An old Sami lived with his wife and had no children at all. He often walked through the forest, hunting for a living. Once he went out to Padun and saw a melted gap - he was surprised: everywhere there was more than a fathom of snow, but here there was nothing - bare earth. He looks and thinks: someone must live here. I began to wait. Suddenly little children come out of the ground and let’s play. These little people play like squirrels - whether they're devils or scaffolding, God knows. The old man thought. He went to his wife and said: “Sew me a big, big kanga.” He took a canga and a rope and went to the melted crevice. He tied the kanga to a rope, threw it there and waited. It was getting dark, and as if the sun had just illuminated the melted gap for the last time, children ran out of the ground. One saw a canga and, while playing, stuffed both legs into it and, in addition, jokingly tied himself with a rope. When the old man saw this, he shouted in a terrible voice. The children ran away, leaving only one tied up. The old man took him, brought him home and said to his wife: “We didn’t have a son, here’s a son for you.” They began to raise him. The boy has grown up. Only every spring you had to keep an eye on him so that he didn’t run off somewhere. Soon the old man, the old woman and the guy moved to the underground town and lived there. Once in the spring they didn’t keep an eye on the guy, and he ran far, far away from them. He ran through the mountains, through the forest, until he came across a miracle. Chud grabbed the boy:
“Where do you live?” He is silent. “Where do you live?” - they ask. “Where do you live?” - answers. "Who are you?" - they ask. "Who are you?" - answers. "What's your name?" - they ask. “What’s your name?” he answers.
And so on. As he is asked, he answers with the same words. The Chud became embittered. “Throw him into the river!” - we decided. They grabbed the guy and threw him away. Suddenly they see that they threw their own instead of the Sami. They repeated it again - the same thing.
“Kill him with the sword!” - the chieftain orders. They hacked him to death - they look, they hacked down three of their own, but the boy is still intact. Well, I got a little scared here. Still, she forced him to take him to the place where the old people lived. Chud wanted to kill them, but the boy said that if they touched their father and mother, not a single one would reach Kola alive. They took him as a guide. “Take me to Kola,” they say.
He led them for four or five days and brought them to the island on Tulom, which is higher than German. “Here,” he says, “you need to spend the night, because you can’t enter Kola at night.” We sailed to the island in carbass and fell asleep. The boy took all the carbass, tied them together, and sailed away with them. In the morning the miracle wakes up - no karbas, no guy.
So they all died there. The ataman lived the longest, he buried them and put money with them, a lot of money. He piled up stones and made a vow: whoever kills his son here and puts him in this grave will get the treasure. And so he died.
“This place is also strange: you need to drive past quietly, don’t shout, otherwise you’ll get it – it will be bad!” - the Sami add.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru