It was a long time ago. A merchant and his workers were sailing along the river on a carbass to trade with the Evenks. That day a high wind rose, drove big waves, broke the boat and scattered people across the water.
The merchant and the people drowned. Only one worker remained. He grabbed onto the board. The wind drove him out to sea. And the worker washed up on the island. A worker came out to the island. And on the island there wasn’t even a tree, not even grass growing. He looked into the distance, and the land remained far beyond the sea.
He walks and thinks: “I’ll probably have to die.” It became cold. He sees a skinned elk lying on the stones. There is no skin or entrails. “Let me,” he thinks, “I’ll climb into it. It’ll keep getting warmer.” And climbed in.
I lay there for a long time. In his sleep he hears as if two eagles have flown. “Now they’ll eat it,” he thinks. They sat down. He senses that those eagles carried the elk somewhere. For a long time he rocked, as if in a cradle, in the womb of an elk. Then the eagles apparently laid him on the ground and flew away somewhere.
“Come what may,” he thinks. “I’ll get out...” He got out. He sees that this is no longer an island, but some other land. All around there is a forest with trees reaching to the sky. A wide road runs along it. “Let me,” he thinks, “I’ll walk along it.” And he went. It took a long time. Then he met a giant man. The giant asks him:
- Where are you from?
“I don’t know myself...” he answers him.
- And I know... You came from earth to heaven. Well, then, come and live with us,” he said and continued on his way.
A guest is walking along the road. It took a long time. He sees stone plague trees standing between the trees. There are deep holes dug in the area. Giant people stand next to them. They throw skinned elk into pits. The elk will be thrown off - the eagles will take them back out of the holes. They’ll take it out and put it on the ground. The elk’s meat will have grains of gold glittering on it. Giant people will collect gold from the elk and throw it back into the beast’s pit. The eagles get them again.
The man began to help them. They took him to live with them. I worked for a whole year. Then he took the giantess bride as his wife. He only lived with her for a short time. She fell ill and died soon. Giant people gathered around the deceased. They made her a coffin. The deceased was placed there. They tell him:
- Lie down next to her.
- What are you talking about? “I didn’t die,” the Evenk objects.
- And this is the law in heaven. If you don’t lie down, we’ll put you down by force.
The man from the earth did not agree for a long time, but there was nothing to do; he lay down in the coffin with his wife. They nailed the coffin and carried it to the pit. He thinks: “He’s gone now.” They brought me to the pit. They shouted something in their own way three times and threw them into the pit. The coffin flew. It turns over and knocks on the walls of the pit. It took a long time to fly. And when he fell to the bottom of the pit, he crashed.
The Evenk looks around, but sees nothing. Pitch darkness. He fumbles around with his hands. I felt gnawed human bones. He hears a woman crying somewhere to the side, and thinks: “I’ll go wherever my eyes lead me.” He got up and went. I tripped over a stone. He sees two huge red eyes appear from the darkness. They go straight at him. They whistle. He hid behind a stone. The monster crawled to where the woman was crying. And he sits behind a stone and listens to what will happen next. The woman screamed again, and then it became quiet. You can only hear the human bones crunching between the monster’s teeth. Then it disappeared somewhere.
Evenk went further. At first the ground was flat underfoot. Then stones began to appear. “Give me,” he thinks, “I’ll put stones in my pockets. Whoever attacks, I’ll defend myself.”
He picked up stones and continued on his way. It took a long time. He sees a small star shining in the distance, in the dark. He headed towards her. The closer I got, the bigger the star became. It’s already become lighter underfoot. I decided to rest. I wanted to throw those stones out of my pocket. He looks: these are not stones, but pieces of gold. I was happy. I put it in my pocket. He got up and walked again. Now the star has become the sun.
It became as light as day. I looked back, and behind me there was a black cloud. He looked ahead and saw the river along which he was floating. Looks at the river. In the middle of the river, Russian people are swimming in carbass. He started screaming for them to land on shore. They don't hear. They are floating. Then he took off his white shirt and hung it on a stick. He waves it. We saw it from the carbass. We turned towards the shore. They stuck up and shouted:
- Look! Familiar! Where are you from? After all, we have lost news of you for three years!
Evenk told how it happened with him. They took him with them. They took us to the plague and then sailed on.
He distributed the gold to the poor Evenks and kept it for himself. Since then I began to live well. He was no longer hired as a worker by merchants.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru