A long time ago, in a mountain gorge, a woman lived in a poor hut. She had a daughter and two sons. My daughter is thirteen, one son is ten, the other is very young.
One day a woman was going to a village beyond the mountain to do day labor and said to her daughter and eldest son:
- Take a good look at the house, lock the door, don’t go into the yard. The tiger showed up in the village. If you do as I told you, I’ll bring you some fried beans.
Unfortunately, the tiger wandered into the yard at that time and heard everything. He went into his lair, waited for the woman to return home, and ate her. And he put on her dress, took the fried beans, went to the hut, stood at the door and said:
- You are my children, my children! It's me, your mother, who has come. Quickly, unlock the door and let me into the house!
The youngest son heard, was delighted, ran to unlock the door, and his sister said:
- Wait, brother, this is not our mother!
She went to the door and said to the tiger:
“Our mother has a gentle, beautiful voice, but yours is disgusting!” Leave! We won't let you into the house!
- You are my children, my children! It's me, your mother, who has come! - answers the tiger. -
I worked all day without rest, so I became hoarse.
“If you really are our mother, show me the fried beans you promised to bring us,” says the daughter.
The tiger stuck his paw with fried beans through the crack.
The youngest son saw the beans and jumped for joy and wanted to open the door, but his sister said again:
- Wait, brother, our mother doesn’t have such hands!
And she said to the tiger:
“Our mother’s hands are soft, but yours are rough.”
The tiger heard this, removed his paw and answered:
“I’ve been weaving canvas all day, and my hands have become rough.” Hurry up and unlock it, it’s already getting dark.
The children began to think what to do. The mother worked all day without rest, which is why she became hoarse. I spent the whole day weaving canvas, so my hands became rough.
I came home and brought beans. The children believed that it was their mother and unlocked the door.
The tiger entered the house, grabbed his little brother, carried him to the other half of the hut and lay down with him under the blanket.
And the daughter and older brother began to eat the beans. They eat, but they themselves are surprised: why is the mother crawling under the blanket and crunching something? Then they shouted:
- Mom, mom! We ate all the beans, give us more...
Here the mother threw some beans from under the blanket, the children were delighted and grabbed them...
They look: these are not beans, but the fingers of the little brother - only bones remain.
Then the girl realized that it was not her mother, but a fierce, hundred-year-old tiger. She trembled with fear and thought about how to leave the house. I thought and thought and came up with an idea.
“I need to go for a little something,” he says.
“Go potty,” the tiger answers.
“I’m ashamed, I’m big,” says the girl.
- Go to hell! - answers the tiger.
[Puok - stove.]
“I’ll dirty the puok,” says the girl.
- Go through the crack in the door! - answers the tiger.
- No, I’d better run into the yard immediately and take my brother.
- Okay, just hurry up. Otherwise the tiger will come and eat you.
And the tiger was really afraid that another tiger might get the children.
A girl ran out of the house, she doesn’t even know how to rejoice, she grabbed her brother’s hand, stands in the yard and thinks: how to escape from the tiger? The night has already come, the stars are shining in the sky. If you run away, the tiger will still catch up, he has fast legs. If you hide somewhere, the tiger will find it anyway; he has a good sense of smell. The girl looked at the tall willow tree and climbed the tree with her brother.
And the tiger ate the little brother and is waiting for the girl to come and bring the second brother. The tiger is waiting, waiting, but the girl does not come. Then the tiger realized that the girl had deceived him, and how he roared! He jumped out into the yard, threw off his mother’s dress, waving his long tail, looking for the girl and her brother. I looked everywhere! And in the kitchen, and in the restroom, and in the chimney. The children watch the tiger rushing about. The girl is scared, but the brother is funny. He couldn't stand it and laughed.
The tiger growled even louder and ran up to the well. I looked in, and there was a girl and her brother sitting - a willow tree was growing by the well.
“So there you are, my chicks,” the tiger roared, so menacingly that the mountains shook. The tiger wanted to go down into the well. He had already lowered his tail there, and the brother laughed again and shouted:
- You are a fool, you are a fool!
The tiger heard this, raised his head and looked: the children were sitting on the tree. But the tiger couldn't climb the tree, so he decided to use a trick.
“You are my children, my children,” he says, “tell me how you climbed the tree, I want to see you.”
“Do you want to come to us,” says the boy, “to climb a tree?” Then listen.
We took soybean oil from our neighbors, smeared it on the tree and climbed.
The tiger believed the boy, quickly brought soybean oil, and began to smear the tree.
And the tree became slippery. How will you climb on it? Tiger says:
“You kids don’t joke with me, you tell me the truth.” How to climb a tree?
- If you want to climb a tree, take a spindle and twist it, you get a thread, you can climb along the thread.
The tiger ran again, brought it to the mullah, twisted it, twisted it, and took the thread and broke it. The boy laughs and says to the tiger:
- So you won’t climb a tree in a hundred years or another year. You need to take an ax, cut down steps on the trunk, and climb up the tree along the steps.
The boy said this and realized that he had let it slip, but it was too late. The tiger brought an ax and began to cut down the steps. He cut it down and climbed up a tree. And my sister and brother are trembling with fear. The tiger reached the middle, the children climbed to the very top of the head - there was nowhere higher.
The tiger is trying his best, he is sweating all over, but he still climbs.
The girl sees that the tiger is about to get to them, she raised her head and prayed:
- Oh Heaven! If you want to save us, lower the iron chain, and make it stronger! If you want to ruin us, bring down the rusty one.
As soon as she said this, an iron chain descended from Heaven, very strong. The children grabbed hold of it and instantly found themselves in Heaven.
The tiger also begged:
“Heaven, if you want to help me, lower the rusty chain; if you want to destroy me, lower the strong chain.”
As soon as he said this, a rusty chain descended from Heaven. The tiger was delighted, grabbed the chain, and began to climb up. And the chain is rusty, it broke halfway. The tiger crashed to the ground and fell into corn stubble; it was autumn. The stubble is as sharp as a knife! The tiger is injured and blood is pouring out of it.
And so I died.
Since then they say that the stalks of corn are red because in ancient times a hundred-year-old tiger fell into its stubble and died there, bleeding.
And the sister and brother ascended safely to Heaven. The sister became the Sun, the brother became the Moon.
My sister doesn’t want people looking at her from morning to evening; she’s ashamed.
And she saved up a whole bag of sharp, sharp needles. They stare at her, and she starts throwing needles. That's why you can't look at the sun for a long time, it hurts your eyes. Try it and see for yourself.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru