In ancient times, on the shores of the Eastern Sea lived a fisherman nicknamed Hu Si. He was more than ten years old when he started fishing. I fished for twenty years. I caught a whole mountain of fish. And he lived poorly, couldn’t be poorer. If only he had acquired a fragile boat or nets - wherever! There is no grain in the house. He will rent a boat and nets from a rich neighbor, he will sail on the sea all year round, the sea is stormy, the wind drives waves across it, and he will be overwhelmed by water at any moment. The unfortunate man catches fish, sells it, and gives the money to his neighbor as payment for a boat and a net. The fisherman is offended and is overcome with anger.
And then one day Hu Si went out to the sea to fish. The blue water glistens, there is no wind to be heard, no waves to be seen. As soon as he cast his net, the fishing bird flew in: its black feathers sparkled with a green tint. The bird rushed into the sea, jumped out instantly, holding a fish in its beak.
Hu Si tells her:
- Bird, bird! You catch fish - your beak is crooked, you have wings. I fish - I don’t have my own boat or nets.
As if the fishing bird understood the human words. She looked pitifully at Hu Si, spread her wings, and flew up to the stern. It opened its beak, and the goldfish fell from its beak straight into the hold, thrashing around, hitting the oar with its tail. All you can hear is: dun-dun-dun. Hu Si came up and looked, and the fish had tears flowing from his eyes. The fisherman took pity on the fish and released it into the sea. The fish turned over, wagged its tail, turned to Hu Si, nodded its head three times and swam away into the sea.
The fisherman cast his net three times in a row. There are no large fish in the net, only small ones are caught. The fisherman was worried: how should he pay the owner of the boat? The old woman is waiting at home; she needs to buy rice and put it in the cauldron. The fisherman thought about his bitter lot, became more saddened than ever, and began to cry. I wanted to wipe away my tears, but suddenly I heard someone say:
- Don't cry, good man.
Hu Si raised his head and looked: an old man in front of him, a white beard, a green kaoliang stalk in his hand.
The old man says:
“You saved my son, for this I will give you everything you want, just ask.”
Hu Si thought, thought and said:
“I don’t need anything, venerable old man, just a good boat and strong nets, so that I can go to sea and fish with a light heart, and when I return home, I won’t be sad about food and clothes!”
The white-bearded old man nodded his head, apparently he liked the fisherman’s speeches, and said:
“In the Yishan Mountains there is a cliff a hundred zhang high. Berika, take your old woman and move to that cliff.
The fisherman asks:
- How do we get there, good old man?
The old man answers:
- Don't be sad, I know how to help you.
The old man said so and gave the green stalk to the fisherman. Hu Si took the stalk, and it was heavy, very heavy, cold, very cold. The fisherman looked at it - it glitters, it hurts his eyes. He marveled and thought: “What do I need it for?”
And the old man says again:
“You take the stalk, wave it towards the cliff and say: “Open, stone gate, open, stone gate!” Poor people have come!” Just remember, when you enter, don’t doubt anything, go forward boldly. And never part with the stem.
Hu Si was more surprised than ever, but he opened his mouth to ask more questions about the old man, and the old man suddenly disappeared. The fisherman took the stalk and went home. The old woman saw the stalk and became angry:
“It would be better if I brought some rice or flour, but with this stalk you won’t get enough to eat or drink!”
The fisherman answers:
- Why are you making unnecessary noise? All your life you have had one dream: to acquire a boat and nets so that you don’t have to worry about food and clothes.
The fisherman said this and told the old woman about everything that happened to him, he forgot nothing.
The old woman listened, greed overwhelmed her, and said:
- I would have asked for something more and better! Otherwise the boat and the nets!
Hu Si did not answer anything and did not argue with his wife. She is the only one in the world, there is no one else, all her life she has been poor in worries and troubles. Hu Si folded the fish, put it in two baskets, hung the baskets on a yoke, and set off with his wife. They walked exactly two days and two nights and arrived at a village at the foot of the Ishan Mountains. There were, at most, ten courtyards in that village. A fisherman and his wife are walking, they look - an old woman is sitting at the gate. Hu Si approached her and asked:
“Tell me, good woman, how far is it from here to a cliff a hundred zhangs high?”
The old woman pointed her finger to the west and answered:
- If you go straight to the west for about five li, there will be this cliff. But no one lives there, so who are you going to sell the fish to?
Hu Si thought: but the old woman is telling the truth, and began to ask her:
“Leave these baskets with you for now, good woman, and in the meantime we’ll go to the cliff, we have business there.”
The old woman was truly kind. She answers the fisherman:
- Okay! Leave your baskets here and don’t worry, how long the fish will lie, it will lie for so long, no one will touch the scales. And it’s hard to carry.
Hu Si left the fish with the old woman, and he and his wife went to that cliff. As soon as we left the village, we immediately noticed a cliff. Hey! What a huge rock! It touches the very sky. They came closer, raised their heads up, and looked - white clouds had covered the entire peak. Different birds fly. Hu Si waved the green gaoliang stalk and shouted:
- Open, the stone gates! Open, the stone gates! Poor people have come!
It's a long time to say, but it's done quickly. As soon as Hu Si shouted, the mountains began to shake, the earth began to tremble, it thundered and rumbled around, the cliff parted into two halves - and indeed it was a stone gate.
Hu Si and his wife marvel and are afraid of them. Before you had time to blink, a woman came out of the rock: her eyebrows are like the crescent moon, her eyes are like shining stars, no matter how you look at her, she is pretty, pretty and beautiful - the sun is clear in the morning, and it sparkles.
The beauty says:
“I see that you are kind people, eager to work, maybe you’d like to come in?”
The fisherman and his wife answer:
- We want to.
They said so and went inside. The woman put her finger forward, the gate creaked and instantly slammed shut.
The beauty asks:
- What do you need, good man?
The fisherman answers her:
“I don’t need anything, just a good boat and strong nets, so that I can go out to sea to fish with a light heart, and when I return home, I won’t worry about food and clothes.”
The beauty laughed and said:
- Don’t be sad, good fisherman, you will have everything!
She said this and pointed her finger to the east. Hu Si looks: the sea is in front of him, there is no end to it, no edge, green water - precious jade, smooth and calm - a polished mirror. A huge sun emerged from behind the sea, and the sea instantly turned red from it. People are walking along the shore. The woman pointed her finger at the house under the tiles and said:
- There is your house, good man!
Then she pointed at the new boat and the strong nets, and again said:
“Here is your boat, good man, here are your nets.”
Hu Si looks at the fishing boat, looks at the nets, and rejoices. The wife wanted to ask the beauty for all sorts of other things, but the beauty suddenly disappeared.
A fisherman lives with his wife in a tall house under tiles; he is not afraid of either the cold or the heat. There is something to cover from above, something to lay down, something to dress in, but there is nowhere to put all the utensils. Only there is not a crumb of food. Hu Si took strong nets, took a new boat, and got ready to fish in the sea. The western wind rose here, picked up a fishing boat, rocked it, threw it, and drove it into the very middle of the sea. I drove it and stopped blowing.
The green water glistens, flowing in thin, transparent threads. There are countless fish in the water. Here is a saber fish - a silver belt; Here is a carp - shiny red scales; here is a chrysanthemum fish - a golden yellow belly; Here is a sturgeon with an iridescent green back. Hu Si threw a net, pulled it out, threw it again, pulled it out again, caught fish - you can’t get up in the hold, you can’t sit in the boat. As soon as the fisherman thought: “It’s time to sail back,” the east wind blew, the boat glides through the water, as if alive, and instantly landed on the shore. A fisherman came ashore and exchanged fish for rice and flour.
In the morning Hu Si will go to sea, and in the evening he will return with a boat full of fish. I don’t even know how much time has passed - the sun never sets in those places - but the leaves on the old acacia tree turned yellow, then green, yellow again, green again. Hu Si and his wife live and do not need anything - neither food nor clothing.
But the old woman does not calm down, grumbling and grumbling:
- Go to the beauty, ask for gold and silver. I am well-fed, dressed and shod, and now I want to become rich.
The old woman was overcome by greed, give her gold, her eyes are already burning, she has become evil and despicable. She screamed and became noisy. Hu Si did not contradict his wife, he has no one else in the world, and says:
“Let’s go together and find the beauty, and you can ask for what you need.”
Hu Si took a green gaoliang stalk, the old woman saved two large bags, and they went to look for the kind beauty. I don’t even know how many days we spent searching, the sun never sets in those places, only the leaves on the poplars near the road managed to turn green, then they dried up, turned green again, and turned yellow again. Hu Si and his wife finally found the stone gate. We saw a kind beauty.
The beauty asks:
- What do you need, good man, eager to work?
The fisherman is silent, he cannot say a word.
Here the old woman says:
- I need silver and gold, and more!
The woman did not answer, she just pointed her finger to the west. Instantly everything around began to sparkle and sparkle. What is white is all silver, what is yellow is all gold. When you look, it seems as if it’s not gold—the sun is shining red.
The old woman is happy, she doesn’t know what to do with joy. He grabs handfuls of gold and silver and shouts at his husband to quickly collect them and put them in bags. We collected two whole bags, and then the sun set. It was getting dark. The fisherman became sad and said to his wife:
- Who knows when the sun will rise now? How will we find our house, fishing boat and nets in the dark?
The old woman answers him:
“If we don’t find it, that’s not a problem either.” And there is no need for us to stay here. I want to be a mistress, but people here live in abundance, they won’t serve us. You won’t be lost with gold and silver; the rich are happy everywhere. If you want to eat, open your mouth wide; if you want to drink, extend your hand - the water is right there. You won't have to fish anymore.
The fisherman does not like such speeches. He remembered the boundless green sea - precious jade, he remembered a new boat, strong nets. But the old woman does not let up, she stands her ground. The fisherman thinks what he should do, since she is his wife, and decides to do everything as the old woman wants. They each put a sack on their backs, walked, groaning, and with great effort reached the stone gate. The fisherman waved a green kaoliang stalk and said: “Open, the stone gate! Open, the stone gates!..”
Before I could finish speaking, the earth began to tremble, the mountains began to shake, there was a rumble and thunder around, and the stone gates swung open on both sides. The fisherman and his wife came out, the earth shook again, the mountains began to shake, there was a rumble and thunder around, and the stone gates slammed shut. And the cliff, a hundred zhangs high, still stands. The fisherman looked at the sun, the old woman looked, and it was just past noon. They went further with their bags to the village where they left the fish.
Silver and gold press on your back - they don’t let you breathe. An old man and an old woman walk, then they shower themselves. The fisherman is holding a green kaoliang stalk in his hand, and, I don’t know why, it’s getting heavier and heavier. Hu Si does not throw the stalk, remembers the words of the white-bearded old man. I began to discuss with the old woman whether to throw some silver and gold out of the bags.
The old woman does not agree and says:
“It’s better to throw away the kaoliang stalk, what do we need it for now?”
Again the fisherman listened to her and threw out the green kaoliang stem. The thunder rumbled around. The stalk turned into a green dragon and flew away into the sky.
An old man and an old woman are walking, carrying silver and gold on their backs, going to the village where they left the fish. They look - the road seems to have become different, not like the previous one. They walked for about five years and saw a village, only that one was small, and this one I don’t know how many times larger. At the very least there are several thousand houses in it. We met a man and asked what kind of village it was.
The person answers:
- This village is called Rotten Fish.
The fisherman asks:
- Why is it called that?
The person answers:
- Not a century, not two, have passed since there were ten houses in our village. A husband and wife passed here, left the yoke with the fish, and went to a cliff a hundred zhangs high. They never returned. The fish became rotten and a stench spread throughout the village. From that time on, our village was nicknamed Rotten Fish.
The old man and the old woman looked at each other and were amazed that they had not become any older, and yet several centuries had passed. They walked a little further and saw a tavern. The old man and the old woman are tired, they can’t feel their legs or arms, they are tormented by hunger and thirst is tormenting them.
The old man says:
- Let's take a break and buy some food!
The wife lowered the bag to the ground, wanted to get a silver bar, and lo and behold, it was a white stone. She began to take out the gold and looked - again a stone, only yellow. She rummages in the bag, and there are only stones. The old woman has turned green, her hands are shaking. She shook out the bag onto the ground and thought - at least there was gold left at the bottom, somewhere! White and yellow stones rolled across the ground with a roar. Hu Si shook out his bag onto the ground, and the stones also rolled along the ground with a roar, not a handful of gold, not a crumb of silver.
The old man and the old woman's eyes widened and they threw up their hands. They ran to a cliff a hundred zhangs high. Maybe the stone gates will open? Not so! Where is the green kaoliang stalk? The fisherman pointed his finger at the cliff and shouted:
- Open, the stone gates! Open, the stone gates! Poor people have come!
Hu Si shouted and shouted until he became hoarse, but the cliff stood there as if nothing had happened, without moving. The fisherman remembered his former life, his bitter need, and became completely cold. He sighed and said:
“I wanted to feed others wormwood, but I had to try it myself.” If you don't eat wormwood, you won't recognize the bitterness.
The fisherman thought and thought, and then he became annoyed. He began to bang his head against the rock, fought, fought, and fell to his death. The old woman howled, roared loudly, wasn’t she her own little fever? She will never see her home again. She was overcome by vexation, one was not enough, to that vexation even more vexation was added, the old woman hit the cliff and also fell to her death.
The next day, as soon as the sun rose, small birds began to fly over the cliff. This fisherman and his wife turned into a pair of dark gray birds at night. Birds are flying, flapping their wings, shouting:
- Ke ao hen sila! Ke ao hen sila! They died of frustration! They died of frustration!
Month after month goes by, year after year passes, winter gives way to summer, heat turns to cold, and small birds fly and shout:
- Ke ao hen sila! Ke ao hen sila! They died of frustration! They died of frustration!
Time passed, and people nicknamed the gray birds “aohengnyao” - “birds of sadness and annoyance.” To this day, in the Yishan Mountains, birds of sadness and annoyance fly over a cliff a hundred zhang high, fly and shout:
- Ke ao hen sila! Ke ao hen sila! They died of frustration! They died of frustration!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru