In ancient times, in a Nart village there lived an old man with a grumpy old woman. Even the neighbors, when they heard her creaky voice, would immediately fall silent, cower and hide in the corners. She kept her husband in fear. Not only to contradict, but the unfortunate old man did not dare to utter words in front of her. Every now and then he received beatings, he often had to spend the night in the open air and go to bed without dinner.
One day the old man became unbearable and decided to leave his evil old woman forever. The old man wandered for a long time through the mountains, through gorges, through dense forests and finally came across a deep hole. It was narrow at the edges, but wide inside and so dark that the bottom was not visible.
The old man rejoiced:
“Now I’ll probably get rid of my misfortune forever!”
Without thinking twice, he returned home and, after a pause, turned to the evil old woman:
- Do you know, wife, I came across this in the forest today. amazing pit! I have never seen such a miracle in my life! It is deep and vast, and at the bottom there are countless treasures. There’s so much that’s not there! I stood there spellbound, I couldn’t take my eyes off. It's a pity I didn't have a rope to go down there!
- Fool! - the old woman shouted. - While you hesitate, someone will find out about this, and we will be left with nothing! Tomorrow we’ll grab a rope and a bag and go into the forest!
At dawn, taking a longer rope and a supply of food, they went into the forest.
- Hurry, hurry! - the old woman hurried, afraid that someone would intercept the treasure.
The old man pretended that he wanted to climb into the hole himself and began to tie himself with a rope. But the old woman pushed him away:
“Would I trust the Fool with such an important matter!”
She tied herself tighter, gave the end of the rope to the old man and, growling angrily, began to descend into the pit. And he was just waiting for this: he threw the rope and ran home, not believing his luck.
Half a month later, the sled Kuitsuk went out into the forest to hunt. A terrible and pitiful cry reached his ears. Kuitsuk headed in the direction where the scream was coming from and approached the pit. Someone was sitting at the bottom of it and, sobbing bitterly, wailed:
- Oh, they're killing me here! Oh, I lost my life! At least someone could hear me! If only someone would take pity on me!
Nart Kuitsuk had a kind heart. Without wasting time, he unwound a long rope, which he carried with him just in case, and lowered the end of it into the hole.
“Grab tight, poor fellow,” shouted Kuytsuk, “I’ll pull you out now!”
The invisible creature clung to the rope, and Kuitsuk began to pull the heavy load out of the hole. Straining all his strength, he pulled one last time and was speechless with horror: a huge purple-eyed dragon was sitting on the edge of the pit.
Kuitsuk could not utter a word for a long time. And the dragon lay face down on the ground, shaking as if in a fever and pouring tears into three streams.
Finally Kuitsuk came to his senses and, gathering his courage, asked the dragon:
- Hey, who scared you? Why did you cry so pitifully?
“I was born in this pit and spent my whole life in it. I never thought of leaving her! Well, all of a sudden, a damned old woman fell in there, and my life was gone. It beats me so hard that it left no living space on me! And besides, her tongue alone is worth it! It chatters madly day and night. I already saw from everything that the old woman was planning to eat me, yes, thank you, you helped! For this - whatever you wish - I will fulfill everything!
“I don’t need anything,” answered Kuitsuk. “If I need you, I’ll find you!” - and left, thinking that it was not worth pulling out the old woman from the pit, who had survived the dragon from there.
Meanwhile, the old man, having gotten rid of his evil wife, took pity on her and decided:
“Sitting in the hole, she probably came to her senses.” I'll go get her out into the light!
He came to the forest just at the time when Kuitsuk was talking with the dragon, and, hiding in the bushes, overheard their words.
“I would have a hard time if I pulled her out of the hole! After all, she survived the dragon from there!” - thought the old man and hurried off.
Although the pit was a home for the dragon, he did not want to return there. Left to live in the open air, he began to cause disasters to people.
Soon the dragon dammed the river that flowed past the Nart village where Kuitsuk lived. People died of thirst, livestock died. They dug a well, but there was almost no water in it.
The sledges became unbearable. They gathered an army and went against the monster. But the fierce dragon killed and maimed all the warriors, and the village was left without water.
- Let me go, Narts, and have a look at this dragon! - said Kuitsuk. - Maybe I can handle him!
- That's good! — some were happy.
Others didn't believe it:
- Where can Kuitsuk defeat the dragon?
Nart put his bow over his shoulder, girded himself with his sword and left.
Having recognized Kuitsuk, who saved him from the evil old woman, the dragon agreed to free the river: after all, he promised the Nart to fulfill his wish.
The river flowed again without interruption, quenching thirst and refreshing in the heat.
To celebrate, the villagers held a sanitary drinking party and drained more than one horn of white sano for the health of their savior Kuitsuk.
And the dragon went downstream and dammed the river near a neighboring village.
It was a hot summer. People, birds, animals were thirsty under the scorching sun. The village was dying out. Having heard that the Nart Kuitsuk lived next door, who had saved people from disaster, the venerable old men went to him.
Kuitsuk, touched by their suffering, said:
- Either I save people from painful death, or I die myself!
Another time, Kuitsuk went to the dragon and persuaded him to free the river.
“I’ll leave here,” said the dragon, “just remember, don’t come a third time: I won’t fulfill your request and, in addition, I’ll eat you, I’m really tired of you!”
The people of the rescued village greeted Kuitsuk with honor. Their joy knew no bounds. The celebration in honor of the deliverer lasted for several days and nights. More than one barrel of white sano was cut up by the sledges and turned upside down.
And the dragon went downstream and again dammed the river, leaving the third village without water.
By this time, there was not a person in the Nart Country who had not heard about how Kuitsuk saved two villages from destruction.
People came to Kuitsuk and said:
“A dragon has dammed our river and hasn’t given us a sip of water for two weeks.” Our children are dying of thirst. Women and old people suffer torment. Save us, Kuitsuk, or we will die!
Kuitsuk thought thoughtfully: “If I go to the dragon, the dragon will no longer listen to me, and what’s more, he’ll eat me! If I don’t go, the whole village will die.”
- OK! - Kuitsuk answered and went to the dragon. The dragon lies in the river, not giving you a sip of water to draw. From a distance he noticed Kuitsuk and shouted:
-Are you here again? I told you - if you come a third time, I won’t listen, and I’ll even eat you!
“No, no,” shouted Kuitsuk, “this time I’m not asking you for anything.” Thank you for fulfilling my request twice already! I just came to say that the old woman got out of the hole and is looking for you!
Kuitsuk did not have time to blink an eye when the dragon, overcome with horror, took off from its place and, hiding in the clouds, crossed the mountain range. From that time on, he was no longer seen in the Nart Country.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru