In the middle of a dense forest, away from people, a brother and sister lived. They fed on what their brother got from hunting. One day my brother wandered through the forest all day, but did not meet a single animal - he was unlucky. He returned home hungry and tired. The hunter sees beautiful flowers growing behind the stone fence. “Hai, my sister loves these flowers very much!” exclaimed the young man. “Let me bring them to Narva to her.” At least I’ll please her with these flowers.
He picked flowers and went home, as it was getting late in the evening. On the way, the young man smelled the flowers and suddenly felt full, as if he had just had a good lunch, although he had not eaten anything all day.
The sister saw her brother with flowers, was delighted, and ran up to him.
- Oh, how beautiful! - she exclaimed and sniffed them.
Although my sister also didn’t have poppy dew in her mouth all day, as soon as she smelled the flowers, she immediately felt that she was full.
Since then, the brother and sister, as soon as they wanted to eat, smelled the flowers and were full. But they wanted fresh game. The brother went hunting. The sister was left alone in the house. She hears someone shouting:
- Hey, master!
A girl came out and saw a dragon at the doorstep - Agulshap. She was scared, but where can you go?
-Where is your brother? - asked the dragon.
“I went hunting,” the girl answered.
“We are a hundred brothers,” said the dragon. “Flowers served as food for us.” Your brother walked past our fence and tore them down. Since then we have been starving.
The girl felt sorry for the dragon. She brought out the flowers and handed them to him. The dragon grabbed her hand and led her along. They walked for a long time and were tired. We sat down to rest under a large beautiful tree that grew in a clearing. The dragon lay down and laid his head on the girl's lap. Soon he fell asleep. The girl began to pray to God to save her from trouble and had just finished her prayer when it suddenly began to get dark. An unknown force lifted her high, high. She looked around and saw that she was in some unfamiliar room, in the middle of which there was a coffin. She was scared, but where could she go?
In the evening the lid of the coffin opened and a handsome man came out from under it.
young man He looked at the girl and fell in love at first sight -
he liked her so much.
“You will be my wife,” he said.
The girl did not resist. What could she do: alone, with no one to protect her.
When it began to get light, the young man lay down in the coffin again and again became a dead man. The next evening he came out of the coffin again. His wife began to ask him:
- Why do you die during the day and rise in the evening?
- My father is a king. He did a lot of good to people. When I died, God wanted to resurrect me for my father. But he only managed to revive me at night. Even my parents don't know about this. I spend the whole night in my father’s house, I’m in the yard, but they can’t see me. But as soon as morning breaks, I die again.
As time passed, the wife felt that she had suffered. When the birth began to approach, her husband said to her:
“I’ll take you home and leave you at the gate.” In the morning, when your father sees you, he, out of his kindness, will order you to be taken into the house - that’s his character; he will not leave a person in trouble.
No sooner said than done. The husband took her to his father's house and left her at the gate, and as dawn approached he returned to lie down in the coffin. Before leaving, he said to his wife:
- Tomorrow evening I will come to you. You will know about my arrival by the word “agvil” that I will pronounce. You will answer my questions.
In the morning, the king's servants saw a pregnant woman at the gate. They ran to the king and told him about it. The king ordered her to be brought into the house and placed in one of his rooms, and assigned... a servant to her so that she would look after the helpless woman.
As soon as it got dark, her husband’s voice was heard at her window, saying “agvil.” The wife replied:
- I'm lying here. I also have a maid.
- Is your bed good, are you fed well? he asked.
“Everything is fine,” answered the wife.
The surprised maid listened. At this time the husband said:
“Let the maid tell the king to take good care of you.”
In the morning, the maid reported what she had heard to the king. He ordered:
- Try to find out who this voice belongs to. The maid said that she recognized the prince's voice and said that
he is not completely dead: he is resurrected at night. The king ordered that the coffin with the body of his son be moved to the room where the pregnant woman lay.
Soon the prince's wife was happily resolved, giving her husband a son and her father-in-law a grandson. The boy grew by leaps and bounds. When he was a day old, he looked like a year old, and when he was fifteen days old, he looked like he was fifteen years old. His mind also matured quickly. Once he noticed that someone gets up from the coffin in his mother’s room at night and goes back to bed in the morning. He began to ask his mother who it was? But she didn’t answer.
One day at noon the boy said to his mother:
- Mom, feed me breast milk.
- Unan, nan! What are you saying?! How can I give you breasts, because you are already a grown guy, aren’t you ashamed?
But the son insisted on his own. The mother was forced to lie down and breastfeed her son. He bit his nipple and said:
- Until you tell me who comes out of the coffin to you at night, I will not let you go,
- This is your father, nan. At night he is resurrected and during the day he dies. Because of your grandfather's good deeds, God wanted to resurrect him when he died, but he could only revive him at night.
Hearing this, the young man ran to his grandfather and told him everything.
“I will set out on a journey in search of a means that can bring my father back to life completely.”
The king did not want to let him go.
“I had a son, but God took him to himself. Now that I have a grandson, I don’t want to lose him,” he said.
But the young man insisted on his own. He equipped himself and set off on a long journey for a year. He rode for a long time, leaving a long way behind. One day he drove up to the place where the earth and the sky meet: there was nowhere to go further - the edge of the earth. He looks - a crack has opened in the rock, and the shadow of some dead person has slipped through it. Without thinking twice, the young man followed him. He walks, walks to the other side of the world and sees something strange: a man and a woman, hugging each other, lying on an ax handle. He was surprised and asked:
- How is it that you, two adults, fit on the ax handle and don’t fall?
They answered him:
- Go your way, young man. If you happen to return, then we will answer your question.
He went further and saw: a man and a woman were lying on a large buffalo skin spread out and constantly pushing each other.
“Move over,” says the man.
“No, move over,” the woman answers. The young man looked at them and asked:
“Is there really not enough room for you on the huge buffalo hide?” Why are you quarreling?
“Many people asked us about this,” they told him in response, “but we didn’t answer anyone.” You go your way, if you return, then you will receive an answer.
The young man goes further and sees that the bull is tied, and in front of him is the best feed in the world. But the bull is skinny - just skin and bones; can barely stand on his feet.
—. Why are you so skinny? After all, there is plenty of food in front of you,” said the young man.
“Go your way, if you happen to return back, then I will answer you,” answered the bull.
The young man went further and soon saw another bull tied to a stake. Although there was no food or drink in front of this bull, it looked well-fed and fat.
- The first bull has plenty of food and drink, but he is thin, and you have neither one nor the other, and you are so well-fed, why is this? - asked the young man.
The bull replied:
- Go your own way. If you are lucky enough to return, then I will tell you.
The young man went further. He sees a huge deer standing; one of its horns is buried in the ground, and the other is stuck in the sky. And there is nowhere to go further. The young man passed through both lights. He marveled at the deer and asked:
- Why are you suffering so much?
“I don’t know myself,” answered the deer. “There is no further way, but only to heaven, to God.” If you visit heaven and happen to return, then find out why I am suffering, how can I atone for my guilt?
“Okay, I’ll try to find out,” the young man answered and climbed into the sky in the deer’s horn.
As soon as he climbed there, the mother of the Sun and Moon attacked him, wanting to destroy him.
- Oh, mother, mother, my mother! - the young man said three times. The Mother of the Sun and Moon stopped.
“I cannot violate the sanctity of motherhood,” she said. “What’s bothering you that brings you here?” - she asked, leading him into the house.
“This is what brought me,” answered the young man. “My father dies for a day, and is resurrected at night.” Is there no way to completely resurrect him?
“I’ll give you such a remedy,” she answered. “In the meantime, hide, otherwise the Sun and Moon will return and destroy you.”
In the evening the Sun returned from his daily round and said:
- Something, mother, smells like human flesh!
- No, nan, this is the smell of the dead. . . . It turns out that the mother of the Sun killed everyone who climbed the
the sky and dumped it in a heap. The sun believed his mother. It washed itself, but the mother did not throw out the water after it. In the morning the sun rose and began its daily journey across the sky.
The Moon comes from its night round. As soon as I walked in, I immediately said: “Ugh, mother, it smells like human flesh!”
“No, nan, the smell comes from the dead,” answered the mother. Luna believed it. She washed her face and went to rest. And after
Her mother did not pour out the water, but hid it too. When the Moon left, the mother called the young man and said to him, giving him the water left after washing the Sun and Moon:
- Here's a remedy for your father. Wet his entire body with this water, do not leave a dry place even for the tip of a needle. After this, your father will either die completely or be completely resurrected.
The young man thanked the mother of the Sun and Moon and was about to leave, but then he remembered the deer’s request.
- Tell me, mother, this deer that is tied under you, what did he do wrong, how can he atone for his guilt?
“He is to blame for not allowing any animals or birds to live—he kills everyone.” If he swears to God that he will not do this again, he will be released.
The young man said goodbye to the mother of the Sun and Moon and set off on his way back. The first to meet him, of course, was a deer, along whose horn he descended.
“Did you find out what my fault is,” he asked.
“Swear to God that from this day on you will not touch a single forest animal, not a single bird, and you will be free,” said the young man.
As soon as the deer pronounced the oath, it was freed at that very moment.
“You served me, I will serve you,” said the deer. “Sit on me, I will take you to the place where I am allowed to go.”
The deer quickly carried the young man to the fat bull.
“So I’m back,” said the young man. “Now you must answer my question, why are you obese, having neither food nor drink?”
“Apparently, your parents are happy, since you returned,” said the bull. “Now I will answer your question.” When I was alive, I had little food and drink, I worked a lot, but did not complain about my fate. But now I'm so fat.
The young man drove up to the skinny bull and reminded him of his old question. He replied:
“I’m surprised you managed to come back.” Listen now. There is a lot of food and drink in front of me, but they are of no use to me, because when I was alive, I did not value wealth, I ate a lot and still wanted to, but I could not eat what my insatiable eyes saw. It is for this greed that I am punished.
The young man rode up to the husband and wife lying on the buffalo skin and said:
-Are you all quarreling? Tell me why you can’t get along?
“When we were alive, we didn’t get along and didn’t love each other—we didn’t agree on character.” That’s why we can’t get along now and are quarreling,” he heard in response.
The young man saw those people who were lying in an embrace on the ax handle and reminded them of his question.
- Oh, you're back! - they said. You were lucky: no one has ever returned from where you were. We will answer your question. During our lifetime we were friends and loved each other. Having met here, we are still friendly and love each other. That’s why it’s not crowded for us even on the ax handle.
The deer took the young man to the rock and stopped.
“I’m forbidden to go further,” he said. The young man thanked the deer and said goodbye to him. He began to wait
when the rock opens up. As soon as it parted, the young man deftly slipped through the gap and found himself in this world. He found his
horse and went home. While he was doing all these things, a year had long passed. The young man rode for many more days and nights and finally began to approach the house. He saw a shepherd in the valley and asked him:
- Let's change clothes: I'll put on yours, and you'll put on mine. The poor shepherd was delighted. They exchanged clothes. young man
he approached his home barefoot and in rags. On this day, the king organized a funeral for him. The king was informed that some poor shepherd was standing at the gate. He ordered to bring him into the house and feed him. When the young man was brought into the house, he asked to be let into the room where the coffin with the body of his father stood. The king allowed him to do this. Only one woman sat in the room near the coffin.
-Can you go out for a while? - asked the young man.
The woman was surprised by such a request, but still left. The young man took off the lid of the coffin, took out the water with which the Sun and Moon were washed, and washed his father’s entire body with it, leaving no room even for the tip of the needle. As soon as this was done, the young man's father stood up and stretched.
- Oh, how long I slept! - he said.
-You don't recognize me? - asked the young man.
“No, I don’t recognize,” answered the resurrected one. “And in general, I’m seeing you for the first time.”
The young man then asked the woman who had previously been sitting by the coffin to come in and asked her if she recognized him?
“No, I haven’t seen you until today,” she answered.
“It’s not surprising that you didn’t recognize me,” the young man said then. “The deadline for my return has long expired.” I am your son. I wandered for a long time in search of a means to resurrect my father and finally found it.
After much outpouring of joy, the young man sent people to the king with the following request: let the people who had gathered for the wake go out into the courtyard for a moment. The king complied with the request - he asked the people to go out into the courtyard. Then the young man opened the door and brought out his miraculously resurrected father and mother to the people, and then went out himself. People were incredibly amazed and delighted. The young man told the people about how he traveled to the next world, was in the sky with the mother of the Sun and Moon, took out magic water and resurrected his father. Everyone heard this: the king and the people, and there was fun, gunfire, dancing, and songs. Instead of a wake, the king ordered a great feast. The people had fun for three days. I was the toastmaster at that feast, I drank twenty-five glasses of wine - I drank everyone. And today I am here and tell you this true story; whoever does not believe me, let him go to that royal court and look. There are still people there now. They haven’t sobered up, they’re sleeping with a hangover.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru