There lived one orc. He had a wife and a son. The son is big, it’s time to help his father with everything. Yes, his mother spoiled him, indulged him in everything. He does what he wants.
However, although it was too late, his father began to accustom him to hunting. My son's eyes are sharp, his legs are fast, and his arms are strong. But only to kill the beast, cunning is needed. And not so much cunning as patience. It happens that you sit in ambush all day because of one hare. But my son didn’t like it, he wanted everything faster.
One day, father and son equipped their fishing gear and went seal hunting.
We went out to the sea at the mouth of the river, looked there, and there were no seals.
Son says:
- What to expect? Let's turn home.
Father says:
- What's the hurry? Let's wait, maybe they will appear.
We didn't have to wait long. Three seals immediately surfaced, looking around with round eyes, but did not notice the hunters. The father sent a joke towards them.
He shouted to his son:
- Row after me!
And the son responded:
— These seals are rather small. Over there, near the cape, a large seal is splashing. I'll chase after her.
“It’s not a seal, it’s a killer whale,” says the father.
- And I see - a seal! - the son answers and turns the little fool towards the cape.
There's no time for arguments at sea. The seals won't wait. The father sent his idiot to them.
Two seals left him, he killed one. Well, that’s the booty too!
Somehow your son is hunting? - thought the father and swam to the cape. I went around him.
A deserted sea opened up. The waves roll as far as the eye can see, but my son is nowhere to be seen.
The father swam along the shore for a long time, looking out for his son. He is not and is not there. There is no reason to drown: the sea is calm and even the little thing, even upside down, would float.
Father went home. And my son is not at home. The wife began to cry and reproached her husband:
- You didn’t save your dear child! It was enough conscience to leave the boy alone at sea!
What kind of father are you after this!
“Be quiet, wife!” says the husband. “Perhaps he has sailed far and will come again.”
But the son did not come.
Every day the father goes to the sea, looking out for his son. And he gave up hunting, he doesn’t raise his hands to anything. And once he sat down on the shore and cried bitterly and bitterly.
Suddenly I heard the words:
“In my sea, in my domain, there is already so much bitter-salty water!” What are you crying about?
The hunter does not know whether it is a voice or the sound of a wave. He shaded his eyes from the sun with his palm and looked out to sea. He sees: not far from the shore, on a rock that looks like a tooth sticking out above the water, sitting an old man in a robe made of chum fish skin. His beard is green, like seaweed, and very long. Its end is rinsing in the waves.
The hunter was frightened and surprised, but answered:
- How not to cry? My son is missing. Young, handsome. There was no better hunter on the entire coast.
The old man on the rock laughed:
- You say it wasn’t better? - and laughs again.
The father is offended that a stranger is laughing at his missing son. He wanted to answer with unkind words, but suddenly he realized that this was no ordinary old man in front of him. Why would a common man in a fish robe sit on a rock? Where did a common man get a green beard? Of course, this is Temu, the Master of the Sea. The hunter became timid and swallowed the bad words.
Temu tells him:
“I haven’t had so much fun for a long time!” For making me laugh, I will give you my son.
Build a yurt out of whale bones on the shore and wait. Your son will return with the new month.
He said so and went into the depths. Splashed like a big fish.
The wife hunter ran. Together we began to build a yurt. They're in a hurry.
Moonless nights are ending, a new month is about to be born.
We built a yurt. Tired. They climbed into it and both fell asleep.
Just that night, the narrow moon, like a little boat, floated into the sky. And it washed up on the shore... Let’s not look ahead - after all, the hunter is sleeping and doesn’t know anything.
He woke up at the very early dawn, when in the sky light and darkness argue.
He jumped out of the yurt and ran to the shore. He looks: a cradle woven from sea grass has been carried away by the waves. A baby is crying in it. Then the wife ran out of the yurt and heard a child crying.
Husband says:
- Apparently, Temu was mistaken! This is not our son, ours was already a hunter!
And the wife grabbed the child and hugged him tightly.
-Are you blind, or what? You can't see his face! Are you deaf, or what? You can't hear his voice! This is our son, exactly the same as he was twenty years ago.
The mother took the child to the yurt. The hunter hears and is already singing a song above him.
The hunter himself remained on the shore, not understanding whether to be happy or sad.
By this time the pre-dawn fog had cleared and the sun appeared. The hunter saw that Temu was sitting on the same rock again. He chuckles into his green beard.
“I fulfilled my word,” said the Master of the Sea, “I returned your son.”
- Why is he small? - asks the hunter. “I had a big one.”
“Big, but stupid,” Temu replies. “Instead of a seal, I chased an orca!” For that orca, in whose mouth I made my home. I scream at him to get out, but he doesn’t listen, he’s waving his spear. Well, I grabbed him. When you raise your son for the second time, teach him better. Bring them up more strictly!
Then a big wave rolled onto the rock. It came and went away. But Temu is no longer on the rock.
The hunter went to the yurt. The wife rocks the baby in her arms and says to her husband:
“It’s good that my son returned as a little boy.” Now I won’t let him go anywhere. I won’t take my eyes off him so that nothing happens to him.
-No way! - the husband answers. - Now I will raise him. As soon as he starts walking, I’ll teach him to hunt. I’ll teach you everything from a young age! Both patience and skill.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru