Once upon a time there lived a little old lady Byabyarikyan. All her wealth consisted of five milk cows, and her neighbors called her that: old lady Byabyarikyan with five cows. The cows gave her milk and gave her butter and sour cream. This is how the old woman lived.
One summer morning old lady Byabyarikyan went to the field to check on her cows. On the field she saw an unusual horsetail-grass with five shoots. Old lady Byabyarikyan carefully, without breaking a single shoot, without damaging a single root, dug up the horsetail, brought it to the yurt and put it under the blanket on the pillow.
It's time to milk the cows. Old lady Byabyarikyan came out of the yurt and took the milk pan. But as soon as the first streams of milk rang on the bottom of the milk pan, bells and bells began to ring in the yurt and the sound of a dropped thimble was heard. Having spilled the milk, the old woman hurried to the yurt. She came running and looked - everything was as it was, everything was in its place; on the pillow of horsetail lies grass-grass.
Again old lady Byabyarikyan went out to her cows and again took up the milk pan. And again, as soon as the first streams of milk hit the bottom of the milk pan, bells and bells began to ring, followed by the sound of a falling needle. The old woman rushed into the yurt, overturning the milk pan in her haste, opened the door, and saw a horsetail lying on a bed of grass. “What a miracle?” the old woman thinks. “Some kind of ringing sounds are heard, as if only for me to spill milk.”
For the third time, old lady Byabyarikyan began milking. And again the bells and bells rang in the yurt, and the sound of falling scissors was heard. Having knocked over the milk pan in a hurry, the old woman ran into the house and saw a girl of unprecedented beauty sitting on the bed: her eyes sparkled with precious stones on her white face, and the eyebrows above them were like two black sables.
This little horsetail has turned into such a girl.
Byaybyarikyan was delighted, hugged her, and called her his daughter.
The girl began to live with the little old lady Byabyarikyan and her five cows. She looked after the cows and helped around the house. They lived like this for a long time.
One day, a young hunter Harjit-Bergen went hunting in the taiga.
He saw a gray squirrel, took aim at it, fired, but missed. The squirrel jumped onto the tree, jumped from the tree to the birch, from the birch to the larch: the forest is large, there are many different trees in it. All day long, from early morning until sunset, Harjit-Bergen chased the squirrel, but no matter how much he shot, he could not hit it. The young hunter marveled and was annoyed with himself. It turns out that they gave him such a name in vain. Bergen means accurate, and how accurate is he if he cannot shoot an ordinary squirrel!
The squirrel galloped to the yurt of old woman Byabyarikyan with five cows and sat down on a pine tree growing nearby.
Harjit-Bergen ran up to the pine tree and - for the umpteenth time! — shot. No, I didn't hit it again. An arrow passed by and fell into the chimney of the yurt!
- Old woman, take out the arrow and give it to me! - shouted Harjit-Bergen.
No one took an arrow to him, no one responded. The hunter shouted again, and again no one responded to his cry.
Kharjit-Bergen became angry, offended, turned red with anger, and ran into the yurt himself.
He ran in, saw the girl and fainted from her indescribable beauty. And when he woke up, without saying a word, he flew out of the yurt like a whirlwind, mounted his horse and rode home.
- My father, my mother! - he exclaimed from the threshold. “The little old lady Byabyarikyan with five cows, it turns out, has such a beautiful, such a good daughter.” Take this girl and give me as your wife!
Harjit-Bergen's father immediately sent messengers on nine horses for the beautiful girl.
The messengers rushed at full speed, catching up and driving away the flying birds. They galloped up to old lady Byabyarikyan with five cows. We went into the yurt, saw a girl and were also stunned by her beauty. And when they woke up, the eldest and most sensible one asked the hostess:
- Old lady Byabyarikyan, give your daughter to young Harjit-Bergen as a wife!
“Why not give it back,” answered the old woman. “I’ll give it back!”
They asked the girl if she would go.
“I’ll go,” said the girl.
- What kind of bride price will it be? - asked old lady Byabyarikyan.
- Whatever you demand, that’s what it will be.
- Fine. Then fill my open field with all kinds of livestock. And as soon as this is done, you can take the girl.
They quickly drove so many cows and horses onto the field of the old lady Byabyarikyan that the field itself was no longer visible. After that, they deftly and quickly dressed and dressed up the girl. They brought a brown horse that understood human speech, and bridled it with a silver bridle, saddled it with a silver saddle, and hung a silver whip from the saddle.
Harjit-Bergen took the bride by the hand, led her out of the yurt, put her on a brown horse, and took her home.
They are driving along the edge of the taiga. Harjit-Bergen sees the fox running. His hunting heart jumped, he says to the bride:
- I’ll gallop into the taiga after the fox. And you go alone for now. Soon the road will split into two: one will go to the east - there will be a sable skin hanging there, the other road will go to the west - there you will see the skin of a bear. Don't take the western road. Go to the one where the sable skin is hung on the tree. I'll catch up with you soon.
He said so and rode off.
The girl went further alone. She drives, drives, and reaches the fork. She arrived and forgot what Harjit-Bergen had told her: she turned onto the road where the bear skin hung and came to a large iron yurt.
The daughter of the eight-legged abaasy came out of the yurt, dressed in iron clothes, with one twisted leg, with one twisted arm, with one cloudy, coldly shining eye in the middle of the forehead, with a long black tongue descending to the chest.
[Abaasa is the general name for fabulous evil creatures among the Yakuts.]
She grabbed the girl, pulled her off the horse, tore the skin off her face and put it on her face. She took off all her beautiful attire and dressed herself in it. Having done this, Abaasa’s daughter mounted a brown horse and rode east.
Harjit-Bergen caught up with her when she was already approaching his father’s yurt. The groom did not guess what kind of bride was riding next to him.
A lot of people gathered to meet the bride. Nine fellows stood on one side of the hitching post to take the reins of her horse. Eight girls stood on the other side to tie that rein to the hitching post. And it turned out that the bride herself tied her horse to a broken willow branch, to which the old cowwoman tied a stupid motley bull. This upset the young men and women who greeted us, although they didn’t show it. After all, is it necessary to attach great importance to where the bride tied the horse? Everyone was waiting for what and how would happen next. The girls said to each other:
“When the bride says a word, red beads will fall to the ground.” We will select and string them.
They saved threads for this purpose.
The fellows thought: “Where the bride steps, there, in her wake, the sables will run. We will shoot them.”
The arrows were prepared for this purpose.
And the bride said a word - frogs fell; the bride stepped - the mangy stoats ran.
At this point, everyone who greeted us became sad and upset.
Green grass was laid from the hitching post to the yurt. They took the bride by the hand and led her into the yurt. She entered the yurt and, according to custom, lit a fire in the hearth with three tops of young larches. After this, the wedding feast began.
They drank, ate, had fun. Nobody guessed about the substitution.
And old lady Byabyarikyan, soon after the wedding, once again went to the field to visit her cows. She came and saw that horsetail grass with five shoots had grown again in a familiar place, better than before. The old woman dug it up along with the roots, carefully brought it to the yurt, wrapped it in a blanket, and put it on the pillow.
It's time to milk the cows. The old woman took the milk pan and left the yurt. As soon as the milk pan began to ring, the bells and bells in the yurt began to ring, and the scissors fell to the floor with a thud. An old woman ran into the yurt - the same beautiful girl was sitting on the bed, only even more beautiful than before.
- How did you come, how did you end up here, daughter? - asked Byabyarikyan.
“Mom,” the girl answered, “when Harjit-Bergen took me from here and saw a fox at the edge of the forest, he said to me: “I’ll ride into the forest after the fox, and you go along the road where the sable skin is hung; don’t turn onto the road where the bear skin is hung.” I forgot his order, drove in the wrong direction and arrived at an iron yurt. The daughter of the eight-legged abaas came out of it, pulled me off the horse, tore the skin off my face and threw it over her face. She also tore off all my attire and dressed me up in it herself. Then she sat astride my horse and rode off, leaving my body behind. The gray dogs grabbed me with their teeth, gnawed and dragged my body and threw me into a wide field. Here I grew up again as a horsetail grass. How can I now find and see Harjit-Bergen?
Old lady Byabyarikyan began to console the girl.
“You will see, you will meet,” she said. “In the meantime, live with me, your beloved daughter, as you lived before.”
And the horsetail girl began to live again with the little old lady Byabyarikyan with five cows.
The brown horse, which understood human language, as soon as it learned that its owner had come to life, itself acquired the gift of human speech and complained to Harjit-Bergen’s father.
“Listen to what I tell you, sir,” she said. - The daughter of the eight-legged abaasy destroyed my mistress! When your son Harjit-Bergen left the girl alone, she reached a fork in the road, turned onto that forbidden road where the bear skin hangs, and came to an iron yurt. Abaasy's daughter jumped out of the yurt, tore the skin off her face and covered her own face. She stole all the festive attire and dressed up in it herself. And now the daughter of Abaasa lives in your yurt, she has become your daughter-in-law. And my mistress came to life again, again became the daughter of old lady Byabyarikyan. Take her, bring her to the yurt, give her to your son. Otherwise, Abaasy’s daughter will destroy your hearth, won’t let anyone live, and will destroy you all!
The old man listened to the words of the brown horse, grabbed his head, and ran headlong into the yurt.
Abaasy’s daughter saw him, she must have guessed, she turned all black.
“Son,” the old man asked Harjit-Bergen, “where did you bring your wife from?”
“I brought the daughter of the little old lady Byabyarikyan with five cows!” - Harjit-Bergen replied.
- What color was the horse you carried it on?
— The horse was brown-haired and understood human speech.
“So, the brown horse told me that when you left the girl alone and she reached the fork, she turned onto the road where the bear skin hangs.” She arrived at the iron yurt. The daughter of the eight-legged abaasy jumped out of the yurt, pulled her off her horse, tore off the skin from her face and covered her own face, dressed her in a silver headdress. So, by deception, I came here. And it’s not for nothing that the horse was tied not to a decorated hitching post, but to an old gnarled willow... Go, son, to old lady Byabyarikyan, beg and beg the girl to come back to us. Bring her by all means! And the daughter of the eight-legged abaasy, as the brown horse orders, tie it to the tail of a wild horse and drive him out into the field - let him mark her bones there. Otherwise she will destroy us all - both people and cattle!
Harjit-Bergen heard this and was ashamed and angry. He grabbed the treacherous daughter of Abaasy by the leg, dragged her out from behind the curtain, and tied her to the tail of a wild horse. The horse rushed into a wide field and kicked her to death. The body and blood of the villainess, they say, later turned into worms and reptiles that live on earth to this day.
After this, Harjit-Bergen galloped to the old woman Byabyarikyan with five cows. He jumped off his horse before he even reached the hitching post, he was in such a hurry. Old lady Byabyarikyan saw him, ran out to meet him, and rejoiced as if he were lost and found, like someone who died came to life. From the hitching post to the yurt there was a layer of green grass; To celebrate, she slaughtered her best cow.
And the girl came up to Harjit-Bergen, looked at him, and began to cry.
- Why did you come to me? You let the daughter of Abaasy shed my scarlet blood, tear my white skin, you gave me to be torn to pieces by fierce dogs... After that, what kind of wife are you looking for here now? There are more girls than perches, more women than graylings - look for a wife among them, but how can I marry you?
“I didn’t give you to the daughter of the eight-legged abaasy,” said Harjit-Bergen, “I didn’t give you to be torn to pieces by fierce dogs!” You know, I chased the fox and showed you the way. But I didn’t tell you: “Go towards death!”
Old lady Byabyarikyan, looking at the young people, shed tears of happiness, then wiped the tears from both eyes on both sides, sat down between the girl and Harjit-Bergen:
- How did you, having come to life after death, found yourself after loss, see each other and not rejoice? I’ll tell you: love each other again, live in friendship, and let none of you disobey my words!
The girl said quietly:
- Okay, I won’t disobey you. I will forget everything old.
And Harjit-Bergen jumped up, jumped for joy, danced, and began hugging and kissing the girl. They started playing and couldn’t stop playing, they started talking and couldn’t stop talking. And then the brown horse was saddled with a silver saddle, bridled with a silver bridle, covered with a silver blanket, silver saddlebags were hung, and a silver whip was fastened to the saddle. The girl was dressed and outfitted for the journey.
Whether it was a long or short journey, the young people arrived at the yurt of Father Harjit-Bergen.
All the relatives, all nine brothers of Harjit-Bergen came out to meet the bride.
From the hitching post to the yurt the road was covered with green grass.
“The bride will arrive,” the fellows thought, “she will step on the ground, and sables will run in her footsteps.”
They prepared arrows for this, and worked so diligently that the skin came off from their thumbs, and from long aiming their eyes squinted to the side.
Eight girls-sisters twisted the threads so that the skin came off from the palms. They were waiting for the bride, thinking: “When she appears in the groom’s courtyard and speaks loudly, her expensive red beads will fall out of her mouth.”
Harjit-Bergen arrived with his bride. The girls took the reins of their horses and tied them at the hitching post. They took the bride in their arms and lowered her to the ground. The bride spoke - as if bells and bells were ringing, red beads began to fall. The girls began to collect them and string them on threads. The bride went to the yurt - the sables ran in her footsteps. The fellows began to shoot at sables.
The bride entered the house, lit the fireplace with three tops of young larches - the fire blazed brightly and illuminated everything in the yurt like the sun...
They started to play the wedding. Guests from all tribes, from all uluses gathered for it. We ate, drank and had fun for a whole week. There were singers here, there were dancers, there were storytellers, wrestlers, runners and jumpers.
The feast is over. The guests have left.
And Harjit-Bergen and his horsetail wife began to live and live well and make good money. They lived a long time. They say their grandchildren live to this day.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru