In ancient times, there lived an old Ubyr woman, a witch, in a dark forest. She was evil and despicable and all her life she incited people to do bad things.
And the old Ubyr woman had a son. He once went to the village and saw there a beautiful girl named Gulchechek. He liked her. He dragged Gulchechek from his home at night and brought him to his dense forest. The three of them began to live together.
One day, the son of an ubyr was preparing to go on a long journey.
Gulchechek remained in the forest with the evil old woman. She became sad and began to ask:
- Let me stay with my family! I miss you here.
The ubyr did not let her go.
“I won’t let you go anywhere,” he says, “live here!”
One day, the son of an ubyr was preparing to go on a long journey.
Gulchechek remained in the forest with the evil old woman. She became sad and began to ask:
- Let me stay with my family! I miss you here.
The ubyr did not let her go.
“I won’t let you go anywhere,” he says, “live here!”
The ubyr will leave the hut, and Gulchechek herself will be banned for a strong castle!
It just happened once that the ubyr went into the forest all night and forgot to lock the door. Gulchechek saw the open door and was happy. I started getting ready to go on the road. She gets ready, and sings the song herself:
It became light in the forest,
The moon has risen in the sky.
I'll take the whites out of the oven,
I'll go home to visit!
Gulchechek took the belyashi out of the oven, wrapped them in a scarf and quickly went to her family in the village. And the ubyr returned home and saw: there were no Gulchecheks and no whites.
The ubyr got angry. She turned into a gray wolf and set off in pursuit of Gulchechek.
She runs, sniffs the road, looks for traces, and she sings in a hoarse voice:
My tail is like a sheaf of rye,
I wave my tail and growl:
Give me back my whites -
Otherwise I'll tear you into pieces,
Otherwise I'll tear you to pieces!
Gulchechek heard the song of the old Ubyr woman and got scared. She would give away the whites, but there aren’t any of them - Gulchechek ate them...
She looked around. She looked this way, looked here - she saw an old, hollow elm standing nearby, its branches spread wide in all directions. Gulchechek ran up to him and sang:
spreading elm,
Shady Elm!
The evil ubyr is catching up with me.
Hide me quickly, elm!
Cover me quickly, elm!
I felt sorry for the old elm Gulchechek. He opened his hollow, in which the squirrel hid nuts in winter, in which the owl rested during the day. Gulchechek climbed into the hollow and hid there.
The ubyr ran up to the elm tree. She began to scratch the ground with her claws, and began to howl and growl. She didn’t leave the elm all night. And Gulchechek sits in the hollow and does not give a voice. As soon as the sun rose, the ubyr was frightened by the bright day and ran away to her home.
Gulchechek got out of the hollow, thanked the elm for shelter and ran on. And the ubyr waited until evening, turned into a wolf again and again set off in pursuit of Gulchechek. She picked up her trail and sang:
My tail is like a sheaf of rye,
I wave my tail and growl:
Give me back my whites -
Otherwise I'll tear you into pieces,
Otherwise I'll tear you to pieces!
Gulchechek heard the ubyr’s voice - she was completely scared, she didn’t know what to do. She looked around. I looked here, looked here - I saw a round clearing, and in the clearing a small lake. Gulchechek began to ask:
Silver lake, full of water!
The old woman is catching up with me.
Hide me quickly, lake!
Cover me quickly, lake!
Lake Gulchechek felt sorry for it. It got agitated, splashed out of the banks, surrounded the place where Gulchechek was standing, and protected her from the spill with deep water.
The old Ubyr woman howled all night, scratched the stones on the shore of the lake with her claws all night, but she could not get to Gulchechek.
As soon as the morning dawn broke, the ubyr ran away from the lake into the dark forest. Then the lake became agitated, flowed to the side, to its former place, and Gulchechek came out onto land. She thanked the lake for shelter and hurried on.
She walked and walked - and then the morning passed, and the day passed, and evening came again. Gulchechek went out to the edge of the forest. From here you can see your native village. Gulchechek thought that the trouble had already passed, but it was not so! The evil ubyr turned into a wolf again, running on his heels, completely catching up, about to grab her... And she howls:
My tail is like a sheaf of rye,
I wave my tail and growl:
Give me back my whites -
Otherwise I'll tear you into pieces,
Otherwise I'll tear you to pieces!
Gulchechek was scared. Where to go? Where to hide?.. She looked around. I looked there and saw a tall birch tree at the edge of the field. She quickly climbed to the very top, sat down on a branch and sat.
And the Ubyr ran up and began to undermine the roots of the birch with her claws. She howls and growls out of anger.
“Will the evil old ubyr woman really destroy me? - thinks Gulchechek. “Won’t I really see my mother and father again?”
Then the speedster flew up and sat on the top of the birch tree. Gulchechek began to ask him:
Black-eyed starling,
Black-winged squawk!
Take a hair from my braid
Take it to your family,
Take it quickly, little bird!
Gulchechek pulled out two hairs from her braid and gave them to the starling. The starling grabbed the hairs and flew to Gulchechek’s house, to her mother and father. He flew in and hung his hairs on the gate.
The elder brother Gulchechek came out to the gate, saw the hairs and said:
“It was my horse that rubbed its mane against the gate and left its hairs.” “He took off the hairs and pulled them instead of strings onto his violin.
- Let me dance and play the violin! - says his wife. She took the violin and just stamped her foot, just touched the strings, when the strings sang in the voice of Gulchechek:
Don't play dance:
My lower back hurts.
Don't stomp your feet:
My head hurts!
My brother's wife was surprised:
- Oh, just listen: the violin sings with a human voice! He doesn’t tell the girl to dance, he doesn’t tell him to stomp his feet!
My brother took the violin in his hands. Before I had time to touch the strings, the violin itself began to sing in the voice of Gulchechek:
Don't touch, don't touch, brother:
My head hurts.
Don't pluck the strings:
My hair hurts!..
At the edge of the forest there is a white birch tree,
At its top is Gulchechek.
An evil ubyr howls at the roots of a birch tree,
It undermines the roots,
Gulchechek will destroy.
Don't play, brother, put down the violin,
Hurry to the edge of the forest to see me!
The brother did not hesitate, took a heavy club, jumped on his horse and rushed to the edge of the forest.
And the Ubyr has already undermined the roots of the birch tree. The birch tree is shaking and swaying - it’s about to fall!
The brother galloped up to the old Ubyr woman and hit her with his heavy club. The evil ubyr fell and did not have time to scream.
The brother took Gulchechek from the birch tree, put him on a horse and brought him home to his father and mother.
The mother was happy, the father was happy. They all began to live together amicably and happily...
I visited them - went yesterday, returned today. I drank tea and honey and ate some pies.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru