One woman gave birth to a daughter. The spirit of death immediately appeared, ready to take away the girl’s soul. But first he had to find out her fate. Sticking his sword into the ground, the spirit asked him:
– Will she die of illness?
The sword tilted - this meant: no.
-Will she die of hunger?
The sword tilted again.
– Will she die from poison?
The sword bent again.
- Will the tiger eat her?
This time the sword remained motionless. The spirit of death continued his questions: will the girl be eaten by a tiger while she is collecting brushwood in the forest, or going to visit relatives, or trading at the market? Each time the sword answered - no.
Finally the spirit asked:
“Will her hour of death come when she carries the mortar and pestle to pound rice?”
“Yes,” the sword confirmed, this is exactly what will happen.
Having learned the fate of the girl, the spirit of death, satisfied, left, and her parents had no idea about anything.
But it so happened that near their house there was a young man who overheard a conversation between the spirit and the sword. He felt sorry for the girl and began to think about how to protect her.
As soon as the spirit left, the young man entered the house and asked his parents for a girl to be his wife. The parents initially objected that it was too early to agree on a marriage, but then they agreed.
When the girl grew up, a wedding took place, and the young wife moved into her husband’s house. Soon the husband decided to move to live in another place, because the land he was cultivating was completely depleted.
As soon as the new house was ready, he and his wife began moving things around. In the evening, the wife suddenly remembered that she had forgotten the mortar and pestle in the old house.
The husband told her to wait, sharpened his sword, sharpened his spear and went with his wife. She was surprised to see her husband arming himself like that and asked if he was going hunting? But the husband replied that caution never hurts.
When they came to the old house, the husband hid in the shadows, but so as to be close to his wife. The wife approached the place where the mortar and pestle lay. And at that time the husband heard the leaves rustling under the paws of a creeping tiger. As soon as the wife threw the mortar into the basket and put the basket on her shoulders, a tiger jumped out of the bushes and wanted to rush at the woman. But the husband was on his guard. With the speed of lightning, he struck the tiger with a strong blow with his sword. Then he plunged a pike into his neck and chopped off his paws. The tiger did not even have time to turn around before death overtook him.
Having dealt with the tiger, the husband told his wife about what fate was destined for her.
From then on, the husband and wife no longer worried about anything and were not afraid of anything. They lived a long life and died at a very old age.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru