Old Yukaghirs roamed the taiga - an old man with his old woman. They had no children. The old man went hunting, fished, and caught up with wild deer. Sometimes it was difficult and difficult for the old man, but the old woman was always dissatisfied with her husband. She sat at home, cooked food, repaired the backpack, tanned skins. Their economy was good; the Yukaghir was a blacksmith and knew how to make magic knives from iron. If a person touches a bear or other animal with such a knife, they fall dead.
So they migrated, they lived their entire lives in the taiga together, and old age came. The old woman could not even fetch water herself. The old man had to do everything, and the old man was already weak and had difficulty seeing.
The old woman is tired of the old man. He wanted to have a young wife, so that she would sing songs, do everything herself and amuse him.
One day an old woman sent an old man with a bucket to fetch water, but the old man did not come for a long time. The old woman became worried. I went to the ice hole myself. I just left the yurt, and the old man comes with a bucket, but there is no water in the bucket. No matter how the old woman asked the old man why he didn’t bring water, the old man remained silent. The old woman collected snow, boiled tea, gave the old man something to drink, drank herself and went to bed. The old man also went to bed, but he is not sleeping, his eyes are wide open, he is looking at one point, smiling. The old man remembers the face of a young woman, remembers how he approached the ice hole and saw the face of a young woman in the water. Frightened, the old man walked away from the ice hole and began to think. Then he dared, went up to the ice hole, and spoke to the woman. The old man could not understand what the woman was saying, but he saw her lips move. Then the old man shouted loudly:
– Do you want to be my wife?
- To be a wife? – the echo repeated louder.
- Yes, yes! - the old man shouted. The echo loudly repeated:
- Yes, yes!
The old man went home. He had to think about how to leave the old woman for his young wife, and now, at night, he decided what to do tomorrow.
Getting up the next day, the old man did not go for water, but began to collect everything - his things - into a bag. He put an ax, various files, pliers, hammers - everything he needed in blacksmithing. I put all my clothes down. The old woman saw that the old man was packing everything, and she was surprised how they, the old ones, would be able to roam in the winter: after all, they didn’t even have the strength to drag the sledges. Not only do they have deer, but they don’t even have dogs to pull the sleds. The old woman decided to ask the old man where he was going. The old man said nothing, but his face became somehow scary. The old woman got scared and fell silent. After waiting for the time when the old woman went to the taiga for firewood, the old man grabbed the bag and ran to the river. He ran to the ice hole, looked in, and smiled. A smiling face looked out from there.
“You have my money,” the old man said and sprinkled silver coins from a handful.
From the middle of the hole where the money fell, circles began to appear. The old man smiled and looked, but the woman was not visible.
“You’re collecting money, I’m happy,” said the old man. “I’ll give you everything, just look at me.”
And he again bent over the ice hole. The woman smiled again. The old man quickly began to lower the bag into the hole.
Things and iron swollen with water pulled the bag to the bottom. Look how she’s dragging the bag,” thought the old man, “she wants me to come to her as soon as possible.” And before the bag had time to submerge in the water, the old man himself threw himself into the water. Splashes flooded the edges of the ice hole, and circles appeared on the surface of the water.
The old woman waited for the old man for a long time and thought that he had gone to remove the traps. She waited for him until the evening, but the old man did not come even in the evening.
In the morning, the old woman got up early and went to fetch water herself. She approached the ice hole and saw that the snow had been crushed all around. The old woman bent down and began to peer into the water. There she saw a drowned old man and a bag of things. The old woman began to cry and went home with an empty bucket. She was left alone, there was nothing to eat, she was exhausted and was waiting for death. The old woman knew that if rich Yukaghirs met poor people, they would immediately leave this place. Even if there were children, they would not be given a single piece of meat. Rich people passed by the yurt, but the old woman did not have the strength to go outside and ask for help.
Poor people with children wandered past. The children were the first to find the trembling old woman and called the elders. The adults shared the meager food they had. The old woman told them about her misfortune. Everyone tried to make the old woman get better.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru