One day a young Indian was walking and saw a buffalo stuck in a swamp. Blue Mole decided to help her. He took the spear and started pushing the buffalo.
The buffalo jumped out of the swamp and ran away. And the young man returned home.
By spring, all the bison had babies. A buffalo calf was also born to the one who escaped from the swamp. The baby really wanted to play with other bison babies.
But they pushed him away with their horns and said:
-You are a human son!
The buffalo calf told his mother about this. She answers:
“Well, if that’s the case, let’s go look for your father.”
They set off on their journey. They walked for a long, long time and eventually came across an Indian village. Then the buffalo turned into a man and rushed off to play with the children.
The children would play enough and run to their homes, but the buffalo calf always hurried into the forest, and no one in the tribe could understand who he was.
The Indians became thoughtful and told the children to ask the newcomer whose son he was. So they ask the buffalo:
- Why did you come to our village?
“I’m looking for my father,” he answered. The Indians consulted among themselves and decided: let the boy walk through the village. Maybe he will find his father.
And so they did. The boy began to walk from house to house, from family to family, but all in vain. Then they gathered all the young men. The boy looked at them and exclaimed:
- This is my father! - and sat down next to the Blue Mole.
He was very surprised. “How can this be? After all, I don’t have a family,” he thought.
And the young man had a blue mole on one cheek. He took a closer look at the boy and saw that he had exactly the same mole. The young man couldn’t believe his eyes.
The boy took the young man out of the village and said:
- Finally I found you! Mom asked me to come to her. As soon as she sees us, she will immediately rush at you, but don’t run away. Grab the buffalo by the horns right away.
They had just entered the forest when, out of nowhere, a buffalo appeared and rushed at the young man. But as soon as Blue Mole grabbed her by the horns, she turned into a beautiful woman and said:
- Let me go, please. After all, you once helped me get out of a quagmire.
This boy is your son. And on his cheek he has the same mole as you.
“Well, let’s live together,” said the young man.
This is how Blue Mole started a family. The young wife warned her husband:
“If we quarrel, promise that you will never throw ash from a fire at me or touch me with anything sharp.” Otherwise there will be trouble!
My husband promised.
Blue Mole had two favorites: crows and magpies. They fell in love with the buffalo and he fell in love with them. Wherever the boy ran, wherever he played, they always sat on his shoulders.
Blue Mole's mother and father also fell in love with the baby. The old man often gave him a ride on his back, and with him a crow and a magpie. They lived like this for a long time, and everything was fine.
But one day a husband and wife quarreled, and Blue Mole got angry: he snatched a firebrand from the fireplace and rushed at his wife. She immediately grabbed her son in her arms and rushed headlong out of the tent.
Blue Mole ran out after him, begging his wife to come back, but it was too late: both wife and son became bison again. The village dogs sensed them, started barking and drove away until the bison were completely out of sight.
Grandfather and grandmother grieved greatly. They missed their grandson very much. And the raven and magpie flew around anxiously, everyone was looking for the buffalo calf among the Indian children.
Finally Blue Mole's mother said to her son:
- You treated my grandson badly! After all, your wife warned you: she was not an ordinary woman!
“Yes, it’s all my fault,” the son answered, “I’ll go look for them.” If I don’t return, send my favorites, the raven and the magpie, after me. Let them find at least a piece of my body. Put him on my bed and cover him with something. Then fill your pipe, light it and say: “Blue Mole, here’s the smoke for you!”
And Blue Mole left. Much time passed before he came across a huge herd of bison. He wandered, wandered among them, and then noticed that one buffalo mother and a buffalo calf were keeping to the side. “Oh, that’s right, this is my wife and son,” thought Blue Mole. The adult bison quenched their thirst and the baby bison began to drink. When the last one had drunk, Blue Mole saw that only the buffalo woman and her son remained. Then he jumped up and grabbed the buffalo.
And sure enough, it was his son! He was also happy to meet.
“I’ll go call my mother,” the buffalo decided.
When the buffalo woman came down to them, Blue Mole said:
- I came to take you with me.
“You must first ask permission from the owner of the herd,” answered the buffalo. “If he allows, we will leave together.” Oh, why did you offend us! After all, we bison are so afraid of fire and sharp knives...
The buffalo calf, the son of the Blue Mole, went to the leader of the herd and asked:
- Can my mother and I return to our father?
And then he returned to the Blue Mole and said:
“The owner demands that we wait for the buffalo dance.” If you can recognize me four times, we will be allowed to go home.
The bison gathered to dance. The Blue Mole's son secretly said to his father:
- During the first dance, I will have a ringed tail - you will recognize me by it. The second time I will begin to fall on one leg. For the third time I will lower my ears. And for the fourth time I will close my eyes.
Three times Blue Mole guessed his son. And the fourth time all the buffalo cubs closed their eyes at once, and he was mistaken. The herd attacked the Blue Mole and trampled it, and then scattered in all directions.
Blue Mole left home a long time ago, and the old mother decided to follow the trail of his favorites - the raven and the magpie. They flew off and soon returned with a tiny piece of his body. The old woman carefully laid him on her son's bed and covered him with a skin. Then she came out of the tent, lit a pipe and said:
- Blue Mole, here's smoke for you! Blue Mole, here's smoke for you!
And as soon as she said this for the fourth time, Blue Mole came out of the tent alive and unharmed.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru