Once upon a time there lived a girl named Gununa. Her father and mother died. The girl was left an orphan. And her paternal uncle took her to him. The uncle was a kind man and felt sorry for his niece. But his wife and daughter did not like the orphan. All the hard work in the house fell on her. Gununa carded wool, and spun thread, and wove cloth, and stung bread in the field...
And my uncle’s daughter lived as a white-handed woman. She didn’t take on any work herself, and she mocked Gununa. Called her dirty.
If Gununa doesn’t comb her wool on time, as her uncle’s wife orders her, or doesn’t milk the cow on time, they’ll leave Gununa hungry until the night, or else she’ll be beaten. Even in winter she had neither warm clothes nor shoes. She walked barefoot, wearing old clothes and cast-offs.
One day Gununa was winding woolen yarn in the yard, put the skein on her lap, and the wind blew and carried the skein into the field.
Gununa ran to catch up with the wool, but where was she going? The wind carried the skein further and further. Gununa chased the skein until it got dark, but she never caught it.
The girl was afraid to return home. She spent the night on the grass between the stones, and the next morning she again began looking for her yarn. She wandered for a long time, got lost, where her home is now, she doesn’t know.
Gununa went wherever her feet carried her, and a large current met her on the way. At this current, three giants were threshing pure gold.
– Do you need my help?
The giants rejoiced.
“We should have finished threshing yesterday,” said the elder. - Well, we didn’t manage it. We have been working since dawn and have no time to prepare food. Cook us khinkal (Khinkal is a flour dish with meat)!
Gununa went to get water. I found flour and lamb in the giants' supplies and cooked khinkal to perfection. The giants ate and praised.
- What are you doing alone in our area, without your father, without your brother? - they asked when they were full.
- I'm an orphan. The wind took away a skein of wool from me. So I go around looking for him. If I don’t find it, my uncle’s wife will beat me and throw me out of the house...
- And you choose one of us to be your husband, whichever one you like, and stay with us. We won't let anyone hurt you.
She thanked Gunun for the honor and said:
– When the days of autumn come and the grooms choose their brides by throwing red apples at them, come too. Everything will be decided there. Now I need to find my yarn.
“Then don’t walk around like that in vain.” Go to the Queen of the Winds, complain to her, ask her to tell the wind to return your yarn.
And the giants told her how to find the Queen of the Winds:
- Go straight ahead. Along the way you will meet another current. There you will see our brothers. They will show you the way further.
The giants gave Gununa a handful of gold as a farewell gift. She tied the gold into a scarf and set off.
She walked and walked and met a woman carrying two small children on her back. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.
- What's wrong with you? What are you crying about? – Gununa asked affectionately.
“My husband was killed by the evil serpent Ashdag, and I and my children were kicked out of the house,” the woman cried even more bitterly. “We, the poor, were left homeless, without a protector, and I had nothing to buy a piece of bread with.”
Gununa untied her scarf. She gave the woman gold - a gift from the giants. I went further.
Soon she saw the current. At this current, three giants were shoveling heaps of gems. The girl said hello, wished that the work would go smoothly, and asked:
– Do you need my help?
The giants rejoiced.
“We haven’t eaten since yesterday,” they say. - We are in a hurry to finish the work. We have venison, cook us kavurma (Kavurma is a roast).
Gununa ran for water, chopped up the meat, and prepared a kavurma cauldron that would make you lick your fingers. The giants ate and praised.
-Where are you going? - they asked, having had their fill.
– The wind took away my skein of yarn. I'm looking for him. If I don’t find it, my uncle’s wife will beat me and throw me out of the house...
“And you choose one of us to be your husband, whoever you like.” The rest will become your brothers. We won’t let anyone offend!
- Thank you! - Gununa answered. - When the days of autumn come, come and throw red apples. Then we'll decide. And I need to find my yarn.
The giants gave her a handful of gems and escorted her until the road turned beyond the distant slopes. Walked, walked
Gununa, and she met a decrepit old woman with a crutch.
- How far is it to the castle of the Queen of the Winds, mother? – asked Gununa.
“Close, dear,” answered the old woman. - Only she never sits at home, she flies through the fields, over the mountains, through the gorges... And her castle is guarded by sharp-horned aurochs and toothy tigers. They are always hungry... The Queen of the Winds gives meat to the tours, and hay to the tigers. You put hay in front of the aurochs, and meat in front of the tigers. They will let you into the castle.
- Thank you! – Gununa thanked from the bottom of her heart and poured gems into the old woman’s palm.
Gununa came to the castle of the Queen of the Winds. At the door lay chained sharp-horned aurochs and toothy tigers. The girl gave the turs hay and the tigers meat, and they let her into the castle.
Gununa looked all around - not a soul anywhere. The castle was empty, dirty and dusty, cobwebs hung in all corners...
Although Gununa was tired from the road, she did not sit down or lie down. She rolled up her sleeves, fetched water, swept away the dust, washed the floors, washed the windows, cleaned the copper utensils. Gununa cleaned the queen's bedroom most beautifully. And when everything in the castle began to sparkle, she went out into the garden to rest.
He sees a weak old woman lying under a tree.
Gununa asked her:
- Who are you? Why are you lying on the ground? Let me put you to bed.
“I am the Queen of the Winds,” says the old woman. – I flew over the seas, over the mountains for two weeks, I was exhausted. I wanted to check if the winds were doing their job properly... But now I can’t get up...
Gununa helped the Queen of the Winds to get up and took her to the bedroom. She warmed the water, bathed the old woman, washed her hair, and combed her braids with a fine comb.
Here the Queen of the Winds groans:
- Oh! Oh! Where are my rosary beads?!
And these rosaries, I must tell you, were magical. With their help, she controlled the most violent hurricanes and sent them orders.
The Queen of the Winds' rosary turned out to be very old. Some beads were missing, others were broken. Instead, Gununa made rosary beads from the gems that the giants gave her. She brought new rosary beads to the Queen of the Winds. The queen was pleased and praised Gununa.
“That’s good,” she said. “Now I’ll work some magic on these rosaries, and they will serve me faithfully!” Now my violent winds will not rush around the world in vain and raise storms... Otherwise, the brats have taken it into the habit of uprooting trees, sinking ships, destroying houses... They offend poor people!
Gununa dared to insert her word here:
- And the mischievous wind took away my skein of yarn. Order, queen, to return my yarn to the wind. My uncle’s wife won’t let me into the house without her, she’ll kill me out of the world.
The Queen of the Winds sorted through her rosary and found the right bead. A mischievous wind appeared to her.
- Give the girl back the yarn! – the queen strictly ordered. And the wind returned Gununa to her skein.
Gunun thanked the queen and began to get ready for the journey. And the Queen of the Winds gave her three jugs with beauty ointments: black, white and red.
Gununa anointed her eyebrows with black ointment and became a black-browed beauty. She rubbed her face white and became a white-faced beauty. She touched her cheeks with red and became rosy as an apple, more beautiful than anyone in the world, a beauty!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru