There lived a devil in the lake. He was like a man, only naked. It crawls out of the lake, then goes under the water again.
An Evenk came to the lake. And the day was hot, very hot, the sun was hot, very hot. Evenk quietly approached the shore. He knew that there was a devil in the lake. He learned about this from his grandfather. The devil is sleeping on the shore of the lake, sleeping naked, without clothes. Evenk crept up to the sleeping devil and cut off some hair with scissors. The devil has long hair. The devil woke up and wanted to go under water, but he couldn’t.
And so he thought: “Probably the man cut off my hair, that’s why I can’t go into the water.”
The devil felt his head: indeed, the hair had been cut off with scissors. He realized that now he would not be able to go under water at all.
The devil approached the man and said: “Friend, why did you cut your hair?”
“I cut my hair so that we could become comrades for a year.” The devil asked:
-Are you rich or poor?
- I'm poor.
“Well,” said the devil, “guard me for a whole year.” Find clothes for me: a shirt, a fur coat, shoes. I'll pay you for the clothes if you protect me.
Evenk knew from his grandfather about the devil’s wealth and that the devil’s belly was solid gold. He knew that the devil feeds on the gold that is in the lake. His food is only gold, he does not eat bread at all.
Evenk gave the devil new clothes.
The devil said:
- Just make sure you put me in the house. Make a warm house for me, with a stove. I will live there. And I’ll teach you how to build a house.
And so the Evenk made a house for him. The devil taught him how to make a house.
When the man built it, the devil said:
- Friend, because you gave me clothes, I will give you a lot of money.
And the devil gave the Evenk gold, a large ingot, and said:
- Well, now go buy some goods.
Evenk went to the merchants to buy goods. I collected all sorts of things.
And that man began to grow rich by the grace of the devil. The Evenk tinkered with the devil for a year, but became a rich man.
Within a year, the devil's hair had grown back. The devil said:
- Friend, my hair has grown, and it’s time for me to get into the water. Let's part forever! We won't see you again.
This is how the Evenk became a rich man.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru