A hungry year has arrived. The sun scorched the earth to the ground and it produced nothing. The cattle died from lack of food.
- The end has come for us! - the old people said. - God Amish has turned away from us, Thagolej has forgotten about us!
The Narts decided to convene Khasa.
Countless numbers of sledges gathered on Khasu. They argued, got excited and didn’t know what to do. Kuitsuk alone listened silently to the debate.
Khasa Himish came out to the middle.
- Sledges! - he said. — We are overcome by hunger! If we attack another, we will get enough bread for one, but we will lose ten in an unequal battle. What to do?
Uazirmes got up from his seat.
- Sledges! - he said. — Dzhigits are our pride and hope. They will prolong the Nart family. It’s better that we old people die of hunger, but save the young. Let's give them what little we have left. Let them somehow hold out until the new harvest!
- So, the older Narts must die of hunger? - shouted Tlebitsa-Korotysh.
- What's wrong? - Badyn responded. “We’ve had enough of the happy years we’ve lived!” Let the youth prolong our lineage!
- Do we have such a law, sledges, that the share of the elders should be given to the younger ones? - Tlebitsa-Korotysh exclaimed angry.
Then Kuitsuk stood up and addressed Khasa with these words:
- Sledges! Let our venerable old men live, let our horsemen prosper! If this land does not produce any crops, is there famine throughout the world? Maybe there will be scattered grain for us on the Thagoleja current.
“We went looking, but didn’t find a single grain,” answered the Narts.
“If we didn’t find it in that direction, we need to go the other way: maybe we’ll meet the fat herd of Amish,” said Kuitsuk.
“We went both ways.” All in vain! - answered the sledges.
“Then let’s go around the forest thickets!” Maybe Mazitha, the forest god, left us at least one wild boar! - said Kuitsuk.
- We visited the forest thickets! - the sledges said sadly. “Mazitha didn’t leave us a single wild boar!”
“You’ve walked around the area once, but you think you’ve walked around the whole world!” - said Kuitsuk. “It is not becoming for the young Narts, fearing hunger, to take bread from the old people.” Millet did not grow on our land, maybe it grew somewhere else! Our cattle died. But perhaps well-fed flocks roam in other parts? Sled! We must cross the mountain ranges and go around the steppes! We must cross the sea! Narts, let's set off boldly!
“It’s scary to die in foreign lands,” Zhyndu-Boroda answered Kuitsuk. - What if the ferocious foreigners take away from us the crumbs that we take with us when we set out on our journey? After all, then both the old and the young will die! Do we have enough strength to get going? No, not enough! We will only hasten our death. It's hard to die without achieving anything!
Zhyndu-Boroda’s words were echoed by others.
“Okay,” said Kuitsuk. - Stay where you are! Give me only three reliable companions. I will go overseas with them. If I find anything, I'll let you know. If I don’t find anything there, it means there’s famine all over the world. Then decide for yourself what to do!
The Narts liked Kuitsuk's speech.
- Okay, Kuitsuk! Go overseas! - the Narts said and wished him a good journey.
With his comrades - Arykshu, Gorgonyzh and Ahuazh - Kuitsuk set off on the road. After long wanderings they reached the seashore.
“We’ve reached the sea,” said Ahuazh, “but how can we swim across it?”
- Let's make shuttles and cross! - answered Kuitsuk.
The Narts cut down four oak trees, hollowed out four canoes and set sail. The sea began to rock the Nart canoes. They had barely reached the middle of the sea when a storm arose and waves the height of nine haystacks fell on the swimmers.
Arykshu was frightened and prayed:
“Let’s turn back, friends, before the depths of the sea become our grave!”
Kuitsuk did not want to go back and, fighting the waves, tied the canoes with a strong whip.
“The Great Sea decided to frighten us, but we are not cowardly!” - Kuitsuk exclaimed. But the angry sea, with a powerful blow of a wave, overturned his boat upside down. Then Kuitsuk grabbed the tail of his horse, saying: “I didn’t offend you on land, help me out at sea!”
Kuitsuk's horse, swollen like a wineskin, swam across the waves. Kuitsuk grabbed the horse's tail with one hand, wrapped the other with a whip and pulled the tied canoes behind him, and in them - Aryksha, Gorgonyzha and Ahuazha.
The sea raged even more and began to throw the Nart canoes, but that was not the case! He never managed to drown Kuitsuk.
The Narts swam across the sea and moved overland. When they reached the hill, Arykshu stopped and said:
- I can’t go any further! It's been a week since I've eaten anything!
-Where did you put your supplies? - Kuitsuk was surprised.
“Not a crumb is left of them a long time ago!” - answered Arykshu.
- What kind of custom does the Nart have - you can’t walk two steps, but eat a whole mountain! - said Kuitsuk. Taking cheese and a millet flatbread from his travel bag, he gave them to Aryksh: “Make sure there is enough until we get to the crest of the seventh rock!”
The sledges moved on. Having reached the foot of the third rock, the exhausted Gorgonyzh said, almost crying:
- I can’t go any further! Rather than suffer like this, I’d rather die here!
- Hey, Gorgonyzh, what happened to you? - asked Kuitsuk.
- Two weeks have passed since I last ate!
-Where did you put your supplies?
“I’ve already forgotten what happened that day when I picked up the last crumbs!”
Kuitsuk took half a piece of cheese and half a flatbread from his travel bag and handed it to Gorgonyzh:
“Make sure there’s enough until we cross the ridge of the seventh rock!”
The sledges set off. At the foot of the fourth rock, Ahuazh fell from his horse:
- I can’t go any further! I'm dying of hunger!
- Hey, Ahuazh, where did you put your supplies? - Kuitsuk asked.
“If wild animals had torn me to pieces that day when I finished my supplies, the Narts would have time to forget my name!” - Ahuazh answered.
Then Kuitsuk took out a quarter of a piece of cheese and a quarter of a flatbread from his travel bag and handed it to Ahuazh:
— Until we pass the seventh rock, don’t expect anything else!
The Narts moved on. At the foot of the seventh rock, Arykshu, Gorgonyzh and Ahuazh stopped their horses.
“Go alone, Kuitsuk, and we’ll stay here to die!” - all three spoke.
- Hey, lazy people! We've already arrived, one step left! - Kuitsuk exclaimed. But none of the sledges moved.
- Hey, daredevils! Behind the seventh rock await us the fields where Thagolej sowed his millet, the pasture where the fat herds of Amish roam, the Mazithi forests full of game! - said Kuitsuk. All three just looked at each other and sighed.
- Hey, brave souls! The Nart family is waiting for a spa from you! - said Kuitsuk. Then the horsemen raised their heads, but they were unable to hold the reins. Kuitsuk took the last flatbread from his bag and divided it between them.
The sledges set off again. With difficulty they crossed the seventh rock, behind which the steppe opened up - the same steppe where Thagolej sowed millet. Not millet, but pure gold, spreading out in front of them, blinded their eyes. Amish's fat herds grazed in the valleys, and along the slopes stretched the dense thickets of Mazitha, where wild boars and wild goats roamed.
In the middle of the valley, smoke curled over the old house. The horsemen approached him, straining their last strength. There was not a living soul in the house. The Narts sat down at the table laden with dishes, and, having had their fill, lay down to rest.
Late in the evening, the owners of the house, seven Inizhe brothers, returned. At the sight of the empty table, the foreigners became furious and decided to deal with the uninvited guests.
The Narts were numb with horror and did not know what to do: it was impossible to escape, because the ferocious masters were standing on the threshold. It was useless to fight the foreigners; With a blow from the palm of the hand, the horse was flattened into a flat cake along with his horse.
Here Kuitsuk stepped forward and addressed the foreigners:
- Before you kill us, listen to me: we were sent to you on an important matter!
The senior foreigner was very curious.
-Who sent you and why? he asked.
“The Narts sent us after hearing that there was no one in the world smarter than you, the seven other brothers!” - answered Kuitsuk.
“What’s true is true: you won’t find anyone smarter than us!” the younger one boasted. He was very boastful.
“If so, then you will be able to resolve the great dispute of the Narts,” Kuitsuk spoke and continued: “Once upon a time there lived an ancient bull, his hind legs stood behind Indyl, his front legs behind Psyzh, and he plucked grass on the bank of the Terek.” An eagle flew by and, grabbing the bull, soared into the sky. After circling a little, the eagle sat down on the horn of an old goat. And at that time it was raining heavily, and the shepherd hid under a goat’s beard. “If only the rain would stop soon!” - the shepherd shouted and, parting his goat’s beard, looked at the sky. Then the eagle, sitting on the horn, dropped the bull's shoulder blade, which he was holding in his beak, and it hit the shepherd's eye. In the evening the shepherd returned home and said to his mother: “It’s like I’ve clogged my eye!” Then her nine daughters-in-law, each taking a wooden shovel, entered the shepherd’s eye, but were unable to help him. Fortunately, the mother thought of licking the bull's shoulder blade out of her son's eye with her tongue.
Many years have passed. The shovel was covered with snow and covered with dust. A village grew up in the place where she lay. One night there was an earthquake. The next night it happened again. On the third night it happened again. Then the villagers posted a guard. The guard saw a fox creep up to the village at night and begin to pull a bull's shoulder blade out of the ground. If he pulls once, the houses shake; if he pulls again, the houses collapse. Then the guard killed the fox. The villagers gathered and began to skin her. One side was torn off: there was enough fox fur for everyone’s hats, and there was still the same amount left. They wanted to turn the fox over to remove the skin from the other side, but they couldn’t. Then they called the mother of the shepherd Kuitsuk. She placed a spindle under the fox, easily turned it over and skinned the other side. “If I had two more skins like this, it would be enough for half a hat for the son I gave birth to yesterday!” - said Kuitsuk’s mother, wound the skin on a spindle and went home.
So the Narts argue: which of them is greater than all of them - either a bull, or an eagle, or a goat? Or maybe a fox or a shepherd? Some think that Kuitsuk’s mother is the greatest, and others say that her baby is even greater! Hey, wise people, judge who is right!
Before Kuitsuk had time to finish his story, the senior foreigner exclaimed:
- Who is the most? Of course, bull!
“It’s not true,” shouted the second brother, “after all, the eagle raised the bull!” That means he is bigger than everyone else!
“You’re talking nonsense!” the third brother got angry. - Or have you forgotten about the goat?
- Don't be stupid! - the fourth one intervened. - It’s clear to everyone - most of all the shepherd who got hit in the eye by a bull’s shoulder blade!
- Shut up, it’s sickening to listen to! - the fifth one got angry. “Not a goat or a shepherd, but an old woman who licked the bull’s shoulder blade out of the eye with her tongue!”
- You're lying! Not an old woman, but a fox! — the sixth foreigner jumped out of his seat.
- The baby is bigger than everyone else! — the youngest seethed.
- I'm telling you, bull! - the senior foreigner shouted again.
- Fox! - the other brother stubbornly objected.
“Goat!” shouted the third, waving a club.
- You yourself are a goat! Of course, the old woman is the biggest! - the fourth intervened, stepping on him.
- Shepherd! Shepherd! - the fifth one repeated with irritation.
“And I’m telling you, an eagle!” the sixth one pushed him.
- The one who didn’t have enough for a hat! - the younger brother shouted and hit him with his fist.
A fight broke out between the foreigners. Kuitsuk ran around and encouraged:
- That's a blow, that's a blow!
“I won’t let this happen to my own brother!”
- Hey, why are you silent? Hit him!
- That's it, that's it! On the head!
- Hey, you seem to have chickened out!
- Don't yawn! Hit him with a club!
- Hey, show me that you have fists too!
The foreigners were seriously furious. The carnage did not stop until they killed each other.
Kuitsuk, Arykshu, Gorgonyzh and Ahuazh took with them as much food as their horses could carry, and set off on the return journey, hastening to please the Narts with good news.
Without thinking twice, the sledges rose and migrated to the rich lands of the seven Inizh brothers. There they lived in contentment and happiness.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru