Once upon a time there lived a horseman. His name was Bambet. When the time came for him to get married, he wooed one of the most beautiful girls in the village. The girl's parents agreed to give him their daughter for him.
When the wedding feast ended, Bambett went to his young wife. But as soon as he entered the lagoon, his wife hit him with a whip and said: “Become an old rooster.”
At that same moment, Bambett turned into a rooster, ran out into the yard and mixed with the chickens. And his wife took a lover, and every evening Bambett saw him coming to her when it got dark and leaving at dawn.
He spent a short time as a rooster. One day his wife came out into the yard, hit him with the same whip and said: “Become a greyhound dog!”
Bambett became a dog, but still understood human speech.
It was hard for him to see his wife, and he decided to leave wherever he looked.
He walked and walked and met a shepherd with a pack of dogs. These dogs almost killed Bambet, but the shepherd immediately realized that this dog was unusual, fought it off and brought it into his hut.
In the evening, he put a bowl of food in front of Bambett, which he usually gave to dogs, but Bambett didn’t even touch it.
“I set out on the road today at a good hour, and I came across a greyhound of pure blood!” — the shepherd was delighted and brought Bambet pasta and fried meat in a bowl. The dog ate as neatly as if it were a person, and looked gratefully into the eyes of its new owner.
“This is probably a trained dog, we need to treat it better,” the shepherd decided.
And soon the fame of the extraordinary greyhound spread throughout the area. I also learned about it from Psha, whose newborn child disappeared every year. They said that all the children of Psha were carried away by an unusual wolf that appeared in these parts.
Psha came to the shepherd and said:
“You probably heard that every year my wife gives birth to a child, and at that very moment some wolf carries him away.” My wife is about to have a baby again soon - give me your dog for a couple of days. Maybe she will help save the heir.
“I can’t decide whether to give you a dog or not.” If the dog wants, let him come with you.
I looked at the dog - it seemed to nod its head in agreement.
“I’m letting the dog go with you,” said the shepherd, “but I ask you, don’t force her to do anything against her will.”
And Pshi took the greyhound with him and gave her a place next to his wife’s room.
That night Psha's wife gave birth to a son. At dawn, the greyhound ran out into the steppe, and at that time a wolf burst into the house, grabbed the newborn and began to carry him away. When the greyhound returned, there was terrible noise and commotion in the house. Standing on its hind legs, the greyhound looked in the direction from which the screams were coming and set off in pursuit of the wolf. Soon she caught up with Pshi, who was running with all his might after the kidnapper.
“Marge, don’t let the wolf take the baby away!” - Pshi shouted, and the greyhound rushed on.
She caught up with the wolf and grabbed him. Then the wolf spoke in a human voice:
- Let me go, Bambett. The day will come when I will do you a good deed!
But the dog did not let him go. The wolf asked a second time, and Bambett let him go. Then Pshi shouted:
- Stop the wolf! Don't miss it!
The greyhound chased and grabbed the wolf again. She crushed him under her and held him tightly. The wolf begged again:
- Let me go, Bambett, I will still be useful to you. If you want, take the child and let me go.
Then Pshi arrived in time. As soon as he grabbed the child, the greyhound let go of the wolf, and he ran away.
“It’s a pity that you didn’t stop the wolf!” - said Pshi. - And thank you for your son!
Time passed, and Bambett decided to visit his home.
One morning, his wife's lover comes out of Bambet's house and sees a greyhound. He returned to the house, took the whip and hit her with the words: “Become a turkey!”
The greyhound immediately turned into a big fat turkey.
The turkey left the yard and came to the stacks of unthreshed millet. He ate his fill of millet and sat down under a haystack.
The owner of the millet came to the field in the morning and saw a turkey. He was delighted, grabbed it and brought it to his home.
- Old woman, take the turkey and put it under the blanket - I found it under our stack of millet. When we finish eating the lamb, we will slaughter this turkey and eat it.
The old woman put the turkey under the blanket.
Several days passed. One day the old man sharpened a knife and called one of his sons.
“Boy, take this turkey out into the yard and kill him,” he said.
The young man brought out the turkey and raised a knife over it. But then he saw tears rolling down from the turkey’s eyes. The young man felt sorry for him, he returned to the house and put the turkey under the blanket.
- Well, okay, if you didn’t want to cut the turkey, you won’t get even a piece of meat! - said the old man and called his other son.
But when he saw the turkey’s tears, he brought it back.
“I won’t give either of you a piece of meat!” - the angry old man shouted and carried out the turkey himself.
He pinched the turkey’s legs and raised the knife over him, but then he saw tears in his eyes. The old man ran the back of the knife along the turkey’s neck and let him go.
“Bambett,” he said, “you did me wrong three times.” But now I have taken revenge on you. I am the wolf from whom you took the boy then. The sons you saw in my house are the brothers of that boy. Now go back to your home. In Kunatskaya on the bench you will see a whip. Stand near the bench so that the whip can fall on you when you swing the bench, and say: “Let me become the same as I was before.” If the whip touches you, you will become human again.
The turkey went to the village, entered the kunatskaya and did everything as the old man said. As soon as the whip touched him, the turkey turned into the horseman Bambet. Bambett immediately took the whip and entered his house - there was a wife and her lover there.
He hit his wife with a whip - she turned into a donkey, hit his lover - he became a donkey.
Bambett brought a new wife into his house and lived happily with her. And he forced the donkey and her donkey to work from dawn to dusk, beat them mercilessly for any disobedience and kept them from hand to mouth.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru