In ancient times, in ancient times, the cannibal Almys lived in the blue Altai.
He had a long black mustache thrown over his shoulders like reins. Almys had a beard down to his knees. The eyes are bloodshot. There are large sharp teeth in the mouth. The fingers have sharp claws. The entire body is covered with thick hair.
This Almys was fierce, bloodthirsty, merciless. He attacked hunters in the forest, attacked women in villages, he did not spare the elderly, and he did not spare small children.
Almys grabbed people and ate them.
And he was so strong, so cunning that no one dared to fight him.
When they see Almys, they quickly run away and hide...
People didn't know what to do. They said:
- Almys is stronger than us! Almys is more cunning than us! No one will defeat him, no one will outwit him. We must endure, we must remain silent.
Everyone endured it and remained silent.
There lived a hunter in one village. His name was Boroldoy-Mergen. He was strong, brave, smart. If people go hunting, they will return with nothing. And Boroldoy-Mer-gen will always come with prey: he will bring foxes, and sables, and ermines, and squirrels. He walked all the forests, all the mountains. The beast never touched him, he never got into trouble, because his mind was bright, his eye was keen, his hand was strong.
One day Almys came down from his mountains and came to the village where Boroldoy-Mergen lived. People ran in fear, they didn’t know where to hide.
And the cannibal grabbed one child and went back to the mountains.
While Almys was close, people did not dare to speak loudly. And when he left, they made noise and cried.
“Whose child will be snatched away by a monster next time?” - mothers cry.
And the children cry. And the men are silent, frowning. Boroldoy-Mergen tells them:
- Don't cry, don't hide. We must kill the damned cannibal Almys, then everyone will live without fear!
And people answer:
“We can’t defeat Almys, we can’t get rid of him.” After all, we are not birds - we cannot fly into the sky, and we are not fish - we cannot hide in the water. Apparently it's destined
we will die from the claws and fangs of the damned Almys!..
Melancholy attacked Boroldoy-Mergen. He felt bitter and offended. He looked at his son and thought:
“He was not born for Almys to tear him apart with his sharp teeth! And all the other children were not born for this! We must put an end to the damned cannibal, we must save mothers from grief!”
How will you do this?
It is impossible to challenge Almys to a fight: Almys will destroy not only one person, but the entire village. And men will not go to fight him: Almys intimidated everyone, took away everyone’s courage, deprived them of courage. And it is impossible to outwit Almys: he is always on the alert, always guesses about everything.
Boroldoy-Mergen thinks about how to save people from Almys, but he finds no peace.
He thought for a long time, thought a lot. Finally I came up with it.
What I came up with, I didn’t tell anyone.
He took the strongest bow, took the sharpest arrows and asked his son:
—Is there courage in your heart?
- Eat!
— Is there pity for people in your heart?
- Eat!
- Then come with me. Our journey will be long, it will be terrible. We can't not go. Would you like to ask something?
The son didn’t ask anything. Let's go silently.
The hunter and his son went to the mountains from where Almys descended. They walked through a dense forest, climbed rocky cliffs, walked forward without a path, and finally came out into the open.
There stood a tall stump, and bushes and trees grew nearby. No one was visible around - no animals, no birds.
Here Boroldoy-Mergen stopped, took off all his combat clothes and put them on a stump. The boy looks at his father and doesn’t ask anything. The father built a fire near the tree stump. The son looks and doesn’t ask anything. The hunter said to his son:
“Sit here, near the fire, and, no matter what happens, don’t run away.”
- I won’t run away!
- You will be scared, very scared!
- I won’t be afraid!
- Well, then sit down and wait.
The boy sat down by the fire, and the father took a bow and arrows and hid in the bushes. The hunter is sitting in the bushes, the boy is sitting near the fire, there is no one around, it’s quiet.
They sat for a long time.
Suddenly there was a noise, a crash. Almys himself came out from behind the trees: his black mustache was thrown over his shoulders, his eyes were bloodshot, he was snapping his sharp fangs. I saw a boy by the fire and roared with joy:
“I went to the village for meat, and the meat just appeared here!” “Then he looked at the stump, mistook him for a hunter, and laughed: “Well, man, watch how I eat your son!” After all, you won’t dare defend him!
With these words Almys rushed to the fire.
He runs, his beard fluttering in the wind, the tails of his long fur coat turned back. He jumped up, and the boy ran back behind the stump.
Almys follows him, and the boy keeps running around the stump. Almys cannot grab him. Then Boroldoy-Mergen contrived, shot, and his sharp arrow hit Almys right in the chest. Almys roared and growled. From his screams the trees bent, the stones cracked and rolled down the mountains.
And Boroldoy-Mergen fired arrow after arrow at the monster.
Almys became furious. He rushed to a stump, dressed in a hunter’s outfit, began to gnaw at it and suddenly collapsed to the ground. Boroldoy-Mergen came up and saw that the cannibal had been killed
Boroldoy-Mergen did not ask his son if he was scared. He said only one word:
- Let's go!
And they went to their village.
When they arrived, Boroldoy-Mergen told the people:
- Our children will grow up. Mothers will live without fear. Almys is no more, he was killed.
-Who killed him? - people asked.
- I.
- Why did you take your little son with you?
— He was bait for Almys.
- But Almys could have torn him to pieces?
- I could.
Boroldoy-Mergen said nothing more and entered his home.
This is how the Altai people freed themselves from their long-standing and fierce enemy.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru