Hunters lived in the same camp. On the bank of a taiga river in the thickets of a forest, they set up several yurts and lived.
One day another Tibeul hunter came to them from across the pass. He came from the sea coast. Neither young nor old, just a middle-aged man, invisible in his own right, but nimble and lucky, he flew from one place to another like a swift, never stopping anywhere. It was not in vain that they gave him this name... Tibeu is a swift. He came to look for a bride.
Well... He himself was short in stature, had short legs and skipped, but he took a young, beautiful wife. According to ancient forest laws, a girl was not asked if she liked the person she was marrying, if she loved him. Even if he didn’t like it, they gave it anyway. The parents of the bride and groom agreed among themselves in advance; The guy was still running to the river with a toy spear, and he already had a bride, rocking in a cradle somewhere... For her later, when she grows up, the father will demand from the groom a new boiler, sable skins, different furs and money - too. That was such a wild law!
Tibeula married for the first time, wandered with his wife along quiet rivers for several years, then moved to the sea coast and became a widower there. They had no children. And he was lucky on the hunt. And he decided to marry again. He exchanged an iron cauldron with the merchants for furs, collected all sorts of goods, so that he came empty-handed to his relatives on the taiga river. Then he saw the beautiful girl Letiga and paid a large ransom for her.
But he didn’t want to live in the camp. Wherever he goes, people ask: why and for how long? No matter where you come from, they wonder where you have been? People are all around, people are everywhere! The meat was brought from the taiga - they know. If you caught a fish, they know it too. He had a fight with his wife - you can’t hide anything from them... And he also began to notice that young hunters were looking at Letiga. Where she passes, the guys start singing louder. She will speak, everyone will fall silent and look at how round dimples she has on her cheeks, and she hides her eyes under her long eyelashes... Letiga was beautiful. Everyone knew this. They said about him like this: There goes Kanda-Mafa. This means an old husband. Although he is not an old man at all. But for her, of course, he was a kanda-mafa... That’s what they called him in the camp.
Tibeula was angry. But nothing can be done, he just needs to protect himself from trouble, he thought, and did not order his wife to go to the shore without him. He was afraid: what if some clever guy would persuade Letiga to run away with him? There have been such cases, there have been...
“Listen, wife,” he said one evening when he and Letiga were sitting in their summer booth having dinner. “I thought and thought and decided this: let’s get away from people, to another river, and we’ll live there.” Nobody will stop us.
The wife did not contradict, as her husband says, this is what should be done - this is what her elders taught her. She agreed, although she secretly wiped away her tears: it was a pity to part with her mother, her old grandmother and father. We should tell them! But Kanda-mafa did not order.
– We’ll say goodbye in the morning, I know they will dissuade you...
In the morning, just before dawn, while everyone in the camp was sleeping, Kanda-mafa and his wife said goodbye to their relatives and began to get ready for the journey: they put bear and boar skins, a spear, birch bark shells, clothes - everything they had on a boat, took their dogs and sailed down the river.
They swam for a long time, all day. From one river the water carried them to another. We stopped only once on a spit, lit a fire, ate some lunch, and set off again. Kanda-mafa became cheerful and began to row the oar with all his might. And Letiga thinks: Where will he stop? They sailed so far... The sun was already hanging low over the forest when he chose a place and landed on the shore. Large cedars grew there, behind them there was a mountain, and behind that mountain there were other mountains looming blue far, far away...
Letiga looked at her husband with fear: “Where have you taken me?” These are bear rivers...” she said.
This is where they began to live together. After some time, Kanda-mafa set up a yurt, then a barn on four stumps. They live without people, see no one. He catches fish, hunts nearby, she cooks zaktu soup, and sews clothes from fish skin.
In winter, as soon as the river was covered with ice, Kanda-mafa got ready to hunt. Dogs harnessed to sledges rushed him to the blue mountains.
Letiga was left alone. I saw no one except the black crows flying near the shore. Time passed slowly. During the winter, no one had built a single path to the yurt, and the sled track on the river had long been covered with snow. Many times a blizzard rose and made noise in the taiga. After her, Letiga hardly opened the doors of the yurt.
But one day she came out of her dark home and almost went blind from the sun - it was so bright! The ice icicles on the upper crossbars of the yurt have melted, water is dripping from them: drip! cap! The trees in the forest also shook off the snow, the snowdrifts became loose. Spring is about to come.
Letiga remembered her camp and began to cry. If she had wings, would she fly there to look at her mother, is she alive? Maybe he misses her too?
Letiga walks with firewood, and a squirrel looks at her from behind a cedar trunk:
- Why are you crying? - asks.
“I’m bored,” says Letiga, “my mother lives on another river, I keep thinking about her...
- Don't cry! You yourself will soon be a mother... Letiga wanted to ask the squirrel how long she would have to wait, but the squirrel grabbed a cedar cone and ran away.
A few days later Kanda-mafa returned from the taiga. He brought a sledge full of meat; he was tired, and the dogs were tired too, they could barely drag themselves with the load, and he had to harness himself.
Letiga helped unload his sled, then began to cook food, boiling boar meat. While they were having dinner, Kanda-mafa told his wife everything about how he hunted, where he was, what he saw... Only he didn’t say about the killed bear: they don’t talk about bears in the evening, otherwise you won’t be lucky on the hunt next time...
Letiga listened and was silent. Then he says:
– You know what? We will have a child... Kanda-mafa was delighted.
- This is good news! - he said. – I have long wanted to have children. If only a son would appear! I need an assistant...
From then on, they began to wait for their family to grow. Spring has already arrived... So many flowers around! Birds look for each other by their voices and sing. They're having fun. And time goes by...
Kanda-mafa swims along the river all day long on a baitfish, hitting fish with a spear - either he catches lenka or taimen. Dragging home. Letiga is fussing around the fire, cooking zaktu soup, preparing tala. If there is no other work, she sits on a block of wood near the yurt, embroidering a mokcho shirt for her husband.
The time has come for her to go fishing... To go fishing! This is just what they say... In fact, she had to give birth to a child in the forest. There, Kanda-mafa made a special hut for her from twigs, covered it with birch bark, and brought spruce branches there. That's how it is!
Letiga took with her a boar skin and an old robe and went into the forest. He goes and cries:
“If my mother knew, she would bring me bird cherry cake.” If my grandmother was with me, she would give me water to drink...
Kanda-mafa, hearing this, shouted after her:
– Be glad that it’s summer and not winter! It's bad when children are born in winter. It's warm now, you won't freeze...
How it all happened, no one knew or saw, only Letiga knew. Her son was born. And ten days later she came to the yurt and brought the child in her arms. I barely carried it, it was so heavy.
His father made a cradle for him, “but the cradle turned out to be too small, so I had to make another one.
“Well, I’ll have an assistant,” Kanda-mafa said, looking at his son. - Oh, he’s already laughing loudly! So small, but laughing out loud?
He was surprised and left the yurt.
The little boy began to grow faster than the river in flood. While my father made a new prison,... son, his first teeth have erupted. The mother was also surprised: so soon?
Several days passed, and then one day in the middle of the night the child began to cry:
– Tiang, tiang, tiang... Anyame, abuga! (Mother, father – that’s what he calls them).
The mother got scared and wakes up the father:
- Do you hear, ho-ho-ho! Is our bata (boy) crying with words? Ho!
Kanda Mafa woke up and sat up in bed, not knowing whether to be happy or not? Maybe this is trouble? The boy is not like everyone else. Who should I ask for advice? If the shaman were close, they would call him, but there is no shaman.
- Okay, let him cry with words! So, this is how it should be,” says Kanda-mafa. - Let's see what happens next...
“You shouldn’t have taken me far from people.” Letiga began to scold her husband, reproaching him and reproaching him: “Because of you, we live without people, we don’t see anyone.” Is it possible to live like this?
Kanda-mafa makes excuses:
– People often interfere with each other. If we live in close quarters, close to them, there is no place for everyone to hunt, we will starve, and diseases will spread. Where there are many people, there is no good life...
Letiga sighed and said:
- No! In our camp, one always helped each other, I know... You are telling a lie.
They argue among themselves, and Dad listens...
The next day he had even more teeth, and he himself had grown so much that he could barely fit in the cradle.
Before the chum salmon moved, Kanda-mafa was preparing for fishing. While he was repairing the boat, and Letiga was cleaning the dishes by the river, their son broke the cradle, got out of it and walked up to them on his own feet.
“I’ve already slept,” he says. -Give me a mokcho shirt!
Kanda Mafa's mouth gaped in surprise:
- Tembe-be-be! Wife! You see what's happening! Bata asks for clothes and walks on his own feet!
Letiga stopped cleaning the dishes, looks at her son and doesn’t believe her eyes.
I sewed him a mokcho shirt and light elk skin uls. After a few days, both clothes and shoes - everything became tight for him. Need to sew again...
By the time the snow fell, the bata was already reaching the top logs of the yurt with his head. The winter dragged on for a long time, but the guy grew up quickly.
One day he took his father’s ax, went into the forest, chopped a lot of firewood and brought it back.
- I'm not little! “Give me,” he says, “a warmer robe, pants like my father’s, a hat with a squirrel tail on top of my head... Give me a bow and arrows.” I'll go hunting!
Father and mother were surprised looking at him. Then Kanda-mafa ordered his wife to bring everything that his son asked for.
Letiga spread her hands:
- Where can I get it? There is nothing to sew from, not a single piece of material, not even for patches...
Kanda Mafa thought, thought, hit himself on the forehead and said:
- Tembe-be-be-be! When I took you as my wife, I had a nice embroidered robe. Do you remember? There was also a bogdo hat with a squirrel tail on the top of the head, and a head cover with all the patterns falling down on the shoulders. Where is it all? Probably in the barn? Bring it and give it to your son.
The wife ran faster than a mouse to the barn, carrying clothes, a bow and arrows from there.
- Here you go, son! And these are skis. Take it!
The guy got dressed up and went skiing, first down the frozen Kedrovaya River, then onto another river and went up. Father and mother did not even have time to look after him, so he quickly disappeared from sight. He left only whirlwinds of snow behind him. A guy runs and sings a song:
My mother covered my skis with hawk paws,
Father bent their ends with a knife.
I'll jump to the middle of a big tree,
I will rise higher than a small tree.
Grandfather will ask: Where does the snow dust come from?
Grandmother will say: It’s probably a snowstorm.
It’s easy for me to ski,
I'll run far, far away...
So he ran for a long time and, when he looked back, he saw only a snow whirlwind behind him. No one knows how much time has passed. Maybe he would not have stopped anywhere, but suddenly a yurt appeared in front of him, as if out of the ground, in a birch forest. On the bank of the frozen river, only this one yurt stood. At first no one was visible, then from. a girl came out of the yurt.
- Ay-ya! It's snowing! – she spoke in a joyful voice and began to go down to the river for water. But before she had time to lower the bucket into the hole, a guy emerged from the snowy whirlwind. When I saw the guy, I got scared.
- Who are you? What is your name? - asks.
“I don’t know,” he says, “my parents didn’t have time to give me a name, I grew up too quickly.” They just called me dad...
- But there is such a name too. So you are Bata?
- It turns out so! “He straightened the hanami, a bag of arrows, hanging on his shoulder, looked the girl from head to toe and laughed. Her hair was not combed, her robe was unbuttoned...
Girl, girl, yack-yay!
Take your moloch, nay-n?.
Scoop up water from the ice hole,
Let me get drunk...
She took her molohi (a birch bark bucket), scooped up some water and, without looking at the guy, handed him the water in a birch bark chumashka. But she gave it so awkwardly that one of the protruding arrows pierced the birch bark, and water poured down at both of their feet. The guy started laughing at her:
How awkward you are, gee, gee! She failed to give me the chumashka. Your hair is disheveled, ah-ah! The legs on my legs are torn, ah-ah!
Hearing this, the girl was offended and said:
– Don’t be too cocky! If you laugh at me, I'll call my brothers...
- Do you have brothers? Where are they?
- Close. They're sitting over there. “She pointed to the bush where the capercaillie and hazel grouse were sitting.
Bata laughed:
- Birds cannot be brothers. A person has completely different brothers. You will fry these for me now. I’m hungry, I want meat...” He took arrows out of his bag, took the bow from his shoulder and was already pulling the string, when suddenly the girl rushed to him with tears:
- Don't kill them, Bata! - she began to ask. - Don't touch! I'll feed you anyway. These are really my brothers, they used to be people, then an evil eagle turned them into birds. And my sister too... Let's go to my yurt, I'll tell you everything. Take a bucket...
Bata obeyed, took a full bucket of water from the hole and followed the girl. And the capercaillie and hazel grouse flew to another bush, closer to the yurt, and looked at the door.
So the girl lit a fire, boiled fish in a cauldron, cut up dried meat, put it all on a bench, and began to treat the guy. He eats, and she picks up the crumbs and puts them in a birch bark box.
“Kug, kug...” was heard.
Bata looked at the smoke hole, and there was a bird with red feathers sitting. He wanted to scare her and already raised his hand, but the girl stopped him:
- No need! This Kugahi (Kuksha) bird is my sister. She asks for food. She was so beautiful and so good at embroidering all sorts of patterns on robes...
Kugahi flew down, her sister handed her crumbs in a birch bark bowl, and she began to tell:
“We used to live in the upper reaches of a large river, our yurt stood near the Poplar channel, there were a lot of people there. Then father and mother migrated here to the Berezovaya River, and then they died in one year - We felt bad without them. In the fall, the brothers caught some chum salmon, killed the elk and smoked the meat. Then they say: We must go to the old place, to the people... The sister did not want to lag behind them and also went with them. And I had to feed the dogs, guard the yurt and everything that was here: these bear skins, boar skins, dishes, our clothes and supplies. The elder brother said: If there is better chum fishing there, we will come for you... Well, here... The brothers each took their bow and arrows, new poles, a spear, and the sister filled her knapsack with food, and they swam up the river. Their battle was light, all three pushed off with poles, quickly left, left - and they were gone... They rose to the crooked hill, where the stone cliff stands. They should have walked on the left side, but they went on the right, right next to the shore. As soon as they reached the cliff, they heard a strong roar, stones fell on them from above. What's happened? Stones fly, the baht just cracks from them, the brothers don’t have time to throw them away. And there was an eagle on the cliff, he was hiding and throwing stones from there. Then, when he spread his wings and rose into the air, it became clear how huge he was, scary to look at. The elder brother shot an arrow at him, it bounced off and fell into the water. The younger brother shot an arrow, it hit the wing and also fell into the water. The sister says: Arrows will not help, the eagle is planning to destroy us, take the poles in your hands! She herself began to turn the boat to the other shore. The eagle flew very close to them. The elder brother hit him with a pole, but the pole broke in two. The younger brother hit the oar, and the oar broke. This robber was an eagle - bey, he had great power. Then, when the elder brother took a spear with iron teeth, the eagle hissed, got angry and flapped its wings so that a storm arose, nothing was visible, spray flew in all directions. The sister did not even notice how he touched his wing first with his older brother, then with his younger brother. And he touched her... I just heard him hiss: Here you go, here you go! You will be small, armless, not human-like, you will live with the birds and obey me...
That's how they turned into birds, and I didn't know anything. Before evening I went ashore and wanted to make a fire. I see that the baht is carrying water from above. And no one can be seen on it. It seems that this is our baht, but it’s empty... I quickly untied the snare and am swimming to catch this baht. I see: a capercaillie and a hazel grouse are sitting on the stern, and in front is a red-finned juck. First she shouted in her own way: Kug, kug... Then she spoke in a human voice: It’s us, sister! The angry eagle-beu did not allow us to pass beyond the stone cliff. You see what he did to us!
And the capercaillie and hazel grouse are silent, they just whistle to her... What to do? I say: you shouldn’t have left here, you shouldn’t have walked so far. I drove the bat to the shore, a capercaillie and a hazel grouse fluttered out of it and flew into the bushes. And the kuksha - kugahi - began to circle above the yurt. Now she is also in the forest, but often appears here. Either it will fly in to warm up, or it will come to eat. And he tells me the news. Well, what kind of life is this, just think about it! I feel so sorry for them all... The girl began to cry, collects the crumbs and cries. - You laughed at me at the ice hole, said that my hair was disheveled, my hair was torn... It was me who became like this out of grief. I don't know what to do...
- We must kill the eagle! “I’ll kill him,” Bata said and pushed the food away.
“It’s not so easy to kill him,” the girl objected. – He has bone wings and an iron beak... Don’t miss!
“I’ll probably be able to do it somehow,” says the guy. - I am the son of a hunter from the Kedrovaya River. My father Kanda Mafa goes bear hunting alone. The only bad thing is that she and her mother went far from people and lost the way to them. Previously, they also lived on a big river, I have grandparents there, they still don’t know that I was born. I need to find them... But that's later. First I'll kill the eagle...
With these words he began to get ready.
- Maybe we should give you some dogs and a sled? - asks the girl.
- No, I’ll go skiing! “He put on his bogdo hat again, girded himself, and tied his fur boots tighter. Here is a bow and a bag in which arrows with iron tips are prepared.
Bata gets ready, and the girl looks at him with sad eyes: what if the eagle turns him into some kind of bird?
“Take my father’s spear,” she says, “I’ll get it for you now...
And Kugahi flew up again, settled down at the smoke hole and from there she spoke:
- If you kill an eagle, take out its largest feather and bring it with you...
- Why do you need it? - asks the guy. Kugahi says:
- This feather will help us. Don't forget. Do you hear? So Bata took a spear, left the yurt, and the wood grouse, who were watching him, flew into the coastal bushes and looked at him from there. He got on his skis and, without looking back, quickly rushed up the frozen river. Runs further and further towards the sun...
He walked for a long time, but saw no birds, no animals, no one all the way. The sun was already setting when the eagle cliff appeared ahead. Bata quickened his pace, ran so that white dust swirled behind him like smoke, sometimes he jumped over wide holes from which thick steam poured out... Approaching the cliff, he saw no one above, and everything around was empty and quiet. Then he felt that he was tired, and as soon as it got dark, he decided to rest.
On the shore stood a poplar tree with such a wide trunk that three people could hide behind it if they sat side by side. But Bata was alone. He cleared a place for himself, broke down fir branches, cut dry grass with a knife and made a bed for himself. He leaned against the poplar and fell asleep. I slept all night, didn't even wake up...
In the morning, before I even had time to open my eyes, I heard someone’s creaky voice:
Who is this lousy hunter here on the spruce bed? His clothes were covered with frost, his eyelashes turned frosty. Where is he going? Why is he going? Ice on your skis and ice on your hat...
Bata raised his head and saw a large eagle. The eagle sat on the top of a poplar, then descended lower, onto a gnarled branch. He had huge wings. When he went down, he straightened them out, dry, red grass. staggered from the wind, a whirlwind rose. The eagle's wings must indeed have been made of bone, and its beak was made of iron, only feathers like feathers were visible under the neck.
“There you are! - thought Bata. “Now you’ll find out what kind of hunter I am.”
He took the bow, took out his father’s arrow – abuguni – from his bag and took aim from his knee. If I get under the neck of this bird, it means that the sun will continue to shine for me for a long time - so he thought and shot an arrow. But the eagle threw it away with its iron beak. The arrow fell on the snow, and the eagle laughed and rose to the very top of the poplar.
Then Bata took another arrow, with an iron tip, and, standing, shot the arrow. She hit the robber right under the neck. The eagle perked up, let out a long cry and fell to the ground...
“Serves you right,” said Bata, “now, just in case, I’ll add another spear...
He took a spear and, coming close to the eagle, struck it with the spear. And the arrow was still sticking out under the eagle's neck. The guy took so long to pull her out that he even got angry, pulled with all his might and injured his leg. The blood just gushed out like a stream. Bata staggered from the pain, but did not fall, somehow crawled to the poplar and lay down in the place where he spent the night.
That's how unlucky he was! The guy lay under the tree all day, night had already come. There is silence all around, you can only hear some birds whistling in the bushes, or is it the air that rings because of the frost? “I’ll probably die here,” Bata thinks, “I couldn’t even pull the biggest feather out of this robber’s wing.” Now everything is gone. The blood from the leg flows and flows. How can you stop her?
Bata lay under a tree for a long time and suddenly heard someone creeping up to him through the dry grass, rustling at the very head of his head. He rose up on his elbow and saw a rat.
- Is that you, long-tailed one? What do you want? “You see how sick I am,” said Bata. - It’s good if you ran to the Kedrovaya River, my father and mother live there. I would tell them that I was wounded... Let them come for me...
The rat sniffed him and, running to the side, squeaked:
- I'm waiting for you to die. I want to gnaw your bones...
Bata angrily threw a snowball at her, she got scared and ran into the bushes. It became quiet again. The guy is lying down, looking at the sky, it is so blue and calm, the sun is burning brightly on it, but Bata cannot rise, he has no strength.
While he was looking at the sky, a fox ran out of the bushes and stopped near him, waving its fluffy tail and remaining silent. Bata did not immediately see her, as he was busy with his thoughts, and did not notice how she approached. He turned to her and began to ask:
- Fox! - You can be kind. And your legs are fast. Run to my parents on the Cedar River, tell them that I killed an evil eagle and accidentally wounded my leg. Let them come to me... The fox licked her lips and said:
- I'm waiting for you to die. I haven't eaten meat for a long time... How long are you going to hang around here?
The guy became scared, he groaned and grabbed the spear with a groan, but did not have the strength to throw it at the cunning and greedy fox. She, seeing how angry he was, cowardly put her tail between her legs and quickly rushed off on her way. .
The sun warmed the guy, he closed his eyes and soon fell asleep. I woke up when a crow cawed:
- Carr, carr!
The crow circled around the poplar, looked at the guy and perched on a nearby tree, screaming again.
- Listen, crow! - said Bata. - Why are you croaking at me? Better fly to my father and mother, tell them about my trouble. I will never touch you if I remain alive. Fly... - he begged the black bird, but in vain. The crow even laughed:
- I just made it up! I'm waiting for you to die. I want to peck out your eyes...
Bata fell silent and did not speak again. He began to talk to her and realized that he had no one to expect help from. And time passed, the guy’s sides were covered with frost, he was frozen, thinking that the end was about to come... And suddenly he heard a familiar voice:
- Kug, kug!..
Where did he get his strength from? Bata raised his head, was delighted, couldn’t even believe his eyes, and asked:
- Kugahi? It's you? Come down to me quickly, Kugahi, I'm dying.
Kuksha came down from the branch and sat down next to her, at the very head of the bed, and listened to everything that the guy told her.
- I killed an eagle. He's lying over there, see? But the evil spirits punished me. If only father and mother knew about this! Fly to them, Kugahi...
-Did you take the feather from the eagle? - asked the cuckoo.
- No. I didn't have time... it happened.
- My brothers - the wood grouse and the hazel grouse - were watching you. They just don’t know how to say anything, but when they flew to us, my sister and I realized that you were in trouble. So I hurried to you... Don’t worry,” said Kugahi. “I will immediately take your words to my father and mother.” Just don't get offended while I'm flying. Eat these berry seeds. Your sister sent this to you. They stop bleeding. Eat!
Bata took the grains of the berries and began to chew them, and Kugahi flew to the Cedar River...
Kanda-mafa and his wife considered their son dead; Many days had passed since he left their yurt, but his son had not returned.
“If people were close, someone would have found him in the taiga and helped him,” the mother said with tears. - It's all your fault, you! - she reproached her husband. – You wanted to live without people.
So we lost our son. Where to look for it? Who will help us?
Every day she told him these words and kept crying.
“Our guy is not like everyone else,” Kanda-mafa objected to her, “he is a hero!” Nothing will happen to him. It will come!
So Kanda-mafa reassured his wife, but he himself thought: Taiga is big, maybe the guy got lost? If he doesn’t come today, I’ll go look for him tomorrow... But how can I find him? The tracks were covered with snow, and there was nothing left of the ski track. Spring is coming...
- Maybe he fell into the wormwood? Or did the bear attack him? Or maybe he froze somewhere under a tree? Or did he die of hunger? – Letiga took up her task again.
- Stop making things up! Stop it! Kanda-mafa angrily slammed the door and walked out. The bright sun made it painful for my eyes to look at the snow. He decided to chop wood. As soon as he took up the ax, some bird with red feathers flew in and began to circle above him:
- Kug, kug...
Kanda-mafa tried to scare her away, but she did not fly away, again circling around him.
- Shoo! What do you want here? - he shouted. - Get out of here!
“I brought you news,” said Kugahi. Kanda-mafa was surprised that the bird spoke human language, he even lowered the ax. At this time, Letiga opened the door and looked out of the yurt:
-Who are you talking to?
- Come here, listen... Some kind of soothsayer is croaking here...
Letiga, leaving the yurt, looked around.
“You’re completely out of your mind.” I confused Kuksha with a crow. Don't you see what kind of bird this is?
Kugahi sat down on a log and said:
- That's it... Don't quarrel. Your son Bata is alive, but he is lying under a poplar tree near the eagle cliff, he is very bad now, he has lost a lot of blood. We need to find a good medicine - octo...
Kugahi told them everything, how Bata killed the eagle and how he accidentally wounded his leg. Then she explained where to look for the guy, showed the way, and Kanda-mafa already rushed to the sledge, calling the dogs to go.
Out of joy, Letiga did not know what to do, she ran into the yurt and quickly returned from there with a small bundle in her hands.
“Yes, I have a medicine called Octo,” she said, wiping away tears, “my father gave it to me.” He knows all sorts of useful herbs. And this is not grass, these are dry red berries, they grow on creeping branches, from them the patient gains strength every hour. Now we will take this medicine to our son. I’ll go with you too, do you hear, Tibe-ula?
She had not called her husband by name for a long time, but then she suddenly became affectionate, forgot about all the insults with joy, Kanda-mafa was even surprised.
- Okay, get ready! - he says.
Kugahi, looking at them, thought with pity that they would have to travel for a long time, and Bata was waiting there, he was alone, we must quickly give him the medicine - octo.
“I can take these berries to your son,” she said. - While you are going there on dogs, I will fly faster on wings. Give me at least a little... Tie it here.
Letiga tied a small bundle of dried, very light berries around the neck of the red-feathered bird, and it set off again.
Having reached the Berezovaya River, she began to circle around her yurt, then sat down near the smoke hole to see what her sister was doing. But there was no one in the yurt. There was not a soul near the yurt either. Where did everyone go? Both sister and brothers? You can't even see the dogs. And the sledges too.
“My sister must have gone to the eagle cliff,” thought Kugahi and, flapping her wings, she flew on.
So she flies and sees: a sled trail stretches down the frozen river below. So Kugahi was not mistaken. Soon she noticed from above a sleigh with dogs, a sister was sitting on the sledge, and next to her was a wood grouse and a hazel grouse. They will either fly upward, or sit on the bushes and again catch up with the sled.
“Kug, kug!” Kugahi shouted to them, flying over the river, and soon left them behind.
Somewhere else Kanda Mafa and his wife were traveling. The dogs raced quickly along the snow-white river. And ahead are the sister and brothers. But Kugahi flew the fastest...
The guy didn’t think that the red-feathered bird would return so soon. He was sitting leaning against the poplar when she descended onto the spruce branches.
“Here’s your medicine—octo...” she said. - Untie the knot, it’s on my neck, see? Your mother sent this. He and his father are coming here, maybe they will be here tomorrow morning. And my sister: – too. Eat! These berries add strength every minute...
The guy untied the bundle with dried red berries, began to eat them, and the cuckoo flapped its wings and disappeared into the bushes...
Bata ate his fill and fell fast asleep. How long did he sleep, who knows? Only when he woke up did he immediately jump to his feet. Where did he get his strength from? It was as if my leg had never hurt. But what is it? Why is it so warm? Bata looked in front of him and froze in surprise. A fire is burning, and there is a girl by the fire. She looks at him and smiles. What's happened?
The girl was dressed as if she were going to a sable hunting festival. She was wearing a new embroidered robe, along the entire hem there were white shells - kakhta - kashita, and between them yellow pendants dangled and jingled. Instead of torn high boots, there are new ones on the feet, in multi-colored patterns...
-You were Kugahi, or what? – Bata asked, coming close to her.
- No. Kugahi is my sister. Now she’s sitting there under the tree, crying... It’s too hot for her to sit by the fire.
- Why is she crying?
- Out of joy... She has a kind heart. She's glad you've recovered and are back on your feet. Her name is Mya-vani. Get the biggest feather from the eagle as soon as possible...
The guy rushed to the dead bird, pulled out the feather, and carried the eagle further away and threw it into a ravine.
When Bata returned, two guys and a girl in a red robe were already standing by the fire. He didn’t immediately understand where the guys came from. They stand, talk to each other and laugh. And the girl is completely different. She has a long braid and such rosy cheeks. Her sister collected water from the hole and hurries with a pot to the fire.
- Here, Bata, these are my brothers... Thank you for everything. And this is my sister Myavani...” said the girl. - Now we’ll drink tea, we have meat and fish. Are you hungry?
Bata extended his hand to everyone in turn, then rubbed his eyes and said: “Am I seeing a dream?”
And a sled in a dog sled is racing along the shore, very close. This is father and mother on their way.
How much joy they had! Bata had never heard his mother talk so cheerfully... She would either cry or laugh. And she looks at her son all the time, does not take her eyes off him, as if she is afraid that he will leave again. The girls began to treat everyone. the eldest, in a blue robe, pours tea into mugs, and the youngest, in a red robe, serves... The mother looks first at one, then at the other; both are good, but this one, in red, is a real beauty. Probably Kanda Mafa also stared at her, saying that he had never seen such beautiful girls in his life...
It became noisy around the fire. Everyone remembers and talks about everything they experienced in their own way.
After everyone had drunk tea and eaten meat and fish, Kanda-mafa was the first to rise:
“Well, son, it’s time for us to go home,” he said. - Get ready, my mother and I have come for you...
Bata looked at him, at his mother, then looked around at his new friends and also stood up:
- No, father, I won’t go with you... It’s boring to live there... Better go to the people in the camp. I want to see my grandparents. After all, he went to them, but he was delayed because of the eagle.
Letiga stood up after her son:
- You're right, son. “I’ll go with you too,” she said, clinging to his shoulder.
Kanda Mafa scratched the back of his head; he didn’t think things would turn out like this. What a persistent guy he was born to be. It turns out that now he needs to go too.
- Well, where are you going? - he asked his sisters and brothers, seeing that they were also getting ready to go on the road.
The brothers answered at once:
“Where Bata calls you, that’s where you have to go!” The sisters laughed and also said in one voice:
- And we won’t leave them behind...
And so they all went further, up the river, to the people. Some on sledges, and some on foot. And Bata went ahead on skis. He walked quickly. But sometimes he stopped to see if the others were keeping up with him. And for some reason he smiled when he distinguished Myavani’s red robe among others...
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru