How can you not stand up for yourself! How can you not stand up for your relative? Is it possible to forgive the offender?
There lived in one village a Nanai named Beldy. He had a son named Chokcho. My son was very young - he could barely walk. Beldy hunted all winter. A lot of furs - he accumulated furs. And he had a sable, and a fox, and a seal, and a bear, and a kolok, and a wolf. He looks at Belda’s furs and rejoices:
“I’ll go to the Nikan kingdom - to the city of San-Sin - I’ll sell furs, buy food and supplies for the whole winter!” I will buy a net, a gun, gunpowder, cartridges, toys.
In the summer, Beldy decided to go to San-Sin. His son asks.
- Take me with you, father!
Beldy thought - the road is dangerous, robbers might attack. You never know what can happen on the road...
- What are you saying, son! - says Beldy. - How is it possible that there are no men left in the house! Who will protect mother and sisters? You need to stay.
Beldy left.
A lot of time has passed. During this time, Chokcho learned to wield a knife. He sits planing: he made a spoon, he made a small boat, he carved a deer out of wood, a sledge, a bear, dogs... He made many different toys... But his father is still not there!
The leaves on the trees have already turned yellow, the grass has withered. But Beldy still doesn’t go home.
Then people arrived from the neighboring camp.
Cheokcho's mother made a dish - moss - and treated the visitors to yukola.
They sat and sat, smoked, smoked, ate yukola, ate, then they said:
— Beldy and I went to San-Sin. They traded. We returned back...
-Where is father? - asks Chokcho. People looked at each other.
“Your father,” they say, “traded with a man named Liang.” He bought all the furs from Belda. Beldy went to this Manchu to settle accounts and did not return. It turned out that Liang was not a merchant, but a robber. He took all the furs from Belda and killed him himself.
- Why didn’t you stand up for your father? - asks Chokcho.
People say:
- That Liang-Manchu has a big gang. And there are few of us. We couldn’t stand up for your father - we were afraid: Liang’s people could catch up with us, take away all the goods and kill us...
“You did something bad,” says Chokcho. The people got offended, got into the boat and left.
Chokcho's mother began to cry, and her sisters also began to cry.
They cried so much that their eyes were completely swollen shut.
- What will happen to us now?
But there’s nothing to do—Belda’s tears won’t bring you back! But you have to live. They cried and cried and got down to business. The elder sister took the spear and went into the taiga to hunt. The youngest got into the little boat and went along the Amur to fish. The mother stayed at home to look after the fire and cook food.
And Chokcho says to his mother:
- Sew me fur boots, bake a cake. I'll go look for Liang. I will find it - I will avenge my father, I will return the furs!
Mother says:
- What are you talking about, Chokcho! Where will you go? You're still small.
Chokcho looked at her:
- My father said that I am a man. And men must protect the clan, and must take revenge on the enemy.
The mother sees that Chokcho is firmly standing on his own, there is no way to dissuade him. She baked him a cake and sewed him high fur boots.
Chokcho took his knife, put the hunting bandage on his head, put the yukola in a bag, put on the fur boots on his feet, said goodbye to his sisters and mother and went.
Chokcho walked and walked and saw that there was a large forest on the way. The trees are tall, tall. Pines and oaks make noise in that forest, shaking their tops. There is no end to that forest. Chokcho was not afraid. He walks through the forest, chews a cake, plays with a knife, sings a song, suddenly hears a voice:
-Where are you going, little Nanai? Chokcho looked around. There's no one around. And the voice
calls him again. Chokcho answers:
- I’m going to take revenge for my father!
- Help me, and I will help you! “I’ll be a friend,” says the same voice.
Chokcho saw an acorn lying on a stone. He fell from a tree to the ground and landed on a rock. It lies and dries.
“Take me with you,” says the acorn. - I will be useful to you...
Chokcho took the acorn and went further.
I came across an old fire pit. Stopped to rest. He took off his high boots and put his feet higher. I took a bite of the flatbread. Suddenly he hears a creaky, creaky voice:
-Where are you going, man?
“I’m going to take revenge for my father!” - says Chokcho. - Who are you? Where are you.
- And I’m lying next to you.
Chokcho looked - right by the hearth, in the ashes, there was a spit on which the hunters were roasting meat. Someone threw a spit into the fire. The spit was bent, almost burned, and became covered with scale. And Chokcho helped him: he cleaned off the scale with sand and guided him. It spun completely like new.
- Thank you, Chokcho! You helped me, and I will help you. Take me with you! - he says, he spit it for the boy.
Chokcho took the skewer with him and moved on. I walked past an abandoned fishing spot and heard the voice again. They ask him where he is going. Chokcho answered. I saw that it was a pulverizer and a mallet, which is used to tan fish skin. Someone drove a nail into the mallet and broke the handle of the mallet. Chokcho pulled the nail out of the mallet and gave the mallet a new handle.
- Thank you, Chokcho! - they tell him again. “You helped us, and we will help you.” Take us with you!
Chokcho took the masher and mallet. I went further. He walked and walked and reached a stream. The stream has overflowed - there is no further road. What should I do?
Then Chokcho hears his name again:
- Hey, neighbor, help me, and I’ll help you! I'll be a friend!
Chokcho looks - the water washed away the birch tree, the birch tree fell and crushed the pike. A pike lies under a birch tree - neither back nor forward, its tail wags, but there is no movement. The pike is completely out of breath. Chokcho felled the birch tree and gave free rein to the pike. The pike tells him:
- How will you cross the stream? Sit down, I'll move you.
Chokcho sat on a pike. Instantly I was on the other side.
The pike tells him.
- Take me with you - I’ll come in handy! Chokcho put it in a bag. I went further. Cupid is already visible... Suddenly he sees Chokcho - in
one ski on the grass. “What a pity,” thinks Chokcho, “it’s a good ski, but only one!” And at this time I saw another one. The second one lies far away; someone threw it into the dead wood. Chokcho was not too lazy and brought a second ski. Put it together. And they tell him:
- You helped us, and we will help you! Where are you going, little Nana?
“I’m going to take revenge for my father!” - says Checcho. “I just don’t have enough strength, I don’t know if I’ll get there... It’s a long way!” How will I cross the Amur?
The skis tell him:
- It's all nothing. Stand up, we’ll give you a ride’—things will go faster.
Chokcho laughed:
- Who skis on the grass?
However, I still started skiing. The wings of the skis grew here. They rose into the air and flew away. Yes, quickly! The wind blew a little bandage off my head. Chokcho didn't break. They flew over the Amur - like a blue ribbon, a river winds.
And the skis fly and fly, only the wind whistles in your ears. Rivers, camps, forests flash below... Chokcho takes his breath away.
The boats rushed to San-Sin.
Chkocho looked and got scared.
The camp is big, big, there are a lot of houses. Chokcho never thought that there could be so many houses in one place: they stand in rows, stacked one on top of the other; there are so many of them that there is no end in sight. And there are a great many people here. The noise from the voices is as loud as if a storm were knocking down trees. People are jostling and shouting. They buy, exchange, sell. There are a lot of people, but no acquaintances. Chokcho began to ask how to get to Liang-Manchu’s house. Passers-by laugh at the boy, they don’t understand. Who will hit him, who will push him,
who will pull the braid, who will shout. Luckily for him, an old man passed by who knew the Nanai language. He asked Chokcho. He showed me where Liang Manchu lives.
A little Nana went in that direction.
He sees a beautiful house standing. The ends of the roof are curved upward. Silver bells hang at the ends and ring. Transparent paper is inserted in the windows. There are different trees growing around the house: cherry trees, apple trees... Golden birds are sitting on the branches. Music plays everywhere. Streams flow between the trees, murmuring, as if they are quietly talking.
Chaokcho entered the house and shouted:
- Hey, Liang, come out to fight! - and prepared a stick to fight Liang to the death.
No one answers the little Nanai. Apparently, that person is not at home.
Chkocho entered Liang's room. He put an acorn in the ashes of the hearth so that it would lie on something soft. He put a pike into Liang's washbasin. I placed the spit near the stove. I left the masher and mallet near the door. He sat down on the bunk and fell asleep.
In the evening Liang returned home, cheerful and drunk.
He wanted to light a fire in the hearth. He bent over it and began to fan the coals. And then the acorn jumps up and hits Liang in the eye! Liang howled in pain and rushed to a basin of water to wash his eyes. And a pike stuck out of the basin and grabbed Liang by the nose. Liang bounced off the pelvis. And then a skewer stuck in his back. Liang was completely scared. He rushed to the door to run away... And then the masher and the mallet took hold of Liang, they began to beat him, crush him, and squeeze him so that Liang couldn’t even see the light! And so the grinder and mallet worked until they made thin skin out of Liang.
Chokcho woke up and asked:
— Liang didn’t come? His friends answer him:
- Came on his own head! Look what he has become.
I looked at Chokcho. He sees a white soft skin lying, completely similar to rovduga. Said thank you
to his friends Chokcho, he only regretted that he had not dealt with Liang himself.
Chokcho found Belda's fur in Liang's house. He took the hunting supplies, all sorts of goods that Liang had taken from people by deceit - he put everything in Liang’s skin. He gathered his friends: a masher and a mallet, an acorn, a pike and a skewer. I got on my skis.
The skis rose again and flew like an arrow. The Lian servants flew under their very noses.
The skis flew to the place where Chokcho found them. The boy left them: “Thank you for your help. I don’t need someone else.”
He threw the pike into the very depths of the stream. I left the mallet and masher near the abandoned fishing spot: they will be useful to the owner when he returns. He put the spit in the old place by the fire. He threw an acorn into the soft ground so that it would germinate and a new tree would grow from it.
And Chokcho went his way.
The rich man returned home. He unwrapped Liang's skin - everyone in the camp was surprised: how much had fit into that skin!
The mother was happy, the sisters were happy that Chokcho had returned. They kiss him, hug him, and don’t let him take a step away from him.
And Chokcho speaks like a man and a hunter:
“My high boots are completely worn out.” Sew me new ones. Tomorrow I will go to the taiga.
The sisters sewed him high boots from Liang's skin.
Those high boots were worn for a long time, because there is no skin in the world stronger than the skin of a deceiver and robber, whom pity will not penetrate and the tears of those offended by him will not touch.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru