An old man and an old woman lived on the bank of the river. The old man had a boat made of five planks and a net with five sinker stones. Every day the old man caught fish with this net and each time he pulled out only two fish from the river. This is what he and the old woman ate.
But one day this fish also disappeared. For three days in a row the old man threw a net, but nothing fell into it. There was nothing left to eat. The old man cries with grief, anticipating death by starvation. An old woman walks through the taiga, picking berries to at least satisfy her hunger.
The old people realized that they had offended the spirit of earth and fire, and therefore they lost the fish they ate. It was necessary to appease the fire - to feed it with lard. Once upon a time the old people had a cow, and what was left of it was dried fat. So the old people fed their hearth with it. After this, the old man went to the river and soon returned, saying that half of the net had been cut off, and he alone could not pull the other half out of the river. There's something heavy there.
The two of them began to pull out the net. The old man sees something black in the net that doesn’t come close to the shore. Suddenly this black one spoke in a human voice:
- Don't kill me, old man. If I can’t do many good deeds for you, then I will definitely do one thing! Take me with you.
The old man sees: it’s a raven. He put it in his bosom, brought it home, and the three of them began to live.
The old man catches fish, and now three fish come into his net. That's how they live - an old man and an old woman and a crow.
Many days have passed since then. One day the raven says:
- You sheltered me, saved me from death. For this I will tell you about myself. In the upper world there live three queens, I am their younger brother. My name is Yuturgen the hero in silver clothes. I once fought with the evil spirit of the lower world. For this I was cursed, and from then on I became a raven, and the evil spirit Eksokyu turned into a bird. Now I have become strong and will feed you.
And so it happened. The raven flew across the sky, saw far below and got what the old man and old woman wanted to eat. Since then they began to live comfortably. Then the old woman died and bequeathed to the old man not to offend the raven.
When the old woman was buried, the raven said:
“The time has come for you and me to fly to my sisters.” I'll make you rich!
They left their home and flew to the upper world.
They flew for a long time, but then a city-home appeared below. Raven says to the old man:
- We'll land now. You will go to that house over there. There's an elderly woman sitting in the corner crying. This is my older sister. Ask her why she's crying. If she says she's crying for her little brother, ask her for a wooden box in exchange for telling her about me.
As the raven ordered, so the old man did. The woman answered him:
- Tell me about my younger brother, but let the box stay with me!
The old man did not tell her anything, and she and the raven flew on. Again we saw a city-house below. The middle sister of the crow lived in it. The old man repeated the same words to her, only instead of a wooden box he asked for a silver scarf. But the woman answered: “Tell me more about my younger brother, but let the silver scarf stay with me!”
Then the old man and the raven realized that the middle sister had forgotten her younger brother. They flew on. They flew and flew and again flew to the home city.
Raven says to the old man:
— My younger sister lives here. Tell her the same words, but in exchange for your story about me, ask for a silver chest.
The old man came to the girl and repeated to her word for word what the raven told him. The girl exclaimed:
- Grandfather! Take my silver chest, but quickly tell me about my younger brother! Is he alive?
The old man told her about the raven and brought him. The girl and the raven were delighted with each other and decided to have a big celebration.
During the holiday, the raven called the old man and said:
- I will marry you to my younger sister. Bite the base of my right wing - there is living water there. Drink it and you will become young. Of course, the other heroes won't like you marrying my sister. They will come up to you and ask who you are and where you are from. You tell them that you are a hero and a rich man, and at the same time move your arms to the sides. Your muscles will crackle with tension, and everyone will be afraid of you. After the wedding, hit the silver chest and a palace will appear in which you will live.
The old man did everything as the raven ordered. He drank the living water, and his clothes began to crack at the seams: the old man turned into a young hero. And they began to live with their wife in the palace.
They lived a long time. They waited for their grandson-hero. And when the grandson grew up, he defeated the evil Eksokyu, and the raven turned into a man again.”
That's the whole fairy tale.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru