He lived for many years with his wife Angarain from the village of Colmel. For many years he prayed to the Mother Goddess, the Elder God the Father, the younger God the Father - all three gods, so that they would give him a son, but his prayers were in vain. Old Angarain remembered the proverb: “If you die childless, you won’t see heaven” and decided to take a second wife into the house. One day he went to the village of Porgar, found a girl there, smart and beautiful, paid her parents a ransom, as was required by custom, and married her. And then he returned with his young wife to his native village and said to his former wife:
- Here is your friend and helper, live peacefully and in harmony. God willing, my dream will come true, and at least in my old age I will see happiness.
The eldest wife felt offended by these words. At first sight, she hated her young rival, but did not dare to say anything out loud - how could a woman contradict her husband’s will? She bowed to her husband and said:
- Let it be as you command, sir!
And I thought to myself: “You will regret this!”
Less than a month passed before the young wife gave birth. Old Angarain, overjoyed, gave her a rich necklace and donated two measures of purified millet, a measure of beans and a pot of ghee to the village temple. He began to wait impatiently for the approaching birth.
And in those days, the Kota tribe had a custom: when the time came for a woman to give birth to a child, they took her out of the house into a small hut, where no man dared to enter. All the women of that family gathered in this hut (they called it “the house of the woman in labor”). They laid the woman in labor on a mat, blindfolded her tightly so that she would not be afraid of evil spirits, and helped during childbirth. The one who was the eldest in the family had to accept the child, wash it in clean water and take it to the father - he, along with other men, was waiting at home.
And so, in due time, Angarain built a hut in his backyard, and the eldest wife blindfolded the youngest and took her to give birth. She decided to herself: “I won’t be me if I don’t kill her baby with an evil death...” Long and short, but the younger wife gave birth to a healthy, strong boy. Before the baby had even been born from the mother’s womb, the eldest wife grabbed him in her arms, ran out of the hut into the yard and began to look around: where should she put the child. She sees: behind the garbage heap there is a badger hole... She laid the baby on the ground, with both hands she raked the entrance wider, put the baby in there and sprinkled more earth on top. And then, she grabbed the old broom that was lying near the heap and went back to the hut. There she smeared the broom in blood, untied the eyes of the woman in labor and said:
- Look, what a child you gave birth to our husband!
The poor woman screamed terribly when, instead of a living child, she saw a bloody broom, and the eldest wife laughed and took the broom to her husband to show her: admire what your beloved wife has given you...
Old Angarain was saddened when he learned that he would not have to see his desired son. He thought for a long time and decided that some sorcerer must have cast an evil spell on his wife. What was there to do?.. Angarain grieved, grieved, and lived with his wives as before.
And this is what happened to the boy, whom the elder wife lowered into the hole. The badger and the badger that lived in Angarain's yard just had cubs at that time. The badger dug a hole, made a soft bed for the badger there from grass and leaves, and every day he went out to hunt, bringing his wife and children various delicacies - beetles, lizards, field mice, bird eggs and sweet roots. When the eldest wife threw the baby away, the badger was just getting ready to hunt. He climbed up and suddenly came across something alive and warm. He looked and sniffed: a human cub! He took him carefully by the collar and dragged him to his badger. She was surprised at first: “Why did you bring it here? We don’t eat people!”, and then she looked, looked and said:
– You know, let’s leave him with us! Look how cute he is!... Let him play with our children...
So the first son of Angarain began to live in a badger hole. The badger mother fed him with her milk, the badger cubs played hide and seek with him, and the badger father brought him the most delicious beetles, mice and lizards. Soon the boy grew up, and the badger had to work - expand his hole so that his entire family could fit there. The badger dug all day and built a whole palace underground. The hole became spacious and comfortable for everyone.
Two months passed, and Angarain's young wife again told her husband that she was expecting a child. Angaraipe was both happy and worried at the same time: he really wanted to see the face of his son, but he was afraid that this time his evil witchcraft would not escape. He thought and decided to ask the village priest for help. He came to the priest in the temple, gave him a young buffalo and asked him to pray to all the Twelve Gods so that his wife would have a healthy and strong child. The priest took the buffalo and promised to pray.
Nine months passed unnoticed, and again the eldest wife of Angarain took the young woman to the “house of the woman in labor.” Again, according to custom, she tightly blindfolded the young wife, and again, as before, the young woman, having suffered until the morning, gave birth to a strong, healthy boy. But only now the eldest wife already knew what she needed to do: without wasting time, she jumped out of the hut and threw the baby straight into the badger’s hole. Then she grabbed a broken wooden mallet, dipped it in a pool of blood and poked it in the young wife’s face with the words:
- Look, admire your brainchild! This is what you have now born!..
What could old Angarain say when, instead of his long-awaited son, he saw a mallet smeared in blood? He cried bitterly and thought to himself: “Apparently, I prayed poorly to the gods, I didn’t give enough to the priest...” He drove two buffaloes to the temple, brought three measures of ghee and wild honey and again asked the priest to pray to all the gods that they would give him a healthy child.
Soon his hopes came true: for the third time he learned that his wife was expecting a child. Old Angarain distributed rich gifts to the priests and sorcerers, made abundant sacrifices to all the gods, and when the time came for his younger wife to give birth, he called the eldest to him and said:
- Look carefully, this time everything should be as it should...
She bowed to her husband to the ground, and thought to herself: “I got rid of two of your sons, maybe I’ll get rid of the third too... You will not be happy with your new wife!” And so it happened: when the younger wife gave birth to a boy for the third time - as healthy and handsome as before, the eldest, just as before, put him in the badgers' hole, and showed the unfortunate father and mother a hair roll soaked in blood - on such rolls women keep their cat's hair.
The young wife, as soon as she saw this bloody tuft of hair, immediately fell ill and did not get out of bed for many days, and poor Angarain turned yellow from grief and became completely gray. He no longer hoped for the mercy of the gods.
Meanwhile, Angarain's children grew up in a badger hole, happily playing with little badgers from morning until late evening. The badger and the badger fell in love with their adopted children more than their own children and took care of them as best they could.
So six years passed. And then one day at dawn the eldest wife needed to go out into the yard. She approached the garbage heap and saw: three boys were fiddling around the heap, running after each other, laughing, babbling something incomprehensible... The eldest wife was surprised and wanted to ask: “Whose guys are you?” The eldest wife froze in place with fear: she realized that Angarain’s children did not die, they were raised by damned badgers... And then she thought: “If I don’t kill these boys now, I myself will have to die an evil death.”
She waited until her husband woke up and said to him:
“My dear husband, a grave illness has come upon me: my head hurts, and I don’t know peace either day or night. I already went to the sorcerer, he couldn’t do anything, he just said that I need to smear fresh badger blood on my forehead... Have pity on me, kill the badgers that live in our yard, save me from the evil disease!..
Angarain didn’t want to kill the badgers, but what can he do, his wife needs to be treated... He stroked her on the head and said:
-Have it your way! I just need to sharpen my ax and shovel in our forge first, they are too dull.
That same day, an old badger crawled out of his hole and heard children playing on the village street and talking to each other:
- Hey Carney, did you hear the news? This morning, grandfather Angarain was sharpening an ax; tomorrow he wants to catch badgers in his yard. Let's go have a look!
The badger quickly crawled back into the hole and said to his wife:
- Trouble has happened! We need to get out of here!
And that same night the badgers secretly came out of the hole and, together with all the children, moved beyond the village, into the Teloynar forest. They found a convenient cave in the forest and began to live. Only the badger soon realized that it would be difficult for him to feed his entire family here. He remembered that every day he brought his cow to the Teloynar Angarain forest to graze. He went to the cow and told her about his worries. And the cow says to him:
“Well, if you find it difficult to feed human cubs, give them to me.” I'll take care of them.
This is what the badgers did: they gave their adopted children to the cow, and they themselves went to another forest.
And old Angarain, as he promised his wife, came to the hole early in the morning with an ax and a shovel. All he sees is that there are a lot of human footprints near the hole, and all of them are so small, as if they were children’s... He began to dig a hole and noticed that in that hole there were even more traces, and in the corners there were human droppings... Angarain was surprised: “What kind of miracle is this? Where do children's footprints come from in a badger hole? And where did the badgers suddenly go?” He thought and thought, came up with nothing, went to his wife and said:
- I, wife, won’t be able to cure you today, the hole is empty...
The eldest wife was angry that she again failed to destroy her hated children, but she didn’t show it.
“It’s okay,” he says, “hubby, my head is already gone.”
A few days later she went to the Teloynar forest for brushwood and saw three boys playing hide-and-seek at the edge of the forest, and her own cow was feeding them her milk. The eldest wife looked at the guys and literally turned green with anger. She returned home and said to her husband:
“Something wrong is happening to me: my head is gone, my stomach is so seized - the pain is so bad that you could even scream... There is only one thing that can help me - cow brain stew.” The sorcerer says: if you eat one cup of this stew, it will take away any illness... Our cow doesn’t give any milk at all, she’s obviously grown old. Do me a favor, kill her, treat me, poor thing...
Angarain even opened his mouth in surprise: how is it possible to kill a cow, this is a great sin! But his wife doesn’t care: she asks, and cries, and swears... He promised her in the end that he would kill the cow, but decided to test her first. In the evening he drove the cow to another pasture, and in the morning he got up early, took a bow and arrows, went into the forest, shot a wild pig there, brought home the pig's brains, cooked some stew and gave his wife a drink. When I tried this brew, I immediately became happier:
“Thank you,” he says, “my lord!” You cured me! - And he thinks to himself: “Now that the cows are dying, these damned boys themselves will die of hunger!..”
Then Angarain realized that his wife was not sick, but for some reason she just needed to kill badgers and a cow. He began to think, began to reflect... He remembered about the children's footprints in the badger hole... He thought for a long time, and then fell asleep. And in a dream an unknown old man appeared to him and said this:
“It’s time for you, Angarain, to find out the truth: in vain you grumbled at the gods that they don’t give you children.” Three times sons were born to you, and three times your eldest wife tried to kill them and deceived you. How could you trust her like that? Or have you forgotten that old people say: “Trusting a woman is the same as swimming in a river with a stone on your neck”?.. Know, your children are alive and well. The gods did not harm them with their intelligence, strength, and dexterity, only they do not know your language, for they were raised by animals, not people. Tomorrow, get up at dawn, wash yourself in the sacred spring and go to the Teloynar forest. Your sons will meet you there, and you will be happy with them.
Angarain woke up and saw: it was already dawn... He carefully left the house and went first to the source, and then to the Teloynar forest. And as soon as he approached the forest edge, his cow came out of the forest to meet him, and with her three boys. As soon as the kids noticed Angarain, they immediately rushed to him - they hugged his knees, crying, trying to say something, but couldn’t: they either mooed like calves, or grunted like a badger... Angarain stood, unable to utter a word. He felt at that moment as a blind man probably feels when he sees the light of the sun for the first time in his life.
Finally, he hugged his sons, caressed them, and explained with signs that they needed to go to the village. The five of them went home: Angarain and the children walked in front, and a cow walked behind, wagging its tail, nibbling fresh grass.
Both wives came out to meet Angarain. The younger wife, when she saw the children, suddenly felt that her long-dry breast was filled with milk, and her heart fluttered, like a karvaki bird at the sight of a hawk. Angarain brought the children to her and said:
- These are your sons. Wash them and feed them. If it weren’t for our cow, you and I wouldn’t have seen them in this world.
The younger wife hugged her sons tightly, led them into the house, sat them down by the fire, and placed in front of them a dish of boiled lentils and a pot of milk. The children began to eat, and she looked at them and cried... Then she got up, went to the barn, and brought the cow salt water, sweet sugar cane, and a whole armful of young bamboo shoots. She strokes the cow, and she keeps saying:
– You are like my own mother! You saved my children!
And the eldest wife lost her tongue from anger and fear. Angarain locked her in the house and called to him the elders of the village of Colmel, and the priest, and the sorcerer, and all the neighbors. He told them about everything that had happened to his sons, and then asked:
– What should we do with this woman now?
The elders thought. Afterwards one of them said:
“Since our ancestors settled in the Blue Mountains, our Kota tribe has never executed anyone.” But can such an evil witch, who wanted to destroy little children, be left alive? Death to her!
In the evening, when it was completely dark, the men of the village gathered at Angarain's house. They dragged the witch out by the hair, tied her hands and feet, and led her to the Kipachal valley. There they put a noose made of strong vines around her neck and hung her - high, high! - on a strong branch of an old tree.
And then the elders said to the people:
“From now on, whenever it’s time for someone’s wife to give birth, let women from all over the street come to the “house of the woman in labor.” Let the one who delivers the baby show them the baby. And let the woman in labor no longer be blindfolded.
So from then on it became a custom among the Kota tribe: if a woman gives birth in some family, her neighbors come running to her house. They stand silently, wait for the newborn to be shown to them, and then, when there is one more cat on earth, they rejoice with its parents, sing songs and dance.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru