In the old days, after the death of a poor old man and an old woman, three sons remained. These guys lived by hunting.
One day the three of them went into the forest, got lost there and wandered for several days. They had neither matches nor flint. They could not light a fire and were very hungry. Suddenly one evening they saw a fire the size of a yurt burning on the edge of the forest at dusk. When they saw the fire, they were very happy and sent their elder brother there. He came closer and saw: an old man with white hair and a white beard was sitting near a fire the size of a yurt, and was stirring the fire with a copper rod. The guy said:
- Hey, grandpa, share the fire with us. We got lost and found ourselves in great difficulty.
The old man replied:
- First tell me a half-truth, half-fiction story. Then I'll give you fire.
The guy thought about what to tell him, but came up with nothing, and then he simply grabbed one burning log from the fire and ran. But the old man did not let him run for long, attacked him, hit him with a copper rod and took away the log. The guy told his brothers about this. Then the middle brother said:
“Yes, you have nothing to brag about if you couldn’t take fire from a ninety-year-old man.”
So, reproaching his brother, he himself went to the old man. As before, the old man asked him to tell a half-truth, half-fiction story. The guy silently grabbed one burning log and ran. The old man did not let him run for long; he caught up with him, hit him with a rod and took away the log. The guy with his head bowed returned to his brothers. Then the younger brother said:
- How is it, guys, that you consider yourself human, but you can’t tell the old man a half-truth, half-fiction? And he went to the old man. Told him:
- Hey, grandpa, give me some fire!
The old man asked him to first tell a half-truth and half-fiction.
The guy began to talk briskly without hesitation:
“In the old days, before my parents were born, I went for berries and wandered through the forest for several days, then stopped near the river. I wanted to swim across the river, so I grabbed myself by the ears with both hands and threw myself to the other side. During the flight, my ears whistled like the wings of a duck. I flew to the other side of the river and fell so that my feet went into the ground. As I lay there, a gray woodpecker flew past, I grabbed it by the tail, and it pulled me out of the ground. I flew through the air with him, and he sat down on a tree. I fell down a hollow tree trunk. Then the raven picked me up and dragged me with him. I found myself in a country where everything around me was more beautiful than in my homeland. I wandered there, but did not know how to return to my native land. At this time, an old peasant approached me and advised:
“You place the straws one on top of the other and through the straws you will get down to the middle world.”
There wasn't enough straw to reach the ground, and I hung in the air. I couldn't fly because I didn't have wings. I fell into the tundra, near the river, and landed right on the bear’s back. The bear was frightened by surprise and ran away into the forest with a roar. Thus, climbing through straws, I reached my country and remained a man.
The younger brother told all this to the old man and he, very pleased, gave him fire.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru