One day the men went to sea in a large boat. They sailed very far. The sun has set. The fog crept across the water. Night has come. The men realized that they were lost. Again they swam and swam. At dawn we saw the shore. There was a house on the shore. The girls went from the house to the river to fetch water. The men were thirsty. One said:
“I’ll go see what kind of people live here.” And I’ll take water from them.
He went and didn't come back. And no one is visible on the shore anymore. Then the girl left the house. The second man got out of the boat and entered the house with her. And it doesn't come back either.
The men decided to move away from this place. They swim further and again see a house, hangers on which fish are drying, dogs running along the shore, barking. And you can't see people at all. No people.
Two more men got out of the boat and disappeared into the house. The fifth man said:
- I’m very thirsty.
He leaned over the side and disappeared into the sea.
Three remained in the boat. We swam further from this place. We saw the shore again. They approached, and the sixth man jumped from the boat into the water, and a strange long man grabbed him from the water and drowned him. And then he grabbed the side of the boat with his bony hand and pulled it. Then the two men remaining in the boat chopped it off with axes. We took hold of the oars and moved away from the shore.
They swam for a long time again. Finally they saw a gray-haired old man on the shore. He shouted:
- Moor here. Don't be afraid.
Two men got out of the boat. We learned that only an old man and an old woman live here. They told them that they had gone hunting for a sea animal and got lost.
- Is this your land?
“Yes,” answered the old man, “there is another land on the other side.” It's good that you came to us. Let's go have some tea.
The old man and the old woman treated the men to yukola and tea. It is impossible to count how many days the men lived with them. In the morning the old man would go somewhere and come back in the evening. He didn't say anything about what he was doing. And suddenly he appeared with two boats. The boats are covered with wild rosemary.
The old man said:
“You’ll be floating in boats for a long time, remember: don’t raise your head.” Women will call you - don’t answer. Only when the boats bottom out on the sand will you get out of them. Kill the white deer, but do not skin it, and put it in one boat. Then kill the black deer, do not skin it either, and put it in another boat. Sprinkle with wild rosemary to drive out the devil.
The men sat in different boats - right at the bottom - and swam away. They swam for a very long time. We slept and woke up. They didn’t raise their heads, they didn’t respond to the women’s cries, as if they hadn’t heard.
And so the boats went bottomless on the sand. Then the men got out of them and killed white and black deer on the ground. They did everything as the old man ordered.
The boat with the white deer immediately went to sea. The boat with the black deer spun seven times near the shore and also floated away.
Finally the men reached their shore. On the shore, boys with bows chased chipmunks through the undergrowth.
-Where are your parents? - the men asked.
“The mothers are at home,” said the boys, “and the fathers have gone to sea to hunt.” They haven't been around for a long time.
The men guessed that these were their children. And they said.
- Go to your mothers, tell them that we are calling them.
They gave them a small ring. The boys ran home and showed their mothers the rings the men had given them. Then the mother said:
- Let your fathers come to us.
And they went.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru