A long time ago there was a small village right on the border. And in that village there lived a cheerful guy named Pak. Everyone loved him: the old men because he was respectful, the boys because he was the first strongman, and the girls because no one could sing songs better than him. And this Pak loved the most beautiful girl in the village, and she loved him, and they decided to get married. In early spring, the whole village gathered at Pak's wedding, drank wine and wished the newlyweds happiness. And suddenly - tten-tten-tten - a bell rang in the distance. Instantly the gayagym fell silent, the girls stopped dancing, and the old men stopped telling instructive stories. Everyone knew: the bell was ringing, which meant the enemy had attacked the country.
Hearing the alarm bell, the men rose from their seats and took bows and arrows. And Puck stood up too.
“Stay with your young wife, Puck,” they persuade him. “We will soon drive away the enemy and return.”
He looked at the bride Pak and smiled: he knew what she would say. And she took his hand and said firmly:
- Go defend your native land, Puck. How can we be happy when our country is in trouble! Go and come back victorious.
The men went to the border, but the women remained at home with their children. The peasants fought with the enemy for three days and three nights, but they could not defeat the foreigners: the enemies killed many, and took the rest captive.
The news reached the women about this. They all gathered together.
“We’ll die rather than give up the village to the enemy,” they say.
They began to think about how to protect the village; Puck's bride came forward and said:
“We need to make an earthen rampart around the village and hide behind the rampart.”
The women began to pour the shaft, and the boys helped them: they carried huge stones and water. The enemies approached the village, and the women poured boiling water on them from the rampart, threw stones - there was no way to approach them.
The strangers see that they cannot take the villages. They surrounded her then
Kayagym is a musical instrument.
in a tight ring and began to wait; sitting by the fire, chuckling: “Anyway, they can’t survive for long without food and drink.” And at this time women are holding advice on how to outwit their enemies, thinking.
They waited until nightfall, and when the moon went behind the clouds, Puck's bride climbed over the high shaft and began to dig a hole. She dug all night and dug a huge hole, and then threw sharp stones into it.
At dawn she took a jug of water, climbed over the rampart again and walked past the enemy camp. Her enemies saw her, grabbed her and brought her to the commander. The boss began to interrogate her:
- Why did you leave the village?
Puck's bride is silent, as if she had taken water into her mouth. And the chief nodded his head, and Pak was brought into the tent, and with him ten more - those who were taken prisoner. The girl rushed to Puck, and the boss ordered:
- Well, speak immediately, otherwise off with all their heads.
- Don't, don't say it! - Puck shouted, and the enemies jumped up to him and pushed him out of the tent.
Puck's bride cried:
- Don't kill them, great commander! I'll tell you everything. At night, our van’s troops came to our aid. There are so many of them that you can’t count them all. Their peaks are long, their swords are sharp, their horses are fast. So I decided to bring them water.
She said this, and the boss slapped himself on the knees:
- Worthless liar! How could they penetrate the village when my army surrounded it from all sides?
Puck's bride smiled:
- And we have an underground passage. Do you see the hole right next to the shaft? This is our passage, and it goes to the Eastern Sea itself, and it was there that the Van’s warriors descended into the underground passage and along it they reached the village.
The boss was delighted, burst out laughing, satisfied.
“You will lead us to the underground passage at night,” he says. “If you disobey, I will kill all the prisoners and you will have no mercy.”
The girl covered her face with her hands, as if she were crying bitterly, but she herself was laughing with joy: she had deceived her cruel enemies.
And the chief waited for the dark night, gathered his soldiers and ordered them to crawl to the pit and jump there one at a time. And he was the first to crawl.
He jumped into the hole and howled. And at the same moment the women ran out onto the rampart. "Manse!" - they shout and throw stones at their enemies. Pak's bride heard the victorious cry, ran to the tent where her beloved and his comrades were sitting, untied their arms and legs, and they rushed at the enemy. The strangers were completely afraid: the boss had disappeared somewhere, stones and arrows were flying from all sides.
- Let's run quickly! - they shouted and ran away. They reached their native land and said to the ruler:
- This is an amazing country, even the women there are brave warriors! You can’t attack them: nothing will come of it anyway.
Since then they no longer dared to cross the border. And Puck and his faithful wife lived happily ever after.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru