Once upon a time there lived an old man and an old woman.
The old man fished, and the old woman took care of housework. They had neither children nor friends. There were only a dog and a cat.
The old man will catch the fish, and the old woman will cut it up and cook the food. They fed the dog and cat with fish bones, and they made clothes and other things from fish skin.
One day, an old man brought only one fish from the fishery - a crucian carp, gave it to the old woman, and began to wash the net near the shore. Then he hung it up to dry. The old woman came home, sat down on the floor and was about to start cutting the fish with her sharp knife, when suddenly the crucian carp spoke in a human voice and begged:
“Grandma, you clean off the scales from me, put them in a cauldron, fill them with water, salt them and cook them, and let me go into the river.” The old woman was frightened and surprised:
“I’ve never had to cut up a lot of fish in my long life, but I’ve never seen a fish that could speak with a human voice.” Marvelous!
The old woman did as the crucian asked: she released him into the river without scales. She collected all the scales in a handful and put them in a cauldron, poured water, salted them, covered the cauldron with a lid, then lit the fire and began to cook.
The dry wool quickly caught fire, and the fire licked the bottom of the cauldron with its flame. The cauldron began to boil quickly. White steam appeared in the cracks between the halves of the lid; you need to open the lid, but the old woman was afraid because she didn’t know what she was cooking.
The steam is pouring out more and more, so that the lid lifts. The old woman took the lid by the handle and carefully lifted it. The house instantly filled with steam.
The old woman looked into the cauldron - it was full of fish. She took a ladle and began to carefully stir the fish in the cauldron. There was no end to her joy and surprise. I put scales into the cauldron, but it turned out to be a fish!
The old woman called the old man and told him everything: the conversation with the crucian carp, and what she had done. The old man began to rejoice and be surprised. The two of them rejoice.
- Now the dog and cat will be full. “And we will eat plenty,” said the old woman.
The dog and cat were jumping around their owners. They also realized that they would be full.
The old woman put boiled fish into a wooden cup with a ladle and served it to the old man on the table. The old man crossed his legs and sat down on the edge of the bunk. He began to drink fish soup and eat boiled fish with two sarbi chopsticks.
The old woman pulled out the tail of the fish, put it in a cup and gave it to the cat, who walked around the old woman meowing. The fish was hot, and the cat almost burned her mouth. She shook her head, crushed the fish with her front paws as if with her hands, and began to eat.
The old woman took another piece of boiled fish and gave it to the dog, who sat and looked at her with a pleading look. For herself, the old woman put boiled fish in a vessel, squatted on the bunk and began to drink fish soup and eat boiled fish.
That day they ate their fill. The old woman put the remains of the boiled fish in a cup and took it out under the barn canopy.
The old man and the old woman decided to go to bed early. The cat ate its fill and lay down on its back on the bunk. The dog lay down on the rubble under the window and closed his eyes. Everyone was asleep.
At midnight the old man woke up, opened his eyes - it was light in the house. The old man woke up the old woman:
- An old woman, an old woman! Get up, it's already daylight. Why did we sleep for so long today?! The sun is shining!
The old woman woke up. True, it was light inside the house. The old man got dressed and went out. It was dark outside. The stars twinkled brightly in the sky. No bird voices were heard. Quiet. A light breeze was blowing, and faint waves splashed faintly near the shore. The old man returned to the house, looked at the wall and saw there a pouch, not an ordinary one, but a special one, like the sun burning, which is why the house was as bright as on a sunny day.
Since then, the old man and the old woman have lived richly. Their house became spacious, clean, comfortable; Their clothes were all made of silk and other expensive fabrics, and the barn was full of all kinds of products. The dog and cat were full.
One night, when the old man and the old woman were sleeping, two girls came into the house and wanted to steal the magic pouch, but not finding it, they began to tickle the old woman and the old man so that they would wake up and tell where the pouch was.
The old woman and the old man were unable to endure the tickling any longer and pointed to the pouch. The girls took him and left.
After that, the old man and the old woman began to live in poverty again. They cried day and night.
The dog and the cat went ashore and began to confer. The dog said to the cat:
- You can’t live like this any longer. We need to go find the pouch.
The cat says: “How can we find him?” The girls took the pouch across nine rivers and nine seas.
- Nothing, sit on me, and I will swim across rivers and seas. We’ll definitely get the pouch,” said the dog.
The cat sat on the dog, and the dog climbed into the water and swam across the river. So they walked, crossing rivers and seas. In the evening we approached a village. The cat says to the dog:
“You’re tired, rest here, and I’ll go to the village owner’s house and pick up the pouch.” After midnight, wait for me, be on your guard.
The dog shook off the water and lay down to rest.
The cat hears that in the village people are feasting and making noise. At midnight it became quiet: the lamps went out and everyone went to bed.
When everyone fell asleep, the cat quietly opened the door and entered the owner’s house. He looks at the stove, on the shelf where the dishes and food are, half-eaten pieces of flatbread and heaps of porridge are scattered everywhere. They feasted generously! A lot of food was eaten, a lot of wine was drunk! The owner, wearing shoes and clothes, lay face up on the bunk and snored as if thunder was roaring. His arms and legs were spread out. Not far from him, his wife was lying on her side, also dressed, with her mouth open, and instead of a pillow under her head there was a tobacco box.
The girls who stole the pouch were sleeping on the side bunks. They lay on silk mattresses, covered with silk blankets. Soft down pillows lay under their heads.
On the wall hung a magic pouch, twisted with wire. The house was as bright as day, everything sparkled.
The cat looked around and remembered that after the feast the rats came for the leftover food; she hid by the stove and began to wait for the thieves. The cat didn't have to wait long. A huge rat carefully crawled out from under a pillar that stood near the entrance. She moved her nose, sniffed the air, looking at everything with her keen eyes. She sat in the hole for a long time and waited until the feast was over and the people fell asleep, so she could feast on the leftover food. Now it's her time to feast! The rat rolled head over heels onto the stove where the porridge was, but before it had time to touch the porridge, it found itself in the clutches of a cat, which jumped on it, crushing it so that it suffocated and could not squeak.
The rat was very scared. Her heart almost broke from fright. She knew that if she fell into the clutches of a cat, she would not escape alive. After all, a cat is a rat devil!
But this time the cat didn’t kill the rat, it just set a difficult task.
- You, rat, be silent, don’t scream, don’t make noise. If people wake up, then you will definitely die, you will not leave me anywhere. I would strangle you now, but I need a pouch that hangs on the wall, twisted with wire. You have sharp teeth, chew the wire and give the pouch to me. If you don't do this, I will kill you. If you get a pouch, I won’t touch you, but I’ll fill your hole with porridge, peas, flatbreads, and sugar. You will live full and rich.
The rat barely caught his breath, blinked his eyes and somehow spoke:
- Sister cat, take pity on me, don’t kill me, don’t eat me. I will do whatever you order. And I will gnaw the steel and break the iron wire, and I will get the pouch.
The cat let go of the rat. She herself sat down on the stove and began to observe what the rat was doing. The rat rolled head over heels on the mat and began gnawing on the iron: ding-drink, drink-drink, and chewed off one wire. At this time, the girl who was lying on the bunk stirred and muttered in her sleep:
“These rats disturb people’s sleep and make noise.”
After muttering like that, she fell asleep and snored.
The rat started gnawing again: ding-drink, drink-drink, and broke another wire. Now the girl who was lying on the other bunk stirred with a groan and began to mutter in her sleep:
- Damn rats, they prevent people from sleeping, they wake them up. This is because there is no cat in the house, they live freely.
After muttering like that, she turned into a corner and began snoring. And the rat started gnawing again: ding-drink, drink-drink. Then he whispers to the cat:
- Sister cat, there is only one wire left.
- Okay, try your best. “I’ll put a lot of food in your hole,” says the cat.
The rat gnawed and gnawed and broke the last wire, grabbed the pouch with its teeth and ran to the cat. At this time, the owner, who was sleeping on the bunk, woke up.
The cat grabbed the pouch with her teeth, jumped over the stove, from there through the paper window into the street and rushed to the shore. On the shore, the dog was waiting for the cat. The cat jumped onto the dog's back, holding the pouch tightly in its teeth. The dog jumped into the water and quickly swam to the other side of the river.
The owner completely woke up and made a noise, a din, woke everyone up.
- There are thieves in our house! - he shouted. His wife lit the lamp. Everyone searched the house for the thief, but did not find him. They lit a torch, went out into the street and began to look for traces of the thief. There were no traces. And the rat darted into its hole and ate porridge, peas, flat cakes, and sugar.
The dog and cat, swimming across seas and rivers, finally reached home in the morning. They hung the pouch on the wall again and went to bed.
The old man woke up in the morning and saw that there was light in the house again, a magic pouch hanging on the wall, and a young man and a girl sleeping on the bunk. The old man woke up the old woman and said:
- Old woman, old woman, get up, look what good helpers we have.
The old man and the old woman were very happy that the pouch was back in the house and that they had children. They lived richly again. The old man caught fish with nets and spears, the old woman took care of the housework and helped her daughter-in-law, and the young man went into the taiga and caught animals and game. And he was such a hunter that every animal, seeing the young man’s path, cried before crossing it, every bird, before flying over him, sobbed.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru