Don't be afraid to put your hand to work. If you don’t move your hand, happiness will pass by. I just saw him!..
Three brothers lived in one village - Halba, Anduga and Po-kcho.
Two brothers loved hunting and went hunting. They knew how to make traps for animals. An arrow hit a squirrel in the eye while flying. And the younger brother was buried behind the elders. The brothers go hunting and get sick, Pokcho follows them. The brothers will build a hut, light a fire, bow to the Taiga Master for good luck, and off to the taiga. And Pokcho sits in the hut, cooks porridge, counts the stars in the sky, thinks: “I wish I had so many sables!” - Yes, he expects his share of the brothers’ spoils. And to him, the one sitting, a tenth of all the spoils. That is why Pokcho was the poorest of all the brothers. His only joy is when his brothers get the bear: at the feast he will eat to his fill. Here Pokcho was ahead of everyone!
Two brothers loved fishing and went to the river. They knew how to make boats. They beat the fish with a sharp knife. The nets were knitted. With one blow the Kaluga was killed. With a trident spear they took three fish at once. And Pokcho is here: sitting on the shore, throwing branches into the fire, counting the leaves on the trees, thinking: “I wish I could catch such a fish!” - Yes, he’s waiting for his share of the brothers’ catch. And his share is a tenth. You won’t get rich from this... Pokcho’s only joy is when the brothers get kaluga: he will eat to his fill; everyone eats, and he eats. No one can keep up with Pokcho here! This is how the brothers lived.
Pokcho Halba is jealous of Anduga. The further time goes, the more good they have.
And Pokcho’s last thing goes to God knows where.
Pokcho wants to get rich. He walks around and looks at the ground to see if there is a bear tooth lying around somewhere: they say it brings wealth. Pokcho will see a rag on the ground - now it’s in his bosom: what if she turns out to be happy and brings wealth! Larch examines where the lucky larch is on which the fir cones grow.
One day Pokcho and his brothers went to the taiga. The brothers are off to work. Pokcho - to the hut. He sits and cooks porridge. “Now,” he thinks, “if only I could get as many sables as there are grains in the porridge, I would live well!”
Suddenly a dry branch fell from above. Pokcho raised his head and saw a cuckoo sitting on a pine tree. He sits, preens himself, wags his tail from top to bottom.
“There will be a lot of berries in the fall,” Pokcho thinks out loud. - An old sign.
I remembered the signs and even jumped: the old people said that if you kill a cuckoo, eat it, then fall asleep, and sweat in your sleep, wealth will fall into your hands.
No matter how lazy Pokcho was, he began to move. Happiness is given into your hands, how can you miss it! Grab a pot of porridge - go to hell! The hot porridge covered the bird. The cuckoo fell to the ground. Pokcho ate it along with feathers and giblets. Then he lay down on his side, curled up and fell asleep. He soon felt bad.
Pokcho looks - what a miracle: sables are coming out of the taiga one after another! There's a big one ahead, black as coal; His fur is so shiny that it hurts his eyes. Pokcho the lazy man was stupefied. I guessed that the Sable Master himself had come out of the taiga. "Ay yes cuckoo!" - Pokcho rejoices.
The Sable Master is coming - and straight to Pokcho. He reached it, jumped up and disappeared. And those sables that followed their owner run straight into Pokcho’s hands. Pokcho was not taken aback, grabbed a large spoon, and let’s beat the sables. Only one will be hit on the nose, and then another will be standing ready. Even Pokcho was tired.
On the right he threw a whole mountain of animals. He hears - the Sable Master asks him from above:
“Isn’t that enough, Pokcho?”
- Come on, come on! - Pokcho yells.
He changed his hand and put it to the left. He piled up such a mountain that the forest was no longer visible because of it.
“Isn’t that enough, Pokcho?” - the Sable Master asks him again.
- Come on, come on! - Pokcho shouts.
He grabbed the spoon tightly with both hands and pounded the sables. And a whole mountain grew in front of him.
Pokcho was exhausted. The Sable Master asks him for the third time:
“Isn’t that enough, Pokcho?” You scored so many sables without leaving the spot, more than a hundred hunters could get in an entire hunt.
Pokcho wanted to shout: “Come on, come on!” - Yes, I almost suffocated under a pile of sables.
- Enough! - speaks.
The brothers from the taiga have returned. They look - under the sables there is no hut to be seen, only Pokcho’s high fur boots sticking out from below.
They pulled my brother out and put him on his feet.
Pokcho sat down. He lit a pipe and said:
- I’m tired, I’ll sit and rest. And you take off the skins. The brothers began to remove the skins. We worked for a long time
even got wet. Under them, the snow melted, the earth moved away, and green grass grew. There is a column of steam above them, a rainbow plays in it.
And Pokcho hurries the brothers, shouts at them.
The brothers finished their work...
Here, one after another, out of nowhere, dog sleds roll towards Pokcho. The dogs are one better than the other: all white, black paws, fowl harness, with copper buttons. The skins loaded themselves onto the sleds.
The brothers went to the village.
Pokcho sits importantly on the first sled.
Pokcho and his brothers drive up to the village, and the merchants are already waiting for him.
The merchants began to bargain and dress up: they fought with each other over the sables. The skins are very good! The merchants gave Pokcho two pieces of silver, robes - you can’t count how many, cereals, flour, sweets - a whole barn.
Pokcho became so rich that all his relatives bowed to him.
And Pokcho’s happiness keeps falling and falling like snow.
Pokcho sent his brothers to look at his nets. The brothers went and began to pull the nets - they didn’t have enough strength: such a rich catch! The whole village was called to help. The nets were barely pulled out. And in the nets there is a fish in each one, and not some worthless little thing, but kaluga fish! One catch provided enough meat for the whole village for the whole year. That's how it is!
Pokcho became the most important person in the village.
Pokcho was a good guy. To celebrate, I decided to give people a treat. He made a big, big vat of porridge: all the grain and all the flour went there. Pokcho called all the people and said:
- Eat as much as you want! People came and sat around the cauldron. Old people say:
- We must feed the children first...
“That’s right,” says Pokcho, “let the little children eat first.”
A small boy approached the porridge with a small spoon in his hands.
Pokcho tells him:
- Take a big spoon. The kid answers him:
- It’s okay, I don’t need much.
The boy scooped up the porridge from the vat with his spoon, and immediately emptied the entire vat.
“It’s tasty, but not enough,” he says. Pokcho's eyes widened: how did this happen? And people are offended:
- What are you doing, Pokcho? He promised to feed all the people, but he couldn’t feed the boy enough! You see him licking his lips - he would eat more, but no.
“It’s okay,” says Pokcho, “I’ll buy some more cereal.” Call the merchant here.
People ran after the merchant.
Pokcho Chuval unleashed with money. And the coins themselves jump out of the cup and roll along the road along which the merchants came. Pokcho wants to keep them - but who cares! Money flows like water between your fingers. Pokcho looked, and both senses were already lying empty...
“Nothing,” says Pokcho, “how can you not treat people!” I’ll sell bathrobes and feed people!
He went to the barn. Various robes hung there. Quilted, silk, fish skin, eagles skin, deer fur robes. Robes embroidered with silks, embroidered with deer hair, robes woven with golden dragons. Robes with copper, silver and gold buttons. Pokcho dragged the robes from the barn. He shouts to call another merchant quickly.
And people tell him.
- What do you want to sell, Pokcho?
- Like “what”? - says Pokcho.
He looks, and in his hands is a birch bark, pecked by a woodpecker. And the barns are full of birch bark. Pokcho shouts:
- It’s okay, I ate a cuckoo - now I’m happy! Let's eat kaluga - we've caught enough for the whole year!
- Eh, that's enough! - they say to Pokcho. - Your kaluga is gone!
- Where is she? - Pokcho asks.
— The cuckoo pecked.
- How did the cuckoo peck?
- Yes, like this: it flew up to Kaluga, sat on its head, pecked it in the eye, and so the whole Kaluga disappeared! You said that you ate a cuckoo, but it turns out that it ate you...
People left.
Pokcho went to bed out of grief. He knew how to do this! He hears people shouting to him:
- Hey, don’t sleep, Pokcho: you’ll sleep your whole life! Pokcho felt ashamed. He felt hot. Woke up
he...
He looks - he’s sitting in a hunting hut, and the fire is so hot that it’s already getting close to him, even Pokcho’s fur boots have warped from the heat.
Pokcho lit a cigarette. I thought. I thought again. He looks - and near the hut there is a fresh sable mark. Apparently, the sable went away when Pokcho dreamed.
Lazy Pokcho jumped up. He grabbed the onion. I started skiing. He ran along the sable's trail.
“Uh,” he says, “it’s better to catch one sable with your own hands than all the cuckoo’s wealth!”
But this is probably true!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru