Either they lived or they didn’t live, they say, once a husband and wife. They had seven sons.
One day the boys went to play with their peers, but they did not accept them into the game.
“We don’t want to play with brothers who don’t have a sister!” - their peers told them.
The seven brothers returned home very sad.
- What's wrong with you, sons? — the mother became worried. “Who hurt you?”
“We wanted to play with the neighbor’s children,” the sons complained, “but they didn’t accept us into the game because we don’t have a sister!”
And the seven sons said to their father and mother:
- We don’t have a sister... We don’t want to live here anymore. Bake us some bread for the journey. We'll go wandering!
The father and mother cried bitterly and did not let their sons go, but the sons insisted on their own and left their father’s hut.
How long or short did they wander, but they finally came to a dense forest, found a centuries-old plane tree in that dense forest and built themselves a home under the plane tree.
They became hunters. During the day they went to the forest for prey, and in the evening they returned home.
It wasn’t just a year or two, it was many years. And the mother of seven sons had a daughter and grew up during this time.
One day a girl wanted to dance with her friends, but they did not accept her into the round dance.
“We don’t want to dance with a sister who has no brothers,” they said.
The girl began to cry and ran home.
-What are you crying about, daughter? - the mother was alarmed.
“I wanted to dance,” said the daughter, “but the girls chased me away and said: You have no brothers.”
- Oh, daughter! - the mother began to cry. “You had seven brothers...” and fell silent, afraid to upset her daughter.
But the girl began to caress her mother, began to ask her to tell her where these seven brothers were, and, seeing that her daughter would not leave her alone, the mother said:
- Yes, you had seven brothers, daughter... Just like you, they once went to play with their peers, but they did not accept them into the game, they shouted: We don’t want to be friends with brothers who don’t have a sister! Your brothers were offended, and it has been many years since they left home...
- Ah! - said the daughter. - Dear mother! I'll go after them too! Show me the path they took.
The father and mother were very sad, they refused to let their only daughter go for a long time, but she insisted on her own, and they had to agree.
The father bought new chuvyaks for his daughter, the mother gave her sweet chureks and a jug of sherbet, and the girl went along the same road along which her brothers had gone.
She walked a lot or a little, but then she met a shepherd with a herd of cows.
- Taste my sherbet, shepherd! Try my sweet chureki! Tell me, do you know where the house of the seven brothers is?
- Thank you, honey! - the shepherd thanked. “I don’t need your treat... I’ll tell you everything anyway.” Walk along this gorge and you will reach a dense forest. In the dense forest you will see a centuries-old plane tree. Under this plane tree stands the house of seven brothers!
The girl bowed to the shepherd and set off on her way again. She found her brothers' house, opened the door, and entered.
She put the house in order, cleaned everything, put it away, fanned the fire in the hearth and cooked dinner. And then she hid in a chest with nuts.
Evening came. Seven brothers returned home from hunting. When they saw that everything was tidy and dinner was ready, they were happy:
- Whose good hands did this? Who took care of us?
The brothers had dinner and the elders said to the younger:
- Go, brother, bring some nuts! The younger brother put his hand into the chest, and there was something alive there! He got scared and screamed:
- There is someone here!
- Bah! - said the elder brother. “Whoever it is, he’s not braver than me!” “I went, opened the lid and saw a girl in the chest.
- Who are you? How did you come to us? - the brothers ask.
The girl told how she came and who she was.
- So you are our sister? — the brothers rejoiced. “Be the mistress of our house!” You'll live
a little with us in the forest, we will hunt enough, and then we will return to our father and mother.
Early in the morning, seven brothers gathered to hunt.
“Dear sister,” they punished, “everything here is yours.” Do what you want... We only ask you one thing: make sure that the fire in the hearth does not go out... It is impossible to get fire in these places!
The brothers went into the forest, and the girl climbed onto the roof and began to thread her corals onto a thread, not forgetting to look down at the hearth.
Once, when she bent over like that, a coral bead fell right into her hearth. And when the girl looked to see if there was a fire in the hearth, she saw this red bead and thought that it was a smoldering coal.
The sun began to set. A girl came down from the roof, wanted to light the fireplace and cook dinner, but there was no fire in the fireplace - only a red bead!
The girl climbed high onto the plane tree and saw smoke rising in the distance above the forest.
And where the smoke rose was the house of the evil serpent Ashdaghi. But the girl didn’t know this! She got down from the plane tree and decided to run to the neighbors to ask for a light.
She ran to Ashdaga’s house and began knocking on the gate.
Ashdagha heard and said to his daughter:
- Hey, Guri, Guri, my daughter Guri-peri! Go see who's knocking there!
Ashdagi’s daughter came out and looked: a girl was standing outside the door and crying.
Guri-peri took pity on her and said quietly:
- My dear sister, my father is the serpent of Ashdag! If he sees you, you will become a treat for him! Get out of here!
“It is in your power to kill me,” answered the girl. -It is also in your power to spare.
Do whatever you want, just give me fire. I can't leave my brothers without dinner...
“Well, come in then,” Ashdagi’s daughter invited and shouted: “Father, this girl is asking us for fire!”
Ashdaga was full at that time. He thought: I can eat it later. You just need to resort to cunning.
“Bring me an iron sieve,” he ordered his daughter.
Ashdaga filled a sieve with ash and placed burning coals on top.
“When you carry it,” he told the girl, “shake the sieve along the way, otherwise the coals will go out.”
The girl thanked her, grabbed the sieve and, shaking it, ran home. And where she ran, there was a trace of ash.
The girl lit a fire in the hearth and cooked dinner. Her brothers returned home: they ate, drank and went to bed... She didn’t tell them anything, she was afraid.
Early in the morning, seven brothers, as always, went into the forest to hunt. By that time, the serpent of Ashdag had become hungry and, following the trail left by the ash, crawled to the house of the seven brothers. The girl saw the snake and bolted the door.
“Open!” the snake made noise. “Open, otherwise I’ll destroy the house!”
But the girl did not open the door.
- Now my brothers will return! - she shouted.
- Good! Tomorrow I will definitely eat you! - the snake threatened and crawled away, because he was still afraid of the seven hunter brothers.
In the evening, when the brothers returned from the forest with the spoils, the sister said:
“Dear brothers, yesterday I was afraid to tell the truth... I didn’t save the fire in the hearth, and I had to ask the serpent Ashdagh for fire.” And today Ashdaga crawled to our house. He threatens to eat me.
“Don’t be afraid, dear sister,” her brothers reassured her. “We will kill Ashdaga!”
They dug a large hole at the door of the hut and deftly covered it with felt, but they themselves, all seven of them, did not go hunting, but hid behind the door.
Hungry Ashdaga crawled the next day and immediately fell into a hole. Seven brothers jumped out from behind the door and shot seven arrows at him. They killed Ashdaga and covered him with earth.
Soon the sister of the seven brothers begged to return to their homeland.
The brothers bought a golden chest and a white camel. They put their sister in this golden chest, loaded the chest on a white camel and set off.
Everything would have been fine, but unfortunately, when they were already leaving the forest, a hare came across them. The seven brothers could not stand it, grabbed their bows and rushed to catch up with the hare.
And the white camel with the golden luggage wandered and wandered slowly. A young peasant passing by saw him. He stopped the camel, opened the chest, and there was a beautiful girl!
They waited a long time for the seven brothers, but they apparently chased the hare so far that they lost their way.
Let's come to us! - the young man then said to the sister of the seven brothers. - If you like me, be my wife.
The girl agreed and married him. They had a son. When the boy learned to speak, his mother took him to the shore of the lake, not far from their home.
“When the frogs begin to croak in the lake,” she said, “throw a handful of sand at them, son, and say: Frogs, frogs!” My mother is the sister of seven brothers, my mother is the luggage of the white camel, my mother is the treasure of the golden chest!
She left, leaving the child on the shore, and the boy heard: frogs croaked in the lake. He threw a handful of sand at them and shouted loudly:
- Hey, frogs, frogs! My mother is the sister of seven brothers! My mother is the white camel's luggage! My mother is the treasure of a golden chest!
At that time, seven brothers-hunters were passing by the lake. When they heard the boy screaming, they were happy.
- Take us to your mother quickly! - said the brothers.
But the sister herself was already running to the lake to meet them. They hugged and vowed never to be separated again.
And then all together: the son-in-law of the seven brothers, the nephew of the seven brothers, the sister of the seven brothers, and the seven brothers themselves - returned to their father and mother and remained there forever.
I was there with them too, but I stayed for a while and came back here to you to tell you this tale.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru