Across the river, at the edge of the forest, robber tribes settled. Soon the walking paths around the robbers' home were overgrown with weeds. Carrying out raids on the villages of the Narts, the evil inyzhi took people into slavery and stole livestock.
The Narts knew that although the Inyzhi were not very smart, they were so strong that with a blow of the palm they flattened the rider and his horse into a flat cake.
When there was no life left at all from the robbers, the equestrian detachment of the Narts entered into an unequal struggle with them. But soon the leader’s horse galloped back without its rider. His owner, barely alive, crawled to the Nart village. His clothes hung in shreds. Apart from him, not a single rider returned.
Again the sledges set off and were again defeated. No more than half of the soldiers returned home.
The surviving Narts gathered Khasa. Limping and leaning on a stick, the leader of the sleds, crippled by the inizhi, came out into the middle.
“You see for yourself, Narts, that I am no longer able to lead you into battle,” he said quietly.
The old warriors bowed their heads. What to do? How to defeat foreign robbers?
It was as if the sledges were numb - no one said a word.
Suddenly, the nondescript shepherd Kuitsuk came out into the middle of Khasa. His clothes were torn, and hay was sticking out of his holey boots.
- There’s nothing to do! Apparently, I’ll have to take on this matter myself. Don't worry, Narts! — the shepherd cheerfully addressed the soldiers. “In a month, not a single robber will remain in our area.” They will quickly run away from me!
- Look at this brave man in dirty dudes! Where did he come from? Hey you crazy guy, go away with your stupid jokes! - they shouted from all sides. The venerable old sledges got angry: they had no time to laugh!
Kuitsuk silently left Khasa and went home.
- Mother, tomorrow morning I will hit the road. “Prepare me a full sack of flour and a circle of young cheese,” he turned to his mother.
By morning she had prepared flour and cheese.
- Be healthy, mother! If I stay alive, see you! - Kuitsuk said and set off on the road.
Whether it was long or short, he finally approached the river. It was wide and deep. Having placed flour and cheese on a coastal stone, Kuitsuk began to look for a ford. At this time, the youngest of the foreign robbers appeared on the other bank.
- Hey, hey! - shouted Kuitsuk.
- What do you want? - asked the robber.
- Take me to the other side.
“If you turn out to be stronger than me, I’ll carry you, and if I turn out to be stronger, you’ll carry me.” Look, Kuitsuk!
With these words, the inyzh took a coastal stone and crushed it into powder with his palms. Then he took another stone and, squeezing it with both hands, squeezed the water out of it.
Then Kuitsuk raised the bag over his head and, untying it, shook out the flour, which rose in a cloud above his head. Then he took the cheese, squeezed the whey out of it and began to eat it, saying to others:
-Can you eat stone? No, you can't! But I can! That means I'm stronger than you! Come here and carry me across the river!
Inyzh put Kuitsuk on his shoulders, thinking: “When I reach the middle of the river, I’ll throw him into the water. Let him drown!”
But Kuitsuk guessed about this and, taking an awl from his pocket, pricked him in the neck.
- Oh-oh-oh! What are you doing? - Inyzh screamed from unbearable pain.
- What else will happen if you try to throw me into the water! - answered Kuitsuk. - You won’t get away from me alive!
Inyzh was very scared. He quickly crossed the river and stopped on the other bank. And Kuitsuk, without getting down, ordered:
- Take me to your home!
- Why do I take you to my home?
- Carry it and shut up!
- Look, we are seven brothers! Bad things will happen to you!
- I’m not afraid of you even seven! Carry it alive! What happened? - Kuitsuk shouted at the inyzha and again pricked him with an awl.
Screaming and shedding tears, he dragged the other uninvited guest into his house.
At this time, six of his brothers returned from the raid. They visited a Nart village and brought back huge bales of stolen goods. Here the other robbers saw Kuitsuk sitting on the shoulders of their younger brother.
- What kind of miracle did you bring us? - they asked in surprise.
- I don’t know! - answered the younger one. “This little man caught me and forced me to bring him into the house!” And he threatens to kill us all!
- If so, drag him to the kunatskaya! Come on, we'll kill him!
“You can’t feel sorry for them,” Kuitsuk thought, sitting in the kunatskaya, “today they plundered one village, tomorrow another. If you spare them, there will be no stone left from the Nart Country!”
Soon the owners came to Kuitsuk and greeted him.
- Well, slaughter three fattened bulls - one - today for dinner, another - tomorrow for breakfast, the third - for lunch! - Kuitsuk ordered.
The Inizhi did not really like the fact that Kuitsuk was commanding them, but he shouted at them menacingly, and the robbers began to shake as if in a fever. “Apparently, he really is very strong,” the others thought, standing respectfully in front of the guest and not daring to sit down without permission.
The Inyzhi slaughtered three fat bulls, roasted them and brought them to Kuitsuk in the evening. He ate as much as he could, and secretly threw what was left into a hole that he had dug in advance.
The owners were surprised to see the empty table.
“If he stays with us for three days,” the foreigners said, “we will lose all our livestock.”
The robbers thought for a long time about how to get rid of him, and they came up with an idea. As soon as Kuitsuk fell asleep, they dragged some stones from the river and began to throw them into the chimney in order to fill the kunatskaya to the top and destroy the uninvited guest.
Kuitsuk woke up from the roar and immediately realized what had happened. He climbed onto the ceiling beam and sat there all night. The foreigners filled the room with stones and calmly went to bed.
The next morning they couldn’t believe their eyes: Kuitsuk was standing, alive, at the threshold, with an awl in his hand, and shouting:
- Come on, get the shovels, pitchforks, rakes! There was a hail of stones all night long and overwhelmed the kunatskaya. It was such a restless night! Hey, shovel out the stones and turn around quickly!..
They began to shovel stones, and whoever grumbled received an awl in the side. The foreigners never managed to get rid of the uninvited guest.
The next night, leaving their younger brother at home, the six of the robbers set off to rob the Nart villages.
At night Kuitsuk woke up from the stomping of a horse. He sees three others galloping ahead of the stolen herd, and three behind, in case of pursuit.
The younger foreigner came forward and asked:
—Did they drive it from afar?
Kuitsuk put his ear to the door and listens.
- Why drive from afar? — foreigners answer boastfully. “Isn’t there a Nart village across the river?” We have recaptured the herd from those sledges who are planning to attack us!
Kuitsuk's heart sank: the robbers were in his native village again!
“The last thing is being taken away from the poor Nart!” I won’t return home until I take revenge on the foreigners and give the stolen goods back to the owners! - Kuitsuk said to himself.
At dawn the foreigners woke up and slaughtered the fat bull. They cooked a full cauldron of beef and brought Kuitsukui so much food that the table almost broke from the weight. Kuitsuk ate as much as he could, and hid the rest again in the hole.
“You must be bored being locked up,” the inyzhi said to Kuitsuk. “Would you like to go with us to the meadow for a walk?”
- OK! - Kuitsuk agreed. “Just let one of you carry me on your shoulders.”
- You brought it, - you carry it! — the robbers once turned to their younger brother. He put Kuitsuk on his shoulders. The brothers look and think with annoyance: there is a lot of trouble with him.
They came to a meadow overgrown with green grass. They sat down in a circle, and Kuitsuk sat in the middle to tell them stories.
Here one foreigner says:
- Come on, Kuitsuk, let's run a race! If you overtake me, do whatever you want with me, and if I overtake you, you will carry out my will!
“Okay,” answered Kuitsuk, “but it’s not me who will run, but my little brother.” There he is, under the mound, sitting in the bushes. When you reach him, he will run with you.
The foreigner hurried to the mound. A hare jumped out of the bushes and ran. Inyzh set off after him, but did not catch up. Can a man catch up with a hare? Ashamed, he returned to Kuitsuk.
The robbers consulted among themselves and suggested:
- Come on, Kuitsuk, fight!
- A waste of time! - said Kuitsuk. - But if you want, my middle brother is sleeping over there in the cave, wake him up - he will measure his strength with you!
The Inyzhi approached the cave and began shouting at the top of their lungs:
- Hey, brother Kuitsuka, come out and fight!
A huge shaggy bear came out of the cave, grabbed the first inyzh he came across and, breaking his leg, dragged him into the cave.
The robbers ran to Kuitsuk and prayed:
“We swear to fulfill all your wishes, just free our brother from the clutches of your brother!”
- Do you think it's easy? My brother is just like me: enraged, he can’t feel the ground under his feet! It’s good if it calms down in three days! But so be it, I will help you! Run over there into the forest, past the cave! My brother will chase you, and in the meantime I will rescue yours from the cave,” Kuitsuk promised.
The foreigners did just that. The bear actually chased them, and Kuitsuk hurried to the cave. At the sight of him, the younger brother was so frightened that, despite his broken leg, he started to run and somehow made it to the place where the brothers had gathered. The bear failed to catch up with her. He returned to the cave and, not finding his prey, roared so that a trembling ran through the forest.
“If his middle brother is so strong, then what is he like!” - the others thought. They began to fear Kuitsuk even more and day and night they only thought about how to get rid of him.
One day, before dawn, Kuitsuk again heard the clatter of a horse. Opening the door, he saw the foreigners returning from the raid. The elder had a woman in torn clothes tied behind the saddle. Her hair fluttered in the wind. When they untied her, she fell to the ground and moaned.
— Did they bring it from far away? - asked the younger one.
- Why carry it from afar! - answered the eldest. “Isn’t there a Nart village across the river?” This woman will be our slave. If it starts to work poorly, we’ll sell it to foreign lands!
The blood began to boil in Kuitsuk’s heart, like stale mash.
“At any cost, I’ll get you out of here, damned robbers!” - Kuitsuk thought, and outside the door the foreigners continued their conversation.
— Is Kuitsuk still here? - they asked their younger brother.
- Will he ever get out of here? - he answered. - He ate a bull and sleeps as if nothing had happened!
- Our business is bad! - said the older brother. - Let's try pouring boiling water down the chimney - let it cook, damn it!
That's what they decided on.
In the morning they slaughtered the fattened bull again and cooked lunch for Kuitsuk. But the guest ordered the slaughter of another barn cow and ten sheep.
“We will feast until midnight,” Kuitsuk said to the foreigners, “and then I will decide what to do with you and your goods!”
It began to get dark. Inyzhi set the table and set out food, apparently and invisibly. Kuitsuk pretended to eat and threw it into a hole under the table. Others look and are surprised - so small, and how much he eats!
The Inizhi made a bed for Kuitsuk and put him to sleep, while they themselves lit a huge fire and began to boil water in copper cauldrons.
When the first vat of boiling water was poured down the chimney, Kuitsuk woke up, climbed into the attic and, wrapped in a cloak, slept all night.
The next morning Kuitsuk came out to the door and shouted:
- Come on, quickly dry the kunatskaya! It was pouring rain at night, and so hot! It prevented me from sleeping and soaked me to the skin. Hey, give me dry clothes and make me a silk bed - I didn’t get enough sleep!
Nothing to do! They brought dry clothes, laid out a silk bed for Kuitsuk and dried the kunatsk one.
They thought for a long time about what to do with Kuitsuk, and finally decided:
“Let’s lay all our gold and silver at his feet, and drive all the cattle!” Let him take whatever he wants and get away!
They brought in some sheep, cows, and buffaloes. They brought leather bags with gold and silver and laid them at Kuitsuk’s feet.
Kuitsuk told the robbers:
- Take home the woman you kidnapped from the Nart village! Bring stolen cattle to their owners! Let one of you put the gold and silver on his back, I will sit on the other and we will go to the village to return the stolen goods to the owners.
The younger one, without thinking twice, put Kuitsuk on his shoulders, and the older one put the captive on his shoulders. Two robbers loaded bales of gold and silver onto their backs, and three drove the cattle. When they forded the river and approached the Nart village. Kuitsuk allowed the foreigners to rest.
- It was nice to stay with you! - he said to the robbers. - Now it’s my middle brother’s turn. You sit here for a while, I’ll bring him now. Let him go with you and stay with you as long as he wants!
Before Kuitsuk had time to finish speaking, the foreigners threw their bales on the ground and began to run without looking back. They left their home and never appeared in the vicinity of the Nart village again.
The next morning Kuitsuk gathered all the Narts and divided among them the wealth looted by the Inizhi. Kuitsuk did not offend widows, orphans, or lonely old people: he gave a horse to some, a cow to others, and sheep to others.
- Work and live in contentment! - he said.
From that time on, people in the Nart village lived freely and happily.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru