There lived an old man and an old woman; they had no children. The old woman says to the old man:
- How will we live? We don't have children.
The old man came out of the tent, dug up clay, kneaded it with his feet, and made seven clay cups. Then he took them and put them in a large seven-eared cauldron. The old man began to rock him. He pumped and pumped for three days, and his arms became paralyzed.
- Old woman, rock it! - he said.
The old woman also pumped for three days, the boiler almost turned to the west side - the old man supported it with an iron support. At dawn the cauldron turned1 and seven boys came out.
The old man and the old woman fed these boys; they became big. The elder brother was about to go and match wives for them.
“Parents,” he said, “I’ll go match wives for my brothers.”
-Where are you going to go to match brides?
“I’ll go to the old woman Hosyadam.”
- Okay, go!
He went down the river to the old woman Khosyad.
How long did he walk and walk? When the frost came, he came to his mother. The old woman asked:
- Why did you come?
- I came to make a match.
- Well, aren’t there women in the world who came here to woo? I don't have any brides.
And he began to woo:
- Give me big women, give me big women!
The old woman looked for olatins, took out six mizgiri and gave them to him. He put them in his bosom. One thing is missing. He also began to woo:
- Give me big women, give me big women!
The old woman began to cry. She cried and cried, took out the last small misgir from behind her otina and gave it to him.
- Well, now go home. On the road, if you spend the night, don’t take them out of your bosom; If you go further in the morning, don’t take it out until you get home either. When you come home, you sit them down at the olatins and go to bed.
He went back. He walked and walked and sang: “I’m taking seven girls to death, I’m taking seven girls to death!” He spent the night and couldn’t get them out of his bosom. In the morning he went further and came home to his brothers’ tent. They tell him:
- Well, what did you find? Where are your women?
- I don’t have women.
In the evening, when they were ready to go to bed, he secretly took them out of his bosom, sat them all down behind the olatins and lay down. The night has passed. In the morning, he quietly looked up from his sleeping bag - as many as seven women were sitting in the tent. He woke up his brothers:
- Well, get up! Yesterday, when I was tired, you asked and said: “Where are the women?” Here they are, the women I brought, here they are!
The brothers were happy.
He got up and distributed these women to them, one woman to each brother.
- Well, now live!
Then they made a big plague, and all seven brothers live and live in this plague. They go hunting themselves.
The dotet began to go to them, to these women. He comes, a plague goes around:
- Women, come out, women, come out! - speaks.
The women came out, he sucked their blood through their necks, and then left.
The brothers came home in the evening and saw that their wives were not bleeding, they had turned pale. They ask them:
-Where did your blood go? You've turned completely pale!
The women did not tell them that Dotet had sucked their blood.
Then they left their younger brother at home to guard the women, and they went into the forest. During the day Dotet came, walked around the tent, shouting:
- Women, go outside!
The younger brother said to the women:
- You don’t go outside!
Women don't go outside.
Dotet began to break tents on the street and shouted:
- Women, go outside!
The younger brother jumped out into the street, chopped him with a spear, chopped him, chopped him - the big toe ran away. Although he chased him, he did not catch up. The finger dived into the hole and said this word to him:
- Tomorrow seven people from my army will come to you.
In the evening the brothers returned and asked him:
- Well, what did you see?
“I saw Dotet, he’s sucking their blood through his neck.” I jumped out with a spear, hacked, hacked at him. One of his toes ran away, I couldn’t catch up with him, he dove into the hole and said this word: “Tomorrow an army will come to you!”
Elder Brother Koltut says:
- Tomorrow we will all be at home for the day!
They spent the night. In the morning we ate, sat for a while, and seven dotets jumped out of the hole: the first had one head, the second had two, the third had three, the fourth had four, the fifth had five heads, the sixth had six, the seventh had seven. The brothers went out into the street, began to fight, began to fight. The younger brother Koltut with a single-headed dotet began to fight. Dotet threw him, Koltut fell to the ground and died. The second Koltut grabbed Dotet, threw him, he fell to the ground and died. The two-headed dotet grappled with the coltut; Dotet threw him, he fell to the ground and died. The third Koltut grappled with Dotet. Koltut threw him, Dotet fell to the ground and died. The three-headed dotet grappled with the coltut. Dotet Koltut abandoned, Koltut died. The fourth Koltut grappled with Dotet. Koltut grabbed him, Dotet fell to the ground and died. The five-headed dotet grappled with the koltut. Dotet threw the koltut, the koltut fell to the ground and died. The fifth coltut grabbed the dotet. Koltut grabbed Dotet, Dotet fell to the ground and died. The six-headed Dotet grappled with the Coltut. Dotet Koltut threw, Koltut fell and died. The sixth koltut grabbed the dotet. Koltut threw the dotet, the dotet fell and died. The seven-headed dotet grabbed the koltut, the dotet threw the koltut, the koltut fell and died. The seventh koltut grappled with the seven-headed dotet, they fought and fought so much that their strength was equal. No one else can overcome. They fought and fought, and both fell. Koltut had a ski, he kicked it, this ski:
- You, ski, ride to the door of my parents' house!
Koltut and the seven-headed dotet both fell and died. The ski rolled towards the parents' door. The old woman wanted to open the door, but the door did not open. She said to the old man:
— Something happened to the door, the door won’t open.
The old man and the old woman opened the door together, they looked - one ski, it turns out, had rolled towards their door. The old man says to the old woman:
“Someone killed our Koltut children.” Let us turn this ski back around, sit on it, and it will drag us back along its path.
They turned the ski and sat on it. The ski rolled and ran along the road. They arrived at the plague, and their children, the Koltuts, actually died. The dotets also lie dead there. The old man and the old woman pulled the dotets into one pile. The old man chopped dry wood and lit a fire over the bunkers. Then they gathered their children, the Koltuts, into one heap, put them in a large seven-eared cauldron and began pumping.
- If the Koltuts are dead by a real death, then let this cauldron turn over towards the west, but if they are dead by a weak death, then let it turn over towards the dawn!
They rock. The cauldron almost collapsed to the west - the old man propped it up with a stick. The boiler turned over on the east side. These koltuts came to life and parents are told:
- It's cold! How soundly we slept. Who woke us up?
The old man and the old woman tell them:
“If it weren’t for us, the worms would have eaten you all.” The Dotets killed you, without us you would have been completely lost.
Their wives fainted from fright. The old man put these wives in the same large seven-eared cauldron and also pumped them.
“You,” he said, “were weakly dead people!”
They turned over with the cauldron in the direction of the morning dawn. The women jumped out of the chum. Then the old man and the old woman gave these women to them.
“Now,” they say, “live!” The old woman and I will go to our tent again, but you live in your tent!
The old men sat on the Koltut ski, the ski carried the old men into their tent. When they arrived there, they turned this ski, and the ski rolled back to Koltut. The old man and the old woman are probably still living.
This is the end of the fairy tale.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru