There is a huge waterfall in the Yishan Mountains; when you look from a distance, it seems as if the water is falling straight from the blue sky. It sparkles with silver, the seething stream sparkles, and rolls into the valley. And from the valley it flows into a large bay. The water in the bay is old ink, black and green, the depth in it is impossible to see the bottom. And beyond the bay there is a deep gorge, the gorge stretches for several dozen miles, winding like a snake. In the place where it is wider, there is a village. In that village in the old days lived a poor young man named Wan-shou.
His father and mother died long ago, he had one uncle, his mother’s brother, and he lived in another village. The young man rarely visited him, only on holidays. Wan-shou hired himself out to a foreign village as a shepherd to graze cows. When he goes to the mountains with his herd, he lives there, only coming down from the mountains for food. And he is not bored without people.
At noon, as soon as the cows have eaten their fill, Wan-shou runs up the steep mountain slope. He will come running, hide behind a rhododendron bush and wait. Soon a scene emerges from the black-green water. Gongs sound, drums thunder, and they argue with the roar of the waterfall. And the young man can clearly see everything from behind the bush. And how the old man minces across the stage with small steps, and how the military hero flips over his head and jumps onto the stage. But finally a young woman appears. Her gait resembles the fast flow of a river. The voice is the clink of golden glasses, the shimmer of silver bells. It sounds in Wan Shou's heart. A woman sings about the sad - the young man wants to cry, sings about the joyful - the young man is ready to laugh.
And then one day the woman sang especially well, her voice became louder and louder and suddenly, like a spring lark, soared to the very heights. Wan-shou could not stand it here, looked out from behind a bush, clapped his hands and shouted:
- Ay-ya!
The gongs and drums suddenly fell silent, the girl disappeared, and the stage went under water. And the waves began to flow across the bay - as if a storm had raged at sea. The young man was doused with water from head to toe, and he was about to be overwhelmed. He grabbed a bush, grabbed a tree, and climbed to the very top of the mountain. I turned around - where had the waves gone? Peace and quiet in the bay. Only from that time on the young man never saw that wondrous wonder.
Winter has come. The lush grasses dried up in the meadows, white snowflakes swirled and darted in the sky. The owners took the cattle home. And now the third day of the New Year has arrived. Wan-shou went to visit his old uncle. The uncle sees that his nephew has grown up, he is happy and sad.
“It’s time,” says the uncle, “to think about a bride, but who will give you, a poor man, your daughter as a wife?”
Uncle said so and shed a tear. It became hard for Wan-shou, a stone lay on his heart, and the young man thinks: Uncle can’t be upset, he’s old. How can I console him? Suddenly a thought occurred to the young man. He pretended to be happy and happy and said:
“Don’t be sad, uncle, I found a wife for myself, I brought him to the house yesterday, so I hurried to you with the good news.”
The old man heard this, did not ask whether it was true or not, he patted his nephew on the shoulder and said:
- It turns out that you have a lot of ingenuity and intelligence. It’s not in vain that I hoped for you. What happiness! How happy my mother would be if she lived!
The young man got ready to go home, his uncle escorted him out the gate and said:
“You’re the only one I have in the whole world, I don’t have any relatives anymore, so whether you like it or not, I’ll come visit you soon, I want to see my nephew’s wife.”
Wan-shou was frightened and answered his uncle:
- Better not go! You are many years old, but the road in the mountains is difficult!
The old man does not give in to persuasion, he stands his ground:
“Was it easy for you to get a wife?” Even if my step is three fingers long, I will still come!
The young man returned home, his soul heavy: his old uncle would soon come to him, what would he tell him, what would he show him? In his house there is only the wind blowing! If my uncle finds out that he told a lie, he will be angry and sad. How can this be? He thought and thought and came up with an idea. He took a rocker, hung two baskets on it, and went to the river. He collected clay, filled the baskets, and the sad one said to himself:
“You don’t know, uncle, that your nephew deceived you.” You don’t know that your joy is empty.
Wan-shou says this, and tears fall from his eyes. He brought the clay home, sculpted a doll, sprinkled flour on its face so that it was white, drew eyebrows, long and scattered, a small mouth slightly open, it seemed like the doll was about to speak, drilled out two eyes - they looked as if they were alive. Wan-shou looks at the doll and sighs heavily. And she’s fine and beautiful, but still a doll, not a person.
On the sixth day of the first month, at exactly noon, my uncle knocked on the gate. The young man was already sweating, and perspiration appeared on his forehead. But in a hurry, as they say, you will be lost without ingenuity. The young man grabbed the doll, put it on the can, put a pillow under its head, covered it with a blanket and ran to open the gate. The uncle came in, so cheerful, looking around, searching - his nephew’s wife was nowhere to be seen. I just wanted to ask about her, but my nephew pulled up a bench for him and said:
— After a long journey, the first thing you need to do is rest.
As soon as the old man sat down, Wan-shou fussed again:
- Come on, thirst has overcome you. I'll go and boil some water in a moment. Before the uncle had time to utter a word, Wan-shou had already run away to get some brushwood.
He returned, boiled water, gave his uncle a drink and again rushed off somewhere. He really wanted to treat his uncle to something tasty, but he had nothing, not a handful of onions or roots. The young man is ashamed, he stands in front of his uncle, does not know what to do. And my uncle took a sip of boiling water and put the cup back in place. He immediately noticed that his nephew was not himself and said:
“I’ve been staying with you for a long time, but I still haven’t seen your wife.” Well, click on her, let her amuse me, an old man!
The young man was most afraid of these words. He answers his uncle:
- My wife is sick. I haven't gotten out of bed for days now!
The uncle heard this, was saddened, as if he himself had fallen ill, or maybe worse, did not drink boiling water, jumped up from his seat and said to his nephew:
- Why didn’t you tell me before? I would go and check on her! He said so and went into the room where the doll lay. Wan-shou runs ahead of his uncle, approaches the kan and says:
“Uncle came to see you, get up if you have the strength.”
The old man looks: the blanket looks like a stuffed bag, which means there is someone under it. He believed that his nephew’s wife really fell ill, and asked:
-Are you feeling better, daughter?
Who would have thought that after these words a miracle would happen. The blanket moved and answered in a woman’s voice:
- Feel better, uncle, sit down, please!
Wan-shou was frightened and pulled his hand away from the blanket. "How so? - thinks. “I put the clay doll under the blanket myself, and she took it and started talking!”
Meanwhile, the woman sat up in bed, brushed her hair back from her ears and said to the young man reproachfully:
- What kind of person are you? For once, the old uncle came to visit us, and you are afraid to wake me up, as if I really fell ill. Tell me, what will you treat your guest with?
The uncle sees his nephew’s wife sitting on the canoe, alive and well. Okay, my speech is smooth. The old man is happy, as if a flower has bloomed in his heart.
And the uncle says:
“I’m full, daughter-in-law, I don’t need anything.” Lie down and rest.
And the young man’s heart is jumping and pounding. It was as if he had met this woman somewhere, but he just couldn’t remember where. And the woman says to him again:
“Uncle went through a long and difficult journey before he got here.” How can you not feed him? You sit here, and I’ll cook.
The woman immediately jumped off the kana and went into the next room. The old man was happy, he climbed onto the canal, and the nephew, as they say, his heart jumped up seven times and fell down eight times. He carries on a conversation with his uncle, and listens to what is happening in the next room, not missing a sound. Here the knife knocked on the board: knock-knock. They began to fan the fire in the stove. As if very little time had passed, the woman brings in the dumplings, the steam just keeps pouring out of them. The young man is more amazed than ever: what did she make the dumplings from?
Uncle ate and went home cheerfully. Wan-shou saw him off, returned and looked - a woman was sitting in the house, waiting for him. Now he will find out everything from her.
The young man asks:
- Who are you, tell me finally!
The woman became sad, raised her hand, pointed her finger under the table and said:
“Maybe I imagined that there was a clay doll there?”
The young man looked under the table, and there was a bag lying there. I looked into the bag, and there was actually a doll in the bag!
The woman sighed, so sadly, and said:
- Before, we met with you almost every day. Didn't you recognize me?
I remembered Wan-shou here. But this is the same woman who sang on stage then. And he feels wonderful and happy. And the woman looked at Wan-shou and said coldly:
“Don’t rack your brains, I’ll tell you the whole truth.” Do you know who I am? Werewolf carp! I had an unenviable fate. I live alone, there is not a single native creature nearby, and my owner, a black turtle, from an early age makes me please her with singing. He won’t ask if I’m healthy or if I’m sick, and he’ll drive me to the stage in any bad weather. A few days ago a turtle went somewhere to have some fun. Let me go with the flow, I think. I swam and reached your village. I hear that you are grieving and dying, so I decided to help you, and for one thing, to console your uncle.
Wan-shou finally understood what had happened, became ashamed, blushed and asked:
- Will you leave me or stay?
For the first time, happiness fell upon the young man. But the morning came, the woman lowered her head and cried bitterly.
The young man asks, so kindly:
“You don’t like my poverty?”
The woman began to cry more than ever and said:
- I am not free over myself! When a turtle returns home and misses me, it might inadvertently show up at your place. I don’t worry about myself—let him beat me, let him scold me. I'm scared for you. I don't want you to suffer because of me.
When Wan Shou heard this, tears flowed from his eyes. And the woman paused and said:
- Don’t worry, Wan-shou, don’t kill yourself. We'll see you again. If you remember me, come to the bay, go behind the big black stone, lightly slap that stone three times, I’ll come out in an instant.
She said so and immediately repeated everything word for word, as if Wan-shou had missed something. Then she quietly went to the door. She went out the gate, looked back, turned into a stream of blue smoke and rushed off with the wind.
A day passed, another flew by. Wan-shou went to the bay. He went down the steep bank and looked - and indeed the black stone stood as tall as a man. On top there is green moss, below there are colorful flowers - colorful moths. The young man lightly slapped the stone three times, just as the woman had taught him. The stone has disappeared. And in its place is either a door or a window, covered with black varnish. The window opened, the young man looked - a woman came out of it, waving her hand, telling Wan-shou to quietly and silently climb into the window. Wan-shou obeyed and climbed through the window. And there the mansions are high and spacious. The woman led the young man into a cramped dark closet and quietly said:
- This is my home. And in those mansions turtles live. Guests have come to the hostess today. Soon they will call me to sing, so you wait here. Whatever happens, don’t open the windows, don’t open the doors, don’t look into the yard.
Then the gongs rang, the drums thundered, the woman ran away and closed the door behind her. A little later, Wan-shou hears, the performance has begun. Gongs and drums shake the whole sky, then the huqin began to play, the copper plates of the gong began to echo it, and finally the gentle singing of a woman was heard. Wan-shou could not stand it, he opened the window a little and thought: “Nothing will happen if I open it completely.” But as soon as he opened the window, he heard: “Hua-la” - and a voice like thunder asked:
- What kind of stranger got into my yard?
Wan-shou jumped up in fright and rushed to close the window, but it was too late. The gongs have died down, the drums have fallen silent, only noise and screams can be heard. A woman came up here, took Wan-shou by the hand and led him outside. He looks - there is only water all around, and a whole pack of some creatures with long spears and batogs are chasing after him. Suddenly the woman pushes Wan-shou. And he felt solid ground under his feet. And the woman shouts to him:
- Run, Wan-shou, run faster!
He ran a little and found himself at a large stone at the very top of the mountain, looked down, and the valley was almost completely flooded with water, waves were moving through it. Suddenly the young man noticed that some black-faced beast had dragged the woman under the water.
The next day the water in the valley began to recede. And the bay turned from black-green to turquoise, the sun illuminated it with its rays. Wan-shou looks - a large golden carp is swimming in the waves, about five inches long. How many times after that did Wan-shou go to the treasured black stone and pat it lightly, no one responded. Wan-shou never saw that woman again.
People say that Wan Shou took revenge for the carp woman, but I don’t remember this story. I’ll tell you one thing: there are no more turtles in that bay; only large golden carp are frolicking in the clean, clear water.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru