This happened in ancient times, when dog heads were still found in our area. One day a beautiful girl was walking through a field and suddenly saw in front of her a whole flock of dogs. They all have dog faces, they are shaggy, scary, and angry. The girl got scared and ran away as fast as she could. The dog heads saw that the girl was pretty, and they said: “What if we catch her!” And the whole flock set off in pursuit. The girl sees that she cannot escape from the dog heads, climbed onto a lush pine tree and buried herself in the branches. The Psoglavians could not raise their heads, and therefore they could not see which pine tree the girl had taken refuge on. And so they began to stab all the trees in a row with their long spears, and when blood flowed from one pine tree to the ground, they surrounded that pine tree and tore it out by the roots. That’s how the girl fell into their clutches.
The dog heads imprisoned her in a high castle without doors. There is not a soul in the whole castle: only she and the cat. In the evening the Psoglavians came home, and in the morning they left again. There was an outlet in the ceiling of her little room, and the sun was shining into it. The girl spent days and nights in tears, praying to God to help her return home. She herself had more than once tried to get free through an opening in the ceiling, but as soon as she raised her leg, a cat ran into the room and began to sharpen its claws so zealously and meow so terribly that the girl was overcome with fear. One day, when she was indulging in great sadness and crying bitterly and praying to God to rescue her from trouble, a gray-haired old man suddenly appeared before her and asked:
-What are you crying about, girl?
“I want to go to my father,” she answered.
- You can’t get out of here - the castle has no doors.
“I know, but there’s a little window in the ceiling over there, and I would have been free long ago if it weren’t for this brood of cats.”
“The cat won’t let you out because there are nine devils in its tail, servants of the dog heads.” Throw her a piece of meat, and when she grabs it, instantly chop off her tail and throw it over her head nine cubits in front of you - and then the cat will not be a hindrance to you.
He said and disappeared, as if he had melted. The girl did as the old man advised: she gave the cat meat, instantly cut off its tail, threw it over her head nine cubits, and the evil creature immediately hid in a corner and became subdued. The girl immediately climbed out onto the roof. Where to now? It's dark outside, it'll soon be night. And suddenly she sees a tailless cat trudge sadly along the ridge, barely moving its paws. The girl is behind her. The cat led her to a tree - its top touched the roof. The cat climbed down the tree to the ground, the girl followed her safely down and ran.
Night has come. The dog heads came home, saw a bloody tailless cat and immediately realized what was what. Twelve dog heads set off after the girl. And she was already running up to her home. Her father had a blacksmith shop, right next to the river. Just that night he was not at home - he went to look for his missing daughter.
The water wheel that inflated the blacksmith's bellows did not turn, and there was dead silence all around. The girl pushed against the door - it didn’t open, it was locked; there is an iron grill in the window. There's no way to get into the house. She called her father and called, but all in vain. The girl was about to lie down on the bench in front of the forge, but suddenly she realized: “Well, when the dog heads come here, I’ll be in trouble then.” I began to think about how to get into the house. And then it occurred to her that she could remove the water wheel and crawl through that hole into the forge. So I did. As soon as she caught her breath and lit the torch, the voices of the dog heads were heard outside. They followed her trail. Without hesitation, she propped the door with an iron stake, forced the window open, grabbed a large ax - the blacksmith had forged it just the day before - and stood right next to the hole through which she had gotten inside. The dog heads immediately noticed that hole, and one of them stuck his dog head into the forge. The girl swung the ax - grab it in the neck! And she pulled him inside. The other dog heads thought that he had gotten in on his own, and one after another they began to stick their heads into the forge, and the girl dealt with them all in the same way as with the first.
In the morning, the saddened blacksmith returned and saw his daughter at home and the twelve dog heads she had killed.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru