An old man lived with an old woman. The years passed, old age approached, and they had no children. The old people were bored.
But in their declining years a son was born to them, and he grew up so quickly and was so smart that they were amazed. A day after he was born, he began to kill mosquitoes, two days later, flies, and three days later, he began to catch mice.
“Oh, our son will soon hunt animals too,” the old woman says to her husband. – He’ll be the breadwinner in his old age!
Three days have passed. One day the son says to his mother:
- Mom, prepare me some hunting clothes. The old man heard this, was delighted and said to his wife:
- Get out of the barn the hunting jacket, olochi (shoes), hat, and shoulder cape that I wore in my youth to the taiga and give them to our son. Now they will suit him just right!
The son got dressed and said to his parents:
“Father and mother, I heard that there is an iron monster named Sungu, who has killed many people. I'll go kill him.
- Don't leave us, son! We are old, who will feed us if he kills you? - the old woman began to beg him. - Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon; don't you believe your strong son!
His parents started crying, grabbed his clothes and wouldn’t let go.
The son persuaded his father and mother for a long time, and then sang:
“Although they say that you can’t run fast on skis, but I will run, so fast that the snow will rise like a whirlwind, and the wind will lag behind for the day of the transition.”
And he flew like an arrow on his father’s skis, leaving only a barely noticeable trace in the snow.
He ran for a long time and finally reached the shore, and one beautiful girl was walking towards him. She carries buckets of water on rockers and hums quietly.
“Beauty, give me some water to drink, otherwise I’ll die of thirst.”
“I haven’t drunk for seven days,” the young man turns to her.
She scooped it up with a birch bark ladle and gave it to him. He drinks, but the water in the ladle does not decrease. The ladle was enchanted.
He took his sharpest arrow and imperceptibly pierced him - all the water flowed out.
“Girl, your bucket is leaking,” says the young man.
- Why did you make a hole in it? How will I manage without a ladle now? My brother, hazel grouse, will kill you for this.
Hearing this, the young man became angry, went into the house, killed the hazel grouse and threw it at his sister’s feet.
- Ooh, what did you do? You killed my beloved brother, so you will have no luck, you will die near the sea! As I said, so it will be.
But the young man was not afraid. He runs on skis, sings his song and does not feel tired. High hills seem like hills to him, and hills look like plains.
And again he ran to the river bank, where he met another girl. She goes down to the river for water and does not notice the young man. And he was so thirsty that he could not stand it and shouted:
“Beautiful girl, give me some water to drink, I can’t move any further!”
“Drink,” she says, handing over the ladle, “only to the bottom!”
He drank for an hour, two, and got drunk, but the water didn’t go down. And again the faithful arrow saved him - it pierced the ladle.
- Girl, scoop some more, otherwise the ladle is leaking. The beauty got angry, snatched the ladle from him and said:
“You won’t be alive, you ruined the bucket of my brother, the hazel grouse.” He will kill you! There he is flying, look!
The young man looked into the sky, and the wings of the hazel grouse had already covered the sun. He pulled his father's bow and killed the hazel grouse with one shot.
“Sister,” he says, “catch your brother.”
Before he had time to speak, the hazel grouse crashed like a stone near the beauty. She began to cry.
- Why did you deprive me of my brother? Oh, you're going to die from a serious illness!
But this did not frighten the brave young man. He ran even faster. He ran for a long time and finally saw the lair of the monster Sungu. Around his home, as far as the eye can see, human bones gleam white. The young man looks at them, sadly shakes his head and says:
- Eh, friends, you couldn’t kill him, that’s why everyone died. But the hour of reckoning has come. I will avenge you!
- Hey, Sungu, come out, I came to test your strength? But the monster does not show itself, it only grinds its teeth, as if it were turning millstones.
- You, boy, better go to your parents, otherwise I will come out and crush you like a bug.
- Oh, yes, you are afraid of me - you, who destroyed all the strong! Why are you afraid, I’m little, come out! And again the monster roared:
– Don’t argue with the invincible Sungu, leave while I’m still letting go! The boy got angry and said:
- So why is the invincible Sungu afraid, since he is so strong? Or are you afraid of my bow? I'll throw it away! The young man threw his bow to the side.
“Perhaps my hunting knife frightens you?” - He left him too. – What else scares you? Isn't this just an ordinary knife with which I cut meat?
The boy took it out and threw it far, far away. But the monster did not even think of crawling out of its lair.
- Oh, I know what scares you! I forgot to throw away my pipe, you're afraid of it! It’s a pity for me to part with a faithful comrade, but apparently I’ll have to.
And as soon as he hung up, the terrible Sungu came out, huge, hairy. With a wild roar he attacked the boy. A fight ensued. The boy ran to the side, took the bow and said:
- Arrow, arrow, if I die, then fly past the throat, but if I don’t die, hit the throat.
He shot his sharp arrow at Sungu, it cut his throat, and the monster fell dead.
It was a pity for him to leave his faithful assistant - the arrow - in this beast-monster, and he began to pull it out. He pulled and pulled and wounded himself in the eye. Everything around him darkened, he sank to the ground and could not get up. A mouse scurried nearby, he was delighted and said to her:
- Mouse, mouse, do a good deed, bring medicine from your father and mother!
And the mouse hid and said:
- Oh, you want to deprive me of a delicious breakfast, I can’t wait until you die so I can drink your eyes!
“Oh, treacherous one,” exclaimed the young man, “isn’t there enough food for you on earth!”
A fox ran up and wagged its tail.
- Little fox-sister, go to my old people, tell about me and bring me medicine. I will reward you! But the fox just smiled slyly and answered:
- Your death will reward me - I will eat my fill of your meat.
- So you're all waiting for me to die? This should not happen! - the young man exclaimed.
He thought, looked at the sky, and there was a black raven hovering there. The young man called him and said:
“Raven, friend, help me out, fly to my parents for medicine, tell me that I killed the iron Sunga and wounded myself with an arrow.”
“While I’m flying,” the raven croaked, “you’ll die, and I’ll be late for the feast, and I really want to peck your eyes out, karr-karr.”
- No, I won’t die! - the young man said again, is there really no one who could save me!
Before he could say this, a crane flew up to him.
- Young man, what’s wrong with you? Maybe I can help you? And for the fourth time he spoke about his request.
- Will I have time? - says the crane.
He took off and flew. Flew to my parents, circling over the house. The old man saw him and said:
“Mother, why did the crane fly in? Doesn’t he want to steal something?”
The crane heard this and said:
- I brought news from your son, he is dying, asks you to give him medicine.
The old people began to fuss, invited the crane into the house, loaded it with various herbs and medicinal berries so that the crane could barely stand up. The crane is flying, tired and gradually unloading itself. He threw some berries on the trees, others on the ground. Those that caught on tree branches turned into apples and nuts, and those that fell to the ground became lingonberries, currants and other berries.
The crane had barely reached when it fell exhausted. The young man thanked him, took the medicine and began to be treated. He anointed the wound, and it healed as if it had never existed. I drank berry juice and my strength increased. “I recovered quickly,” the young man thought. I put on my skis and went to the taiga. There he killed the fattest elk and gave it to the crane.
- Eat, my savior. If the crow, fox and mouse ask, don’t give it to them, and I’ll go to my parents.
He walked and walked and reached the first girl who gave him water.
- Young woman. - he knocks, - open up! I'm hurt, help me.
She didn’t open it for a long time, and finally she did. The young man shot her straight in the chest and killed her.
I moved on. Killed the second one. His strength weakened, he barely walked, reached the next village and, losing consciousness, wanted to kill another woman, but she jumped out of the house, turned into a bear, grabbed the young man and ran into the forest. I picked up some berries and plants and started rubbing it. The young man immediately came to life and said:
-Who are you who saved me? If it’s a woman, be my mother, if it’s a man, be my father, and if it’s a girl, be my wife.
“I cured you,” the girl responded. He married her, and the two of them moved on.
They walk and walk and finally reach their parents. But the house collapsed long ago, only the skeleton remained, and even that was half-rotten, and in the corner where father and mother once sat, small elms (trees) grew.
The son looked, sighed heavily and said to his wife:
– Don’t touch these trees, they are sacred.
One day a young man went hunting.
“Why doesn’t he allow these trees to be touched,” his wife thinks. She approached a larger tree, broke a branch and suddenly saw how blood began to drip.
She got scared, took some ash, rubbed the wound and tied it up. She sat for a long time, and then decided to approach the small elm. It stands there, gently rustling its elongated leaves, as if beckoning you to come to you. She cut him too at knee height, and blood began to flow again.
“What is this?” – she thought with horror.
And suddenly she hears her husband’s steps. She trembled. What should I tell my husband? And when he entered, he immediately asked:
– Who touched the elms?
“I didn’t touch it,” the wife answers.
“Then who broke my father’s fingers and injured my mother’s knee?” Why are you deceiving me? And he began to beat her.
And the elms rustled, as if reconciling them. And the wife said:
“I didn’t know that these two ilms were your parents, forgive me.”
And she began to take care of the trees.
One day they woke up and saw: the mother was sitting in the house and preparing food, and the father was helping her. They were delighted. And the four of us lived happily ever after.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru