didn’t guess right.
“It’s an arrow,” Kalduca tells her. And he asks the third riddle to the bird Kori:
- What, what, what is it: a hundred guys sleep on one pillow and don’t quarrel?
The bird Corey could not guess this riddle either.
“These are poles on the roof,” says Calduca. Here the bird grabbed Kalduku and lifted him into the air
and flew away. I don’t know how long it took to fly. At her home she lowered Kalduca to the ground. Kalduca came home. Ulenda saw him, turned pale with fear, shook with small tremors, and said:
“The wind carried me away from the island.” Such a storm arose that I could not row out...
Kalduca remained silent.
The brothers began to live on. Kalduca hunts for a living, and Ulenda Crooked lies on her side. His anger does not subside. He thought and thought and said to Kalduca:
“I miss our father.” I heard from people that if you anoint the lips of a dead person with saliva
snakes Simu, the dead will come to life. It would be nice to revive our father!
-Where is that snake? - asks Kalduk-son. - How to find that snake?
“In the upper reaches of the Khor River,” says Ulenda. Kalduk saddled the little deer, sat on him and rode off.
How long it took - who knows! Mushrooms grew thirty times on the fallen elm during this time. Kalduca has arrived. He left the deer on the shore, slapped him on the withers with his hand, and turned him into a tree. Let's go. I reached the camp. He sees that the Orochi also live, only they are very sad. I asked Kalduk why. they are sad. They answer him that the snake Simu is creeping into their camp, devouring people, burning yurts - there is no salvation from it.
- How so? - says Calduca. “Can’t any of you kill that snake?”
“We tried,” the Orochi answer him, “but as soon as that snake dies with fire, people’s hands dry up.” And without hands, you know, is it really possible to do anything?
Kalduca thought and said:
- I’ll try - maybe they won’t dry me out!.. He sharpened the spear, pointed the knife, to the camp
a cast-iron cauldron - he took it and went to the forest where the snake Simu lived. Tied in moss. I filled the cauldron with tree resin. I plunged into the river and became wet. He began to bang on the cauldron with his spear. There was a big noise.
Sima heard that noise and crawled out of her hole. Crawling, hissing. The snake leaves a red trail behind it: the grass and stones are burning.
She saw the snake Kalduku and breathed fire on him.
Wet moss protected Kalduca from fire. Kalduca swung with all his might and threw his cauldron into the snake’s mouth. cast iron, filled with resin... The resin melted and poured down Sim’s throat. The snake writhed and died. White foam came out of her mouth
instead of fire. Kalduk collected this foam and went back.
Suddenly he hears the trees cracking. The taiga is smoking, animals are fleeing from there, and birds are flying away in flocks.
The Orochi say to Kalduc:
- Trouble, son! You killed Seema, now her brother Himu is coming to take revenge for his sister. Trouble!
- Nothing! - says Calduca. “It’s trouble when you don’t have a head on your shoulders.”
He took seven cast iron boilers. One covered the other and climbed under the bottom one.
Himu ran into him here. Everything is shaking around. The earth is shaking, chips are falling from the sky. He saw the boilers and rushed at them and hit them! He hit six cauldrons with his head, but couldn’t handle the seventh - he broke his head. Himu hissed and crawled into the taiga - to die! Kalduka crawled out from under the cauldrons. Orochi surrounded him. They rejoice that they saw such a hero, that they got rid of the snake Simu. They invite Kalduka into their family and want to call him their son. The Oroch girls glance at him: anyone would marry such a guy!
The old people tell him:
- Live with us.
“No, I need to go home,” answers Kalduca’s son.
He liked the only girl in this camp. He went for a walk with her. We reached the river bank. They sat on a tree.
Kalduca says:
- Be my wife, girl! Let's go with me! He slapped Kalduk with his hand - the tree turned around
deer. The deer flew to its native camp of Kalduki.
Ulenda sings songs at home and thinks that Kalduca has disappeared.
And Kalduca is right there, and with his young wife too!
Ulenda Crooked was more angry than ever with his brother. He thinks to himself: “It’s better if I don’t exist, but I’ll destroy Kalduk and take his wife for myself!”
Kalduca went to Zangin, the judge. He told me everything. He said that he brought the snake’s saliva to Sim to revive his father, as Ulenda the Crooked wanted. Zangin tells him, having smoked one pipe:
“You, birch boy, don’t know that people are not born twice.” Why bother the old man? And that’s not what Ulenda sent you for, but death!
Zangin took the snake's saliva and threw it into the river. The river began to bubble, hiss, and white steam came out of the water. A lot of fish floated up belly up. The fish became dead.
- You see! - says Zangin. “Ulenda Crooked would have killed you with this saliva.”
Then Zangin looked at Ulenda Crooked.
“Go, Ulenda, to the taiga,” he says. “You don’t belong among people.” You don't like people... Go to the taiga. The taiga people live there alone. Be who you are at heart.
And Ulenda went into the taiga. While he was walking, fur grew on him. There are claws on the hands and feet. At first Ulenda walked on two legs, then ran on four. Ulenda Crooked became the bear.
And Kalduka the son lived well with his wife. He had many children, and he was lucky in everything...
It was a long time ago. So many years ago that if you count on your fingers, you won’t find so many fingers in the entire old people’s camp. We need to borrow from the guys. And the guys run around and don’t give in. So find out when it was!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru