Icha lived alone with his grandmother. On the other side of the river lived Corse the old man, a prince. Corse the old man was curious and greedy. He often sent his workers to see what people had got for him: how many valuable skins they had got, how many wild deer they had got, whether they had hidden anything from their prince.
Icha once called his dog, tied a bunch of sable skins around its neck and let the dog go outside.
The prince's workers came to Icha. They entered the tent, sat down, and looked around at everyone. Suddenly someone started scratching at the door. Icha says to his grandmother:
- That's right, my dog has returned, let her in! He turned to the prince’s workers and said:
- I sent my dog seven days ago to hunt in the forest. Let's see what she got!
Grandma let the dog in. People are looking: what is it? The dog has sable skins on its neck. And Icha says:
- Here, my good dog, she brought good skins!
The workers immediately jumped up and ran to Prince Corse to tell about Ichina’s dog. They came running and told the old prince:
- Prince Corse, what a dog we saw at Ichi’s! Seven days ago he sent her to hunt, and she brought him a bundle of sable skins.
Prince Corse tells them:
- Go to Icha now and tell him that I will buy this dog from him!
The workers ran to Icha. They reported what the prince said. Icha replied:
“It’s true, my smart dog, I’ll sell it to the prince for a horse.” Just be careful not to spoil it!
The workers took Icha’s dog, took her to the prince, and brought Icha’s horse.
Icha, as soon as the Prince’s workers left, he killed the horse, took out the intestines, filled the intestines with the blood of the killed horse and wrapped them around his grandmother. And the grandmother put the sundress on top again. He sits like that.
Prince Corse's workers come and say to Iche:
“Icha, Prince Corse is angry: your dog doesn’t go to hunt for anything, and doesn’t go into the forest, only runs around the prince’s yard.”
Icha jumped up and shouted:
- You ruined my dog! I told you - watch out, don’t spoil it! “He turned to his grandmother and shouted: “I didn’t want to sell my dog.” It was you who gave it to the prince! Now I'll kill you!
And Icha hit his grandmother with a knife. The blood began to flow, and the grandmother seemed to have died. Icha sat down and sat. I sat and sat and thought. Suddenly he says, crying:
- What have I done? After all, I myself gave my dog for a horse! Why did I kill my grandmother?!
He took his knife, placed it on the ground near his right knee and said to the knife:
“You killed my grandmother, now you can revive her.” People are watching: the grandmother moved her fingers, then moved her hands, then opened her eyes - she came to life.
The workers ran to Prince Corse and said:
- Ichi has such a sophisticated knife - it will kill, and it will also revive the dead! You saw it for yourself! The prince ordered them:
- Go and tell Icha that I want to try such a knife, maybe I’ll buy it!
The workers ran to the boat, swam across the river, and went to Icha. They came and said:
- Icha, give me your knife, Prince Corse wants to try it!
Icha answers:
- No, I won’t! You will ruin him, just like you ruined my dog. You cannot cut the poor and workers with this knife - it will spoil. You can only cut the rich, real deer herders and bosses, they have fat bodies. I'll let you try it. But remember what I said: don't ruin my knife.
The workers took a knife and ran to the prince.
Prince Corse gathered all his richest reindeer herders and chiefs into the city and began to cut them with this knife. If he hits, he will kill. He killed everyone.
Then he put the knife on the ground near his right knee and said to the knife:
- You killed everyone, now you can revive them! They lie dead and do not move. Completely killed. Nobody comes to life. Prince Corse shouted:
- Icha deceived me! Get Icha here, I'll kill him! Because of him, I lost my best people! The workers ran to Icha:
- Go quickly! Prince Corse is very angry with you! He killed all his rich deer herders with your knife!
Icha got angry too:
- So you ruined my knife! You must have slaughtered workers and poor people with it! Let's go to the prince. Why did he ruin my knife, we’ll figure it out!
And the prince shouts:
-Are you still talking to me?! Because of you, I lost my best people. Grab him, kill him!
The time was already approaching evening. Icha looked at the sky and said:
- Why kill me right away today! If it’s my fault, then it’s better to torture me first, and then kill me tomorrow. Tie me up in a bag made of raw cow skin, take me to the ice hole, let me suffer until the morning, and in the morning you will kill me.
“That’s right,” said Prince Corse, “do so.”
The workers grabbed Icha, tied him up in a bag made of raw cowhide, dragged him downhill to an ice hole and laid him there. They went to the city themselves.
It got completely dark. Night has fallen. All the people in the city fell asleep.
Icha lies at the ice hole. He hears a dog sled coming. These are merchants carrying goods. Merchants say:
“It’s like something is lying by the ice hole.” Icha answers them:
- It’s me lying!
- Why are you lying?
“And a lot of goods will soon begin to come out of the hole.” There, at the bottom, there are a lot of different things: beautiful fabrics, and much more. I'll be bringing this product up soon. Merchants say:
- Let us lie down for a while, we’ll take some goods too!
- No, I won’t let you in! You pull out the best, but I’ll get the last of it, the bad will remain.
- Let us go, we’ll just lie there until the moon comes out, and after us, you can lie there all night and day and pull out the goods!
Icha paused, then said:
- Well, okay! Lie down, just leave me a good product!
The merchants untied him. They climbed into the bag themselves. Icha tied them. Tells them:
- Now your eyes will get used to the darkness, and you will see the goods. I’ll move your sledges a little to the side, so you’ll have more room to store your goods.
Icha took the dogs by the reins and took all the argish with the merchant's goods to him. He dispersed the dogs, broke the sledges, and dragged the merchant's goods to his tent.
In the morning, the Prince's servants went down to the river and threw the bag into the hole.
A day has passed. The next morning, Prince Corse came out of the house and looked: what is it? Ichina's grandmother's top is smoking heavily. Apparently, a big fire is burning in the plague. Grandma cooks a lot of food.
The prince called his servants and ordered:
- Swim over to Ichina’s grandmother’s tent, see why her fire smokes so much. What happened to her there?
The workers swam across. We came to Ichin's plague. They entered the tent. They see: right, a big fire is burning merrily. The smoke rises in a column. In the plague, all kinds of goods are hung, like a merchant in a shop. Icha himself is sitting on the chest, various foods are placed on the table in front of him. Every kind of food imaginable under our sky is available.
Icha is sitting, drinking tea, and Icha’s face is all scratched up. Icha tells them:
- Sit down, you will be guests! Yesterday you threw me into the hole, but now look what I found there. You see how many different products I found. And there's still a lot left there.
The workers were so surprised that they didn’t sit down to drink tea. They stood and listened to Icha, only their eyes and mouth opened in surprise. And they ran quickly to the prince. They told him everything, and along the way they told all the people in the city.
The prince ordered to immediately kill the cow, sew him, the prince, into a bag of cow skin and throw him into the hole. And all the merchants and bosses began to kill the cows, sew them up in sacks, and then ordered their servants to push themselves into the hole. Everyone drowned there.
The greedy prince and greedy bosses were gone. Icha destroyed them all by cunning. The Selkups chose Icha as elder over them. And they began to live well. That's the end of it.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru