Once upon a time there lived two brothers, Arakan and Sarakan.
Arakan was a poor woodcutter. He chops a bundle of firewood in the forest, sells it, and that’s how he lives. Day and night he asked Allah for a donkey to carry firewood, but for some reason Allah was in no hurry to fulfill his request.
And Sarakan sold clothes. The tailors who sewed Circassian jackets, beshmets, and fur coats instructed him to sell them. He traveled around the villages, sold goods and earned good money, enough for his family. But he was also unable to buy a donkey for Arakan.
One day Arakan went into the forest, took off his beshmet, laid it under a tree, and began to work with an ax. He chopped up a large bundle, took his beshmet, and a forest kitten fell out of it: he climbed into the sleeve and slept there.
Arakan looked at the kitten and felt sorry for the baby. I put it in the warmth of my bosom and went home.
He gave the kitten the name Marakan. He shared his meager food with him, took him with him into the forest, and in the evenings told him fairy tales.
One day his younger brother came to see Arakan. He was going with goods to distant villages. And Arakan’s house was empty at that time. Let alone treat my brother, I don’t even have anything to feed the cat. And he decided: Maracan is now on his feet, an adult cat, let him get food for himself.
“Take him with you,” he asked Sarakan. - Take it somewhere far away so that you don’t find your way back. I feel sorry for Maracana, but I have to leave.
And during this conversation Marakan was sitting in the corner on a sheepskin and did not take his eyes off the owner. When Sarakan approached him to take him in his arms, the cat arched his back, raised his tail like a pipe, and prepared for a fight.
- Oh, you unfortunate scoundrel! Get out of here! - Sarakan threatened.
- I'm not a scoundrel at all! - Marakan was offended. - And don’t call me unhappy. - I am the harbinger of happiness!
Maracan spoke proudly and, to the great amazement of the brothers, in a human voice.
- What is this?! - Arakan exclaimed.
- If you are a harbinger of happiness, why didn’t you make your master happy? - asked Sarakan.
- The time has not come! - answered the cat.
“Maybe he means something?” - thought Sarakan. And he took the cat with him. But not to abandon him somewhere, but to help him trade, since he can speak human language.
They arrived in a big city. Sarakan had kunaks here. They gave him an upper room for his goods. Sa-rakan packed his things, left the cat, and went to look for buyers.
I walked until evening. And in the evening, he heard, an unprecedented noise and scream arose in the city.
- What's happened? - Sarakan asked passers-by.
“The city was attacked by hordes of rats,” they answered him. “They chew on everything they meet on the way.” There are thousands of thousands of them and no matter how much we kill them, there are no fewer.
- Oh Allah! - Sarakan was horrified. “And I left my goods with the kuns.” What will happen to him now?
- Run quickly! - people advised. - Maybe you can at least save something...
Sarakan ran as fast as he could, and was met by a flock of toothy rats: devouring both supplies and clothes as they went...
Without taking a breath, Sarakan reached the house of his kunaks, opened the door... So what? His goods lie intact, and strangled rats lie around. These were the exploits of Maracan. He moved all the rats in the house and went with the same into the yard, and then onto the street. The brave Maracan fought all night long. He drove out all the rats, and those that survived ran away from the city.
A rumor spread throughout the city about the formidable warrior Mara-kana - the exterminator of rats. People went to Sarakan to bow with gifts.
- Let go, do me a favor, let your Maracan come to us for a day or two! Let him manage our storerooms and basements. Maybe there are still rats there.
Sarakan released the cat, and he worked hard. Not only rats - not a single mouse survived in the storerooms and basements. People were happy. Some brought money to Sarakan, some brought various gifts. Sarakan got rich. He returned home with hurdzhins full of goodness.
He gave Arakan the money the cat had earned and shared gifts:
- Here, take it! Your Marakan spoke the truth. The time has come and he has made you happy. Live happily now!
For many years after this, Arakan lived with his cat, knowing neither trouble nor need. But everything in the world is getting old. Arakan has aged. Old age also crept up on Maracan.
One day Arakan went to visit his brother. He, as always, left food for Maracana, but stayed late visiting. And Marakan ate everything and became very hungry. He could no longer fight mice and rats as before. But he still managed to catch one old mouse.
Marakan did not eat it. He even treated her to a piece of bacon.
“Now I don’t eat rats or mice,” he said. “I’m going to make a pilgrimage to Mecca to cleanse myself of old sins.” But before I set off on a long journey, I would like to say goodbye to the entire mouse race. Call everyone here!
The old mouse believed Maracan. He spoke in such a touching voice. She called all her relatives. They came.
— Are there any more mice somewhere? asked Maracan.
“No,” answered the old mouse. - Everything is here! Maracan treated the mice to lard, ordered them to close all the mice's holes, and he himself locked the windows and doors. Then he stood in front of the mice and said:
“I wanted to say goodbye to you before leaving for Mecca and ask for forgiveness for destroying your brother countlessly and mercilessly.” But this night, one of you gnawed through my new Charyki (Charyki - shoes made of rawhide), in which I was thinking of setting off. Confess, who is this villain?
None of the mice confessed, because they had never even seen those charms. Then Maracan strangled every single mouse. He refreshed himself, put a dozen mice in his bag on the road and went to look for his owner.
The road lay through the forest. It wasn’t close, but then, as luck would have it, it got colder. Marakan began to look for a warm shelter. I found a fox hole. He climbed into it, stuck his fluffy tail out and fell asleep.
At this time the fox returned from hunting. She carried a chicken in her teeth. She put it at the entrance to the hole and was just about to take a bite when she saw a snake moving in the hole (she mistook Maracana’s tail for a snake). The fox was scared. She threw the chicken and ran away. She went to the wolf.
- What to do, wolf, what to do? - she wailed pitifully. — A black snake Ashdag has settled in my hole. Now I have no home, nowhere for me, an orphan, to shelter!
- Let's go, I'll destroy him! - the wolf promised.
Went. But when the wolf saw Maracan's tail sticking out of the hole, he trembled.
“You know, fox,” said the wolf, “I have never dealt with snakes... And I don’t want to, to tell the truth... Let’s call the bear, huh?”
The two of them went to look for the bear. The bear willingly agreed to help.
- You'll see, I'll tear this snake into pieces! - the bear threatened.
The three of them went: in front was a bear, behind him was a wolf, and behind him was a fox. But the closer they came to the fox hole, the slower the bear stomped. And then he completely fell behind, trudged behind everyone.
- I don’t like fighting with snakes! - he admitted.
But they still made it to the hole. And then Marakan snored loudly in his sleep. The bear was the first to run away. The wolf and the fox ran after him.
They ran and ran and sat down under a rock to rest.
They began to wonder how they could lure the snake out of its hole, so that they could at least look at it from afar. We decided to make a fire and cook meat soup.
“The snake, sensing the smell of meat, will certainly crawl out of the hole,” the fox assured.
“I’ll go get some meat,” said the bear.
“I’ll get some wood,” said the wolf.
Well, the fox ran to get a big cauldron.
A bear killed a bull in the khan's herd. The wolf carried a mountain of brushwood. The fox stole a huge cauldron from the Khan's pantry. They lit a fire, set the meat to cook, and hid in the bushes to peep.
There was a smell of meat throughout the forest. Maracan woke up. He was already hungry, he turned his nose, crawled out of the hole, saw a fire, and a cauldron on it, and thought: “There are people somewhere nearby” - and let’s rummage through the bushes.
It seemed to the fox that the ashdaga was looking for her. She started to run. Maracan was frightened by the fox and jumped into a tree out of fear. And on the tree sat a bear, who had hidden there in advance. The bear thought that the ashdaga wanted to eat him, fell to the ground in fear and ran away. Following him, the frightened Maracan jumped into the bushes. And there was a wolf lurking there. The wolf was sure that the ashdaga intended to eat him, and he ran away as fast as he could.
While this commotion was going on, the fire burned out and the meat was ripe. Maracan filled his belly with meat and put a larger piece in the bag as a reserve. I went home.
And at home Arakan had been worried about him for a long time and Marakan was very happy.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru