This was back then when Ude, looking at a stone, saw a stone man; Looking at the bear, I thought - he sees a taiga man; Looking at the fish, I thought - I saw a water man; Looking at the tree, I thought - he sees a tree man. Then all sorts of things happened to people that don’t happen now. There lived two brothers - Solomdiga and Indiga, who lived in the upper reaches of the Koppi River.
Their father died. Before his death he punished:
- Hold on to each other. If one person gets sick, let the other one help. Both look in the same direction. That's what I said - do it!
Father died. The brothers wove white braid into their braids. They put my father in a coffin. The coffin was placed with its feet facing east so that even after death the father could see the sunrise. For seven days they carried food to my father and fed his soul.
Then we went hunting.
“Both of you look in the same direction,” the father said to the brothers. And the younger brother Indiga follows his brother and keeps looking around: Indiga was very quick-eyed, he didn’t like to look in one place.
The brothers walked and walked. Indiga looks around. Suddenly he hears some noise. He turned around and saw a tiger jumping at his older brother from behind a dead tree! He didn’t even point the spear, and didn’t have time to take out the knife. Indiga was next. He should throw a spear at a tiger! And Indiga’s heart became like a hare: his younger brother was afraid. He fell to the ground, folded his hands together, and asked the tiger to pass by, not to touch him and his brother.
Indiga lay there for a long time, then he raised his head and looked - there was no tiger or brother. Both are missing. Indigd's heart sank. He began to call his brother. He shouted and shouted, but no one responded, only the hills imitated his cry:
- So-lo-om! Dee dee! Ha-ha! Ah-ah-ah!
The guy started crying. How can you live without your brother now? What do you say to your relatives? How can you wipe the shame off your face?
Indiga began to look at the traps. It sits in one speaker. As soon as I saw Indiga, he screamed at him:
- Go away, you lost your brother! - gnawed the leg caught in the trap and galloped away on three legs.
Indiga began to look at the traps. The ferret sits in one loop. The ferret saw Indiga, let's shout:
- It’s disgusting to fall into such hands! You lost your brother! - He broke the noose and went into the taiga.
Indig shot at the goose. An arrow flew and hit the goose under the wing. The goose pulled out the arrow with its beak, threw it back to Indiga, and shouted to the guy:
- How can someone like that become prey? Lost my brother In-diga-ga!
A goose flew into the middle of the river, folded its wings, threw itself into the water, and drowned.
Neither animals nor birds are given to a guy with a hare's heart.
Indiga sat down and began to think. I thought for a long time: I have purged all the tobacco, I have purged all the moss around. His heart hurts. Indiga thinks: I lost my brother. It's a bad thing to lose a brother. My heart hurts. If you lose your phone, you won’t rest until you find it! And I lost my brother... However, I’ll go look for Solomdiga. If I find it, my heart will stop hurting! If I disappear myself, my heart will stop hurting!
Indiga went to his mother. He knelt down. He told me everything. He told how he got a hare's heart. His mother kissed him. He tells him, crying:
– Your father taught you to look forward. You didn’t listen - you lost your brother, you found a hare’s heart. Go look for a man's heart. Go look for your brother. Because of your fear, he disappeared. Only with courage will you bring him back now!
Indiga took a pipe, a knife and a spear. He went, but Indiga didn’t know where to go. I went into the sunset...
I met a crawling snake and asked where to look for my brother. He doesn't really know. I moved on. I met a mouse running on the ground. He asked if he had seen Solomdiga. Didn't see the mouse. Indiga went further. I saw a squirrel climbing trees. I asked. No, I didn’t see my brother’s squirrel. I approached the river and saw fish swimming. I asked the fish if they had seen Solomdiga. We didn't see any fish. Indiga moved on. I asked the jumping toad. The toad didn't see it. I saw a flying warbler and asked. The warbler answers that she hasn’t seen Solomdiga - she flies low. The crane, taller than the flying one, asked. The crane did not see. Says:
- Ask the eagle, the highest flying one.
Indiga the eagle began to ask if the eagle had seen where the tiger had taken his brother Solomdiga.
Eagle says:
- Your brother is far away! You can find it if you endure seven fears. Now you have the heart of a hare. When you have the heart of a brave man, then you will find your brother! “The eagle dropped one feather and said: “I’ll help you.” Wherever my feather flies, go there!
The feather flew into the sunset - Indiga followed it.
I don’t know how long it took. Crossed three streams. A feather flies ahead. Indiga looks forward, as his father taught. Indiga walks, having lost his brother.
The guy reached the river. An eagle feather flew across the river. Indiga made a boat and threw it on the water. The river began to foam, seethe, rustle, and boil. Like water boiling in a cauldron... Steam rose from the water. The fog rolled across the valleys. Indiga's boat shriveled, warped, and sank. The fish in that river were boiled, swimming with their bellies up, looking at Indigo with white eyes. The guy felt scared, but he had to do the job, otherwise he would forever have a hare’s heart. He says to himself: This is not fear yet. The fear is yet to come.
Indiga pointed his bow between two trees. He pulled the string and caught it with a branch. He placed the arrow on the bow. He grabbed the arrow with one hand and broke the twig with the other. The twig bounced off. The bowstring broke. - The bow bent. The arrow flew. She flew across the boiling river. Steam billows around Indiga and burns. Indiga endures... The river was wide. While the guy was flying, he got burned all over. Nothing, he says, it will heal.
An arrow landed on the other side. Indiga stood up. He sees that the eagle feather is waiting for him. As soon as the guy stepped on the ground, the feather flew further. Indiga is behind him!
He walked and walked... He jumped over three streams, climbed over three hills. He sees a stone clearing between two mountains. A very narrow path leads to that clearing. That path is strewn with bones and fenced with skulls. Indiga became scared. And an eagle feather flies along that path, straight into a stone clearing. Indiga sees a tiger camp in that clearing. Tigers are like bees in a hollow! The prey is tormented. They caress each other. They fight with each other. The tigers roar as if thunder was roaring over the Agda camp.
An eagle feather flies through the camp.
Indiga's heart is beating. They'll eat me! - the guy thinks.
I smoked my pipe one last time. I remembered about the flint. I pulled dry grass out of the tinderbox and twisted it into a rope. He put a tourniquet on his head. He struck a fire and lit a tourniquet.
The dry grass on Indiga’s head is burning like a fire. Indiga rushed through the tiger camp. The tigers darted in different directions. They see nothing but fire. They don't see indigo! Tigers roar, beat the ground with their tails, and open their red mouths. And Indiga passes them by. He says to himself: Apparently this is not fear. There is still fear to come. He ran across the camp. He killed one tiger, drank the blood, took the meat with him, and took the skin with him.
And the eagle feather is already over Indiga again. As soon as he got the job done, the pen flew on. It doesn’t choose roads, it flies directly. He jumped over three streams, crossed three hills, passed three rivers Indiga. Beyond the last river the forest begins. - In that forest there are trees up to the sky. They grow thickly. The sun's ray will not penetrate through the branches. The wind won't get through the branches. There are trees intertwined with vines. The branches, like hands, twist and grab. They will let the beast through, but not the man. Indiga sees that someone’s bones are already turning white on the branches of those trees. Indiga became scared - his heart was pounding, his hands were shaking, and he said to himself: This is apparently not fear. Fear is ahead. He pulled the tiger skin over himself, cut the meat into pieces, and put it on a spear. Indiga went to that forest.
Trees reach out to Indega and smell the meat. They feel Indigo with hands like branches. Like a branch to him - Indiga throws a piece of meat at her. Trees tear meat from each other. They started fighting over meat. So they whip each other with branches, only bark and wood chips fly in different directions. And Indiga goes further and further through the forest for an eagle feather. I took some branches from those trees with me and thought: I’ll make a fire when I can.
An eagle feather flies. Indiga jumped over six streams, climbed over six hills, and crossed six rivers.
So he went out into the swamp. The feather flies straight, what should Indiga do? He began to throw those branches into the swamp. I began to walk on those branches. Branches are immersed in swamp water. The swamp is bubbling. Blue lights flutter across it. Indiga reached the core of the swamp. There is a hunchbacked little man standing on the road. That man has one leg, he has one arm. Indiga was frightened: his heart began to beat, his arms and legs trembled. Indig recognized that man, even though he had never seen him before. That man's name is Boko. He only harms people. He drives through the swamp until the quagmire sucks him in.
Boko says:
-Where are you going, boy?
“I’m looking for you,” Indiga answers (what does he have to lose!)
“Here I am,” says Boko. - Why do you need me?
“I heard from people,” Indiga says then, “that your one leg is stronger than two... I can’t believe it.” I came here to have a look. Let's see who can jump the highest. Nobody jumps better than me.
“You jump,” says Boko.
Indiga jumped. He jumped higher than the tree. He flew down - he spread his legs and stood on the branches. He went into the swamp up to his waist. Those bitches didn't let him drown.
Boko laughed:
- Is that how they jump? - speaks. - That's how it should be!
He sat down on his one leg, straightened up - and how he jumped! He flew up to the clouds, turned upside down, and flew back.
And Indiga, let’s continue to move the branches and get out of the swamp...
Boko fell and went into the quagmire. While I was getting out and rubbing my eyes, Indiga came out onto solid ground. It stands on level ground. Now Boko is not afraid of him.
Indiga says to himself: This was not fear yet. Fear, apparently, is ahead. Boko shouts to him:
- Hey, guy, have you seen how to jump? Come here! . .
- No time! - Indiga shouts. - I have something to do.
And the eagle's feather flies further. Before Indiga had time to dry off, he continued on, covered in mud.
He jumped over nine streams, climbed over nine hills, completely tore his boots, Indiga walked barefoot, beating his feet. Crossed the Nine Lakes...
A large snake crawled out of the last lake, curling in coils. The stone scales on it glisten, the scales on it ring. Flames burst from the mouth. Under the snake the earth, the grass is burning. A snake blew on Indiga - it burned his clothes and scorched his eyebrows. Indiga became scared. He turned pale, his heart was beating, his arms and legs were trembling, sweat appeared on his forehead. The guy consoles himself: Apparently this is not fear yet. Fear is ahead. Na-: took courage, shouted to the snake:
- Hey, if you want to eat me, then take a piece of lard first! Maybe even a piece is enough for you?
He picked up a stone from the ground, scraped the swamp mud off himself, smeared that stone, and threw it into the snake’s mouth.
The serpent choked, could not swallow the stone, could not breathe fire on Indiga.
Let's Indiga run before the snake can handle the stone.
And the eagle’s feather flies forward, without discerning its path.
Indiga jumped over nine streams, crossed nine hills, nine lakes, walked through nine forests. He walks barefoot, his feet ground to the bone on the stones. And he went out into the stone gorge.
This is where he became most frightened: there were living stones all around! They turn around, look after him, sway, and speak to each other in stone language. The feather flies on. Indiga is behind him.
Suddenly Indiga sees a man standing among the stones. He is not an ordinary man: his head is like a radish, his legs are crooked, this man is so tall that you have to lift your head up to see his face. I had never met such an Indiga before, but I immediately recognized who was standing in front of him: Kakzamu, an evil mountain man. Poor Indiga stood, his heart was beating, his arms and legs were shaking, his hair stood on end from fear. However, the guy says to himself: This is not fear yet. Fear is ahead. He bowed to Kakzam.
He asks: . - What do you want here?
Indiga tells him, already considering himself lost:
- Hey, neighbor, you say you have great power!
“What they say is true,” Kakzamu answers. – Do you see the stones lying around? These were all people, but I turned them into stones. Let my cliffs and everything below them be guarded. And now I’ll turn you into stone!
He touched Indiga's hand. Indiga's hand became stone. Indiga cannot move her hand, she cannot lift it. The hand became black. Indiga almost died of fear.
But he plucked up his courage and said:
- Uh, my grandfather knew how to do this! But this power is not great - to make a stone out of living meat. Make living meat out of stone! My grandfather knew how, but he died long ago! Now no one can.
He answers Indiga:
- My strength, my power: I will do what I want! He touched Indiga's hand. The hand became alive again.
Hot blood ran through her, and her hand began to move.
- Uh, that's not all! - Indiga shouts. - Well, bend over to me, I’ll tell you in my ear what my grandfather knew and took with him!
The mountain man bent down to Indiga. He lent his ear. He rolls his eyes. The nostrils are big enough to fit a whole fist. Indig pulled out the tobacco pouch and all the tobacco from his belt and poured it into Kakzam’s nose.
Kakzamu began to sneeze. He sneezed and sneezed... All his strength came out through his nose. When the power comes again, time will disappear... And Indiga will run away. Escaped from Kakzamu.
Goes for the eagle feather again. He jumped over one stream, ran around six lakes, walked through nine forests. He erased his legs to the bone.
Indiga walked and walked and saw a stone wall standing. You can’t go around that wall, you can’t climb over that wall: left, right - the wall stretches across the whole earth, clouds cover its top.
An eagle feather hit that wall and scattered into dust, as if it had never been there.
This is where it has become. Indigo is scared. It’s so scary that there are no words to describe it. You can’t take that wall by force! You can't take that wall with cunning! Indiga began to cry and looked at himself. The legs are worn down to the bones. Hands are burned. Clothes are in tatters. My stomach stuck to my back from hunger. Indiga suffered a lot of fear, but his brother was nowhere to be seen! Indig pulled out a knife and said:
“I won’t go back - none of my relatives went back.” I will cut out my hare heart...; Shame from the face of the morning...
He put a knife to his chest. Suddenly he sees a door appearing in the wall. What other fear is behind it?
Indiga overcame himself: How can I be afraid! I'm a man.
He suddenly hears a man’s heart beating in his chest. He took the spear in his hand. He hit as hard as he could with his spear. The door swung open. Ready for anything, Indiga jumped through that door...
What is it?
The guy sees him standing in the place where he lost his brother. And there is no wall.
Around the saran there is a flower burning with a red flame, birds are chirping...
And right in front of Indiga stands his brother Solomdiga. A brother is standing, holding a beautiful girl by the hand. I have never seen Indiga so beautiful. The girl’s eyelashes are like reeds, her eyes are yellow, like the sun shining. The girl is wearing a yellow wedding robe. There are black stripes on the robe, like on a tiger skin.
Solomdiga says:
- Thank you, brother! You weren't afraid of anything for me!
The girl smiles at Indige. Says:
– I am a tiger kind of person. I fell in love with your brother. That's why she took him to her place. I just see that you can’t live without your brother. I asked the Tiger Master to visit ordinary people. I will now live with you. I can live with you - you are brave people!
They held hands and walked together. The mother was delighted.
Solomdiga and the girl became husband and wife. And Indiga learned to look forward - and he never had a hare’s heart again.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru