Once upon a time, seven blind brothers lived on the island of Mua. Every day they swam to the reef and beat the fish there with a spear. Before going out to sea, the brothers tied a bandage around their head and stuck magic feathers into the bandage.
The feathers led the brothers to the boat and showed them the direction. If the brothers walked the right path, the feathers fluttered in the wind; if they were wrong, the feathers suddenly froze.
The feathers told us when to lower the sail and take hold of the poles, when to keep the spear ready, when and where to throw it.
The brothers fill the boat with fish and return home, and again they are guided by magic feathers. They tremble and sway until the brothers reach home safely.
And every day the brothers, who went out to sea under sail, were watched by dogai, an evil witch with large ears, with which she covered herself when she went to bed. She was very curious to know what they were doing at sea all day.
One evening she saw the boat with the brothers returning. Dogai swam closer, slipped a log under the bow of the boat and started scooping out the fish. Then she pulled out the log and swam away with the survivors.
The brothers felt that the boat had become lighter and were surprised.
“We must have thrown the fish overboard.” Nice job! What do we have now? - said one of the brothers.
Dogai adapted to wait for the brothers to return with their catch and steal fish from them. The brothers realized that someone was robbing them. But who does it and how?
So one night, the youngest brother waited until the other brothers were asleep, got up, took the skull of their dead father, which they carefully kept, rubbed it with fragrant leaves and asked them to send him a prophetic dream.
“Tell me, father, if you can, why aren’t my brothers and I able to see with our eyes like all other people?” We fill the boat with fish every day, and when we return home, the boat is empty. What's the matter?
At night, my younger brother dreamed of his father.
“Don’t go to the reef tomorrow,” he said. “Let the brothers go out to sea, and a magic feather will lead you to a sandy path, along which turtles come ashore to lay their eggs.” Follow the path and you will find a nest of turtles. Build a fire and boil two eggs, then break them, wipe your eyes, and you will see.
The younger brother did everything his father ordered and truly regained his sight.
“My good father,” he said, “you sent me a good dream.” Now I see everything: our house, my brothers, and everything around me. And I will bring the remaining turtle eggs to my brothers.
In the afternoon he began to wait for his brothers and suddenly noticed that a dogai was sitting at the edge of the reef and was also waiting for someone. He saw how the dog swam up and again slipped a log under the bow of the brothers’ boat, how she threw the fish out of the boat, and how she swam away.
“We don’t have enough fish again,” the brothers complained. -But we caught quite a bit!
The younger brother baked turtle eggs on the hot sand and told the brothers to rub their eyes. The brothers immediately saw the light!
The younger brother told who was stealing their fish, and the brothers decided to punish the dogai.
The next morning they fastened the feathers in their headband again, as if they were still blind and relying only on the power of their magical assistants, and went to the boat. Each one has in his hands a harpoon, a rope and a club with a heavy stone.
The brothers swam to the reef, caught fish and soon turned back. They look and a Great Dane swims up to them on a log.
- That's who steals our fish! - exclaimed the younger brother.
“At least she wouldn’t understand that we are sighted now,” said the elder brother. - Now we'll fool her. Keep an eye on her!
The brothers began to remove the sail, and the dogai placed a log under the bow of the boat and began to fish. Then the elder brother hit her with a harpoon, and the others brought down clubs and spears on the dogs.
- I took yours! - said the evil witch. - But I deceived you for a long time! And now I stay here by the reef, and you will turn into stone near your home!
So Dogai became the Dogai Malu lagoon, and the brothers, as soon as they set foot on the shore, turned into stones. And now you can see seven brother stones standing in a row above the water, and a little further away their boat, which has turned into a rock.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru