In ancient times, there lived a poor old man in the south. Early in the morning he went to the mountains, chopped wood until the evening, and in the evening he sold the firewood at the market. This is how he lived, because he had neither land nor a garden. One day an old man came to the mountains and suddenly heard someone crying pitifully, thinly, like a mosquito squeaking. The old man approached the place where the crying was coming from and saw a tiny boy lying in the grass and crying bitterly. The old man felt sorry for him. He took off his shirt, wrapped the baby in it and brought it home.
From then on the boy began to live with the old man. The old man gives him milk and goes off to get firewood, while the baby lies in the cradle, waiting for the old man. Whether long or short, the boy grew up big and strong. The guys will start to fight each other - he will defeat everyone, they will run a race - he will be the first to come running. So they nicknamed him “Changsu”, which means “hero”.
One fine day, Chansu came to the old man and said:
- Take me, father, to the mountains. I also want to chop wood. The old man laughed:
– Where are you going to the mountains, Chansu? You're too young to go there yet. And Chansu is not far behind:
- Look how strong I am. It’s not for nothing that they called me Chansu. The old man agreed. He made a small chige, put it on his son’s shoulders and led the boy into the mountains.
[Chige is a device for carrying weights over the shoulders.]
Chansu chopped some wood, threw a full load of chige and took it home. He carried and carried, and the rope on which the chige was hanging suddenly burst - firewood fell to the ground. Chansu put a lot of them on him.
Then the old man wove ten ropes and tied them to the chiga. Chansu carried firewood all day, and the next day he loaded so much firewood that all ten ropes broke.
“You should put in less wood, son,” says the old man, “it’s so heavy.”
And Changsu laughs:
- Is this a burden? Yes, they are like feathers. Make me, father, some iron ropes.
The old man began to forge iron ropes. People came running to look at those ropes, and Chansu also looked and asked to make them thicker. The old man made iron ropes and attached them to the chiga. He put Chansu Chige on his back and went to the mountains.
The sun has already set, but Chansu is still not there. The old man began to worry: his son would not get lost. He gathered his neighbors, and they went to look for Chansu. We went around all the paths, looked into all the crevices - no Chansu.
Suddenly the peasants see something incomprehensible sticking out in the middle of the road: a rock is not a rock, a tree is not a tree. They came closer and gasped: Chansu was standing in front of them, he had piled so much wood in the chiga that he couldn’t be seen behind the wood.
The old man began to reprimand him:
- Oh, you are so and so, the whole village is looking for you, but you don’t even have enough grief! What are you doing here? Why don't you go home?
“Sorry, father,” Chansu replies. “I was just about ready to go home, but I decided to cut down another tree.”
The neighbors shook their heads: what a strong man he was!
They returned to the village, and there they were met with bad news: cruel foreigners had attacked the country, towns and villages were being burned, small children were being killed.
Chansu learned about this and bowed to his father’s feet:
- Let me go, father, to defend the country. I don’t want strangers to come to the village.
The old man cried:
- How can I survive without you, son? How will I live alone? Yes, and you are still just a boy. There's a whole horde of them!
Chansu smiled:
“Whoever fights for the truth in his native land will always win.” Don’t worry, father, let’s drive away the enemies, and I will return to you.
He said this, took a bow and arrows and went to meet the enemies.
He walked a day, walked another and reached a high cliff. Chansu wanted to come closer, but that was not the case: the evil wind knocked him off his feet and did not allow him to take a step. “What kind of miracle? - thinks Chansu. “There was no wind.” He looked around and saw a giant sleeping nearby, and such wind was blowing from his nostrils that the rock was shaking.
- Hey, wake up! - Chansu shouts.
But the giant doesn’t even think about waking up. Then Chansu began throwing stones at the giant. The giant shuddered in his sleep, as everything around him began to hum, as the tall trees began to crackle, and suddenly - bang-ta-ra-rah! - the rock collapsed: it couldn’t stand the giant’s sigh.
The giant woke up and rubbed his eyes.
-Who woke me up? - asks. And Changsu answered him:
“It was I, Chansu, who woke you up.” Breathe a little to the side so that I can come to you.
The giant began to breathe to the side, and Chansu came up and said:
- Oh, you giant! Foreigners attacked the country, but you don’t even have enough grief! Let's go fight the enemies.
The giant yawned and stretched:
– I want to sleep... Well, okay, let’s go, we’ll drive away the uninvited guests, they won’t let us sleep anyway.
He picked up the huge club that was lying next to him, and he and Chansu moved on. They walked and walked and came to a wide river. Chansu and the giant began to think about how to get across the river. Suddenly a river ran somewhere, rushed as fast as it could and disappeared, as if it had never existed. Chansu and the giant crossed to the other side, and there a man was sitting. He winked at them slyly, opened his mouth wider, and the river flowed back and returned to its place.
“Hello, good people,” said the man who was sitting on the shore. “I knew that you wanted to cross the river, so I drank it for a while.”
“Thank you,” Chansu replies. “We are going to fight our enemies.” Won't you come with us too?
“If I don’t go, I’ll go,” the man answers. “It’s not a foreign land to me, it’s my native land.” I’ll drink the river just in case, maybe it will be useful to us.
He drank the river, and the three of them went on.
They walked and walked and met a gray-haired old woman at the pass. An old woman saw them and began to wail:
-Where are you going, you fools? Cruel enemies await you ahead. They killed everyone in our village - I was the only one saved - and they are going to move on!
Chansu got angry and slammed his fist on the rock.
- We won’t let the enemy in! - speaks. - We won’t let you pass through the pass!
- We won’t give it! - said the giant and also wanted to hit him with his fist, but he was afraid: the rock would collapse, make a lot of noise, and disturb the enemies ahead of time.
And the hero who drank the river didn’t say anything, he just nodded his head: he was afraid to open his mouth - the river would flow back, and then he’d have to drink again.
The old lady shook her head:
- How will you deal with them? There are only three of you, and there are so many of them!
And Changsu answered her:
- Don't be afraid, grandma. Whoever fights for the truth in his native land will always win.
He climbed a tree and began to look into the distance. And in the distance there is no one, only tall trees stand. Suddenly the trees swayed and began to move and moved towards the pass.
Chansu looks - and these are not trees at all, but enemy regiments, the enemies have helmets on their heads, sharp pikes in their hands.
Chansu quickly gets down from the tree and says to his comrades:
“When the enemies approach the pass, blow, giant, with all your might, and you, hero, as I say, open your mouth wider and release the river to freedom.”
The heroes hid behind a rock and began to wait for their enemies. Soon the strangers appeared beyond the pass.
“Well, giant, blow harder,” says Chansu.
The giant lay down on the ground, took a deep breath, puffed out his cheeks and began to blow from above.
“Ay-ya-ay,” the strangers screamed, “save, help!”
But who will save them? Make war on others - get what you deserve!
They flew into the air, and then the third hero opened his mouth wider and released a river. And at that very moment the giant stopped blowing.
The uninvited guests fell into the river and drowned every single one.
And the heroes went home. And they agreed to meet at an appointed place if the enemy came again.
But foreigners no longer came to these lands: they were afraid of the heroes.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru