Look, the animals and birds seem to be living a very painful and carefree life: among them there are neither high-born princes who own the most abundant and mining lands, nor rich people, greedy and cunning, forever enslaving their poor relatives with debts and deceit. And yet, they also have to annually pay a ransom for themselves and bring tribute on time: to birds - with their feathers, and to animals - with wool. After all, every spring all bird animals molt - they throw off their warm fluffy fur coats or their winter plumage. It is with these clothes or jewelry that they pay the Alban - tribute and service to the spirits - the owners of the earth and water. Animals and birds living on land pay the Albanians to the owners of the mountains and taiga, while those living in the water pay tribute to the owners of rivers and lakes...
Of the animals, only one otter, the Albanian, does not want to pay either the mountain or the water owner, and cunningly evades him. She alternately lives on the shore and in the water. And when the Master of the mountain asks her:
- Where do you live, beast?
The otter slyly answers:
- I live in the water!
And when the Lord of the River interrogates:
- Where do you live, beauty?
She responded:
- My home is in the taiga, on the mountain!..
When the Master of the Mountain angrily demands her to answer:
“Who are you, rebellious Albanian, paying to?”
The otter, chuckling into his mustache, says:
- The owner of the river must be paid!
And when the Master of Water asks about the same thing, he boldly answers:
“I must bring tribute to the owner of the mountain!”
So the Albanian does not pay either one or the other. That’s why the otter doesn’t shed in the spring—it doesn’t change its beautiful and lush fur...
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru