In the old days, one Chuvash named Tungyldyk had three daughters and one son. The eldest daughter's name was Chagak, which means Magpie, the middle one was Cheges, that is, Swallow, the youngest was Cheppi - the Last One, the son's name was Mamaldyk. Before his death, the father told Mamaldyk to give his sisters in marriage to the first one to woo him.
One day, when Mamaldyk was cleaning the yard, the Wolf wandered in. Mamaldyk was afraid of the uninvited guest. And the Wolf ran around the yard three times, turned into a man and said:
- Well, Mamaldyk, I came to woo your sister Chagak.
Mamaldyk invited the guest into the house and showed him the bride. Without much conversation we got along and began the wedding feast. They feasted for three days, agreed on when to take the bride away, and then the Wolf went out into the yard, ran around it three times, turned into a wolf and rushed off into the forest.
How much or how much time passed - one day it began to rain heavily. Mamaldyk went out to put the cart under the canopy and saw a Fish swimming right into his yard along with the water. She swam around the yard three times, became a man and said:
- Well, my friend Mamaldyk, I came to woo your sister Cheges.
He gave Mamaldyk and his middle sister in marriage. We walked, drank and ate for three days, and at parting we agreed on when to come for the bride.
Some more time passed, and the Hawk flew into Mamaldy's yard. He flew around the yard three times, became a man and said:
- I came to woo your sister Cheppy.
He gave Mamaldyk for the Last-Hawk, they celebrated the wedding, and the Hawk flew away.
The next day, with noise and thunder, eleven wolves rolled up on troikas with bells, drove around the yard three times, and turned into eleven young men. Mamaldyk got scared, stands in the middle of the yard, blinking his eyes.
“Why are you scared, we’re not going to eat you,” the guests say. “We came with goodness and peace.”
“Come into the hut, if so,” Mamaldyk invites.
In the hut, guests eat and drink, and when they leave, they take Chagak with them. Having traveled around the yard three times, they again become wolves and, together with the bride, leave for the forest.
A little more time passed and the rain began to pour again, and after it eleven fish appeared in the yard, walked around the yard three times and became people. They went into the hut, treated themselves and took Cheges with them. Both turned into fish again and swam away on their way.
Then the chickens somehow started cackling and ran away in fear in different directions. Mamaldyk came out and saw eleven hawks in the yard. They flew around the yard three times, became people, and entered the house.
They drank and ate, took Cheppy with them, turned into hawks again and flew away.
Mamaldyk was left alone. It’s bad for one: any work falls through the cracks, and it’s boring to sit at home, with no one to exchange a word with. It’s time to lay hands on yourself. Mamaldyk thought so, took the rope and went into the forest to hang himself. He chose a stronger branch, tied a rope to it, and stuck his head in the noose. I was just getting ready to say goodbye to life and suddenly - smack! — crashed to the ground. Mamaldyk looked around: Arsyuri - Leshy is standing nearby, holding an ax in his hand, with which he cut off the rope.
“My son-in-law has to live for a hundred years, but he’s getting into a noose, it’s not good!” - Arcyuri shakes his head.
- How can I be your son-in-law if I haven’t gotten married yet? - says Mamaldyk.
“Go home, open your grandfather’s chest, there is a paper from which you will find out whose son-in-law you should be,” Arcyuri answered him.
Mamaldyk came home, found his grandfather’s old chest in the hallway, rummaged through it and at the very bottom in the corner found a paper that said:
“Tungyldyk, if your son is not my son-in-law, then there will be no stake or yard left of your house, you yourself will stumble upon a knife, Mamaldyk will hang himself, your daughters will be carried away by a whirlwind. I won’t touch you for now, I’m giving you a deadline, but as soon as Mamaldyk marries his sisters, he must marry my daughter. He will find me if he goes east all the time.”
And once or twice Mamaldyk read the ill-fated paper, cried, grieved, but there was nothing to do - he went to look for his future father-in-law with his daughter-bride.
He walks and wanders along a forest path. He meets a palace on the way. He enters it and sees his older sister Chagak.
“It’s good that your son-in-law, my husband Wolf, didn’t meet you,” says the sister.
- And if I did? - Mamaldyk is perplexed.
“So he eats human flesh,” explains the sister. And as soon as she said so, the forest began to rustle and hum.
“It’s my husband coming,” says the sister. “Hide!” She hides her brother in the underground. And the Wolf husband is already on the doorstep.
- Fu-fu, it smells like a man! - says the Wolf.
- You feed among people all day long - how can you not smell like a human?! - the sister answers.
“Whatever you say, we have a man in our house, give him here, I’ll eat him,” the Wolf begins to get angry.
- What if this is my brother and you eat him? -. asks Chagak.
“No, I won’t touch Mamaldyk,” the Wolf answers. “I’ll treat Mamaldyk myself for three days, I’ll put out three barrels of wine.”
Mamaldyk comes out of the underground, and the Wolf begins to treat him. They drink and party for three days and drink three barrels of wine. And when the time came for Mamaldyk to leave, the Wolf pulled out three hairs from his tail, handed them to Mamaldyk and said:
“I’ll need you,” these hairs fell asleep.
Mamaldyk continues on his way. Meets another palace. The middle sister Cheges lived there.
“Come in quickly before my husband appears, otherwise he will eat you right away,” said the sister and hid Mamaldyk.
The forest immediately began to rustle, the forest began to hum, the son-in-law appeared and immediately:
- Fu-fu, it smells like human flesh!
“You’re around people all day, you can’t help but smell,” says the sister.
“There’s a man in our house,” the son-in-law insists, “give him here, I’ll eat him.”
- What if this is my brother and you eat him? - asks the sister.
“If it’s a brother, I’ll treat him myself for three days, I’ll put out three barrels of wine.”
Mamaldyk came out to the table, his son-in-law fed and watered him for three days, and they drank three barrels of wine with him. It's time to say goodbye.
“Here are three scales for you,” says the son-in-law, “if you need them, burn them.”
Mamaldyk continues to wander on his way to the east. I came across another palace on the way. Cheppi's younger sister lived in this palace.
“It’s good that your son-in-law didn’t meet you,” says the sister and hides Mamaldyk in the underground.
The forest hummed and rustled, the son-in-law appeared and right from the doorway:
- Fu-fu, it smells like a man!
“How can you not smell when you’re around people all day long,” says my sister.
- Get him out quickly, I’m hungry! - her husband shouted at her.
- What if this is my brother, and you will eat him? - asks Cheppy.
“If it’s Mamaldyk, let him come out,” the husband immediately softened, “not only will I not touch him, but I’ll treat him myself for three days, I won’t spare three barrels of wine.”
They drink and eat for three days, they drank all three barrels to the bottom. As a farewell, Hawk pulled three feathers from his tail and gave them to Mamaldyk:
- If you need my help - these feathers have fallen off, I will appear immediately.
Mamaldyk went further and now reached his future father-in-law Arsyuri. He was delighted, brought his daughter-bride to him and, without delay, celebrated the wedding.
Arcuri was already old and did not live long after his daughter’s wedding. Before his death, he called his son-in-law and gave him twelve keys. Eleven of them shone as if they had been polished, apparently they were in use all the time, but the twelfth was completely rusty.
“You can use these eleven keys, son-in-law, as much as you like,” Arsyuri said to Mamaldyk, “but neither I, nor my father, nor my grandfather opened anything with the twelfth, and don’t open anything with the twelfth one either.”
With this, my father-in-law died.
Mamaldyk took the keys and began to look around the barns and cellars that he inherited. He opened one barn - it was filled to the top with wheat, he opened another - barrels of meat were salted for future use. There was also everything in the basements: all sorts of weapons, horse harnesses, and the furs of all the animals.
Mamaldyk reached the eleventh basement, opened it, and it was full of human heads. He closed it right away, but thought to himself: “What about the twelfth? And why didn’t my father-in-law order it to be opened? What if you take a peek?” He opened the door of the twelfth basement, looked into it and gasped: there sat a fire-breathing Serpent - a dragon. The most terrible of all the evil spirits that Mamaldyk ever heard about from his parents. The dragon can stick to a person like a disease. It costs him nothing to appear through the pipe to a lonely woman in the form of a man and go to bed with her. It can, together with lightning, enter the house of a lonely man in the form of a woman. He can do anything... And as soon as Mamaldyk now saw the fire-breathing mouth of the Serpent, he was immediately seized with great fear. Forgetting about everything in the world, he ran into the house. But he opens the door and sees that the Serpent is already sitting in the house, hugging his wife.
“Thank you, Mamaldyk, for freeing me,” says the Serpent. “I won’t touch you for this, go away in all four directions.”
Mamaldyk is hurt to the point of tears: they are kicking him out of his own home, but what can you do, you won’t argue with the Snake, you have to leave.
He went wherever his eyes led him. He walks, and he keeps thinking about how to settle scores with the evil Serpent, how to defeat him. And then he remembered his sons-in-law. He took a hair, a scale, a feather and burned them. Immediately the sons-in-law appeared and asked:
- How can we help you, Mamaldyk?
“I released the Dragon, and he took my wife from me and kicked me out of the house,” Mamaldyk complained. “We must kill him at all costs.”
“We don’t have enough strength for this,” his sons-in-law answer. “You better ask your wife to find out from the Serpent where his soul is.” Then it will be easier for us to deal with him.
Mamaldyk did just that. The wife asked the Dragon where his soul was. He replied: “In the middle of the ocean-sea there is an oak tree, in that oak tree there is a bull, in the bull there is a duck, in the duck there are three eggs. My soul is in the eggs."
Mamaldyk took an ax and swam by sea. I found an oak tree and cut it down. A bull came out of the oak tree. Mamaldyk burned the Wolf's hair, he ran and tore the bull apart. A duck flew out of the bull, Mamaldyk burned the Hawk's feather, he overtook the duck, but the eggs from it fell into the sea. Mamaldyk burned the fish scales, the Fish swam and took the sea egg from the bottom. Mamaldyk broke one egg right there and took the rest home.
After Mamaldyk broke the first egg, the Dragon fell ill and became worried: “Somehow the soul is out of place, so who didn’t get to it? I’ll go have a look.” But as soon as he wanted to open the door, Mamaldyk - smack! - the remaining two eggs are on the doorstep. The dragon immediately fell dead.
Mamaldyk and his young wife lived in peace and tranquility, they say they had many children, and they had plenty of good things to count.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru