There lived an old man and an old woman. They lived poorly: the old man became weak and rarely went hunting. They had a son, Nyadyga. The boy grew very quickly, faster than a Manchurian nut. He grew up and began asking his parents for skis, a spear and a bow. The old man says to the old woman:
- Find my skis and bow, give them to your son.
He himself was weak and couldn’t walk at all. The old woman found all this and gave it to her son. Nyadyga got up on his skis, his skis bent.
“These skis are not for me,” says Nyadyga. He pulled the bow, but the string could not stand it - it broke. Then Nyadyga cut down a large walnut tree, hewed skis out of it, seven steps long, glued the skin of an elk to the bottom, and from an Amur lilac he bent himself a bow two arms long and went hunting...
While hunting, he heard that beyond the seven passes there lived a terrible snake, Simmu, who ate people. Nyadyga returned home with the prey and began to ask his father and mother for permission to go and kill this snake.
“Until when,” he says, “will the snake eat people?” Man is the strongest in the taiga, all animals must obey him.
- What are you, what are you, Nyadyga! - the old woman wailed. - How will you kill Simma? She has armor made of iron: neither a spear nor an arrow can penetrate. She will eat you, as she has eaten many hunters.
Nyadyga's father and mother did not let him in.
“We won’t wait for you, we’ll die.” After all, we are old and it hurts.
But he still went. Nyadyga walks and sings:
Seven passes lie on the way, Seven passes I need to go through, Many dangers await on the way, - The strong are not afraid, however.
I have three true friends: A bow and a spear, a sharp knife at my belt. I have three true friends... It’s not scary with them, however.
I will meet an evil snake behind the hill, Arrows and a knife will help me in battle, I will sing a victory song, - The brave are not afraid, however.
He walked and walked and saw a girl carrying water towards him. The girl’s robe is fluttering in the wind, her hair is disheveled.
“Where did such wind come from?” - the girl thinks.
And this young man is walking so fast that the wind has risen.
Nyadyga caught up with her and asked for a drink. The girl scooped up some water for him with a birch bark ladle and asked:
-Where are you going, young hunter?
“I’m going to Simm, I want to measure my strength with her,” Nyadyga answers.
- How can you kill her, she has an iron armor? - says the girl. - Well, remember this: Simmu has a yellow spot on his chest; if you hit the spot, you'll kill Simma. Only Simmu always lies on his chest, you need to make her angry, then she will jump. At this time, shoot at her, shoot well!
Nyadyga thanked the girl and moved on. He walked and walked, crossed five passes, and looked at a girl carrying water towards him. Just like the first one, but that one had a light robe, and this one was black; The first one smiled at him, but this one looks angrily. Nyadyga asked her for a drink.
“Tell me first where you’re going,” the girl in the black robe asked him.
– I’m going to fight Simmu! - Nyadyga answered. The evil girl laughed - she was a shaman - and said:
- Why should you fight with my older sister? She will eat you along with the olochs. Go straight into her mouth, I won’t give you water.
Nyadyga got angry and pierced the bottom of the shaman’s ladle with an arrow.
“Just as I pierced your ladle with an arrow, so I will pierce your sister,” said Nyadyga and went on.
- Oh, may your legs rot! – the shaman shouted after him.
Nyadyga crossed the seventh pass and saw a mountain of human bones, and nearby, in a cave, Simma. She opens her big mouth - very big - the yurt can easily fit in it - and says in a terrible voice:
- Hey, boy the size of a bird's egg! Why did you come to me? I had a good dinner and want to sleep. Go home and don't come back.
- I came to look at you! – Nyadyga shouted in response. – What kind of strength do you have if you ate so many people? Come out and show me your strength!
- Ha, ha, ha! – Simmu laughed, and the stones rolled down the hill. “It was not such giants who came to me and they died.” All I have to do is breathe, and you will fly away like a blade of grass. Go home, fool!
- But why don’t you come out? – asked Nyadyga. - If you are afraid of the spear, I will throw the spear; If you're afraid of the knife, I'll throw the knife. They say you jump a lot. Jump to me if you're not a coward.
- Oh, yes! – Simmu shouted. - Well, be careful then!
It began to form into a ball, and the rocks began to shake. Nyadyga threw down his spear and knife, remained with only his bow and said to the arrow:
- Arrow, arrow, if I am destined to live, hit the place where I aim.
Simmu got very angry, jumped higher than the hill, and ran into Nyadyga. And Nyadyga fired an arrow and hit the yellow speck. Simma fell to the ground and gave up her ghost. Nyadyga approached her. He began to pull the arrow, but could not pull it out, the arrow went deep. He pulled once, pulled another, pulled out the third time, but the arrow dug into Nya-dyga’s leg. He pulled too hard. My leg is so swollen that I can’t walk. What to do now? He thought, thought, and saw: a mouse ran out of its hole.
“Mouse, mouse,” Nyadyga tells her, “run to my parents, bring me medicine.”
“I’ll wait until you die,” the mouse answers. - I will gnaw at you.
A magpie has arrived.
- Forty, forty! - Nyadyga asks her. “I killed Simma and wounded my leg.” Fly to my parents for some medicine.
“I’ll wait until you die so I can peck your eyes out,” the magpie replies.
A raven is flying.
- Raven, raven, fly closer! - Nyadyga shouted to him.
The raven flew up to him and asked:
-What do you need, young man?
“I killed Simma and wounded my leg.” See how plump she is... Fly to my father and mother, bring me medicine.
- What will happen to you while I'm flying away? “You can die,” says the raven.
The raven flew over seven passes. He flew to Nyadyga’s parents, sat down on the yurt and croaked.
“Look,” says the old woman. “The raven probably pecked at my son and flew to us.”
“No,” the raven answers, “I came for medicine for your son.” He killed Simma and wounded his leg.
“Thank you, raven,” his mother tells him. - Rest a little while I prepare the medicine.
She began to prepare medicine from the seeds of lemongrass, ginseng, bird cherry, sultanas, grapes, lingonberries and currants. There were a lot of bags of seeds. She put it in a bag and gave it to the crow. – A raven flew to Nyadyga and gave him the bag. Nyadyga rubbed his wound with the seeds, ate them and healed his leg. Only the poison went into his head, and Nyadyga lost his memory. He goes and destroys everything, kills everyone on the way back. He approached the yurt of the evil shaman and said:
- Let me rest!
- Who are you? – asks the shaman.
“Hunter,” Nyadyga answers.
The shaman didn’t see him in the darkness, she let him in, and he hit him with a spear! - and killed.
And Nyadyga went further. .
And at this time the titmouse flew and said to the first girl:
- Nyadyga is returning. He killed Simma, only he became crazy. Close the door, otherwise he will kill you.
The girl closed the door. Nyadyga came up. I knocked and knocked, but no one opened it.
And the girl crept up behind him, grabbed him, twisted his hands and carried him to her yurt and began to treat him with all sorts of herbs and roots. He recovered, woke up and recognized a kind girl.
They got married and began to live. Nyadyga just got bored and walked around looking sad.
-What do you need? - asks his wife.
“I want to see my parents, maybe they died a long time ago.”
- Let's go together.
Fuck them. They come to the place where Nyadyga’s parents lived, and there is no yurt there, only two trees stand: a maple and a birch.
They set up a new yurt nearby. Nyadyga says to his wife:
– Don’t touch these trees: don’t touch their bark or branches.
One day he went hunting, and his wife cut the bark of a birch tree with a knife and saw that it was bleeding. She broke off a twig on the maple - there was also blood.
Nyadyga returned from hunting and said:
“Why did you cut my mother’s knee?”
-Where is your mother? - asks the wife.
“And here,” he points to the birch tree.
“He looked at the maple and said:
“Why did you break my father’s finger?”
-Where is your father?
“And here,” he points to the maple tree. The wife cried and said:
- Forgive me, Nyadyga! I won't do it anymore. The wife applied wet clay to the wounds on the birch and maple - the wounds healed...
Since then, birch and maple trees have always grown on the site of the old yurt. You can't touch them.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru