On the edge of the princely city lived a grandmother and her grandson. The granddaughter's name was Icha. Grandma raised Ichu! They lived poorly, poorly. So Icha grew up and one day said to his grandmother:
— Where are my deceased grandfather’s bow and tamar (arrow) hidden?
Grandmother replied:
- In the barn.
“Does my grandfather have a patron vine hidden somewhere?”
“It’s like there’s something like that in the barn.”
Icha went into the barn and took all his grandfather’s property. He hung the patron vine on a sacrificial birch tree. He carried the onion and tamar to the tent.
The next morning, Icha came out of the tent, looked around and saw seven capercaillie (grouse) sitting on the tops of seven trees. He ran back to the tent, took the bow and tamar, aimed and shot at the last one. All seven boots fell. Killed. Surprised, he picked them up and carried them to the tent. They ate with their grandmother. Icha got ready to go. I prepared the skis, took the onion and tamar. I went skiing. On this day, fresh snow fell. Icha walks and sees: pure snow seems to be splashed. I looked and remembered: “My grandparents told me that there is such a forest deer animal that it leaves such a mark.” Icha followed the trail. He sees the tracks descending into the tundra. A very fresh trail, as if the animals had just passed by. He goes further on skis, but cannot catch up - the deer are running fast. I went out into the tundra, surrounded on all sides by forest. And then such a whirlwind, the wind rose, Icha could not stand on his feet and fell. It is unknown how long he lay there. Finally he looked around and stood up. And his parka (clothing) is poor, made from a sack, all covered with snow, there is no clean place. Icha looks around and thinks: “Where have my deer gone?” I went to the forest on skis. He reached the cedars and saw that at the bottom of the trunks there were shreds of deer hair. I followed this trail. And suddenly I saw that all seven bulls seemed to be dying, lying there. One of the bulls, the one with dry horns, has Ichin’s grandfather’s patron vine hanging on the upper branch of the horn. Icha approached this bull and said to the patron vine:
- How did it get you here? Why did you come along? I myself now began to hunt the beast.
He took the patron vine from the horn and hung it on a birch tree. Then he began to skin the bulls. Ripped off. The carcasses were buried in the snow. I only cut off one hind leg. I was getting ready to go home. He took the patron vine from the birch tree and put it in his bosom. He came home, hung the vine again on the sacrificial tree, and left the deer’s leg in the entryway. He went out to the tent and said to his grandmother:
- Go to the hallway, I got one partridge there, so bring it to the tent.
Grandma came out. He sees a deer's leg lying down. Grandma says:
- Uh, Icha, that’s right, he got a deer.
She entered the tent and Icha said to her:
“I found seven bulls and killed them all.” How can we get them here from the forest? Grandmother answers:
- Let's go there to live. We'll live, we'll eat.
- No, I won’t move with a tent in such frost. Grandmother thought and said:
“Here, my wisdom will come in handy, go to the barn and bring your late grandfather’s sleigh, they are in the barn below.”
Icha brought the sleigh. His grandmother ran to the river, bent down to the ice hole, and caught two fish: a crucian carp and a crucian. She brought it to the tent, Iche said:
- Put these fish in your bosom and leave. When you arrive at your place and load the killed cows onto the sled, take out the fish and harness them to the sled. Be careful not to make them angry or offend them.
Icha took the fish, put it in his bosom, harnessed himself to the sleigh and went. He came to his old trail, reached the place where he buried the meat. He loaded all seven bulls onto the sled, took the fish out of his bosom, and harnessed them. Screamed:
- Hey, fish, come on, run!
Both his fish are lying. Icha shouts:
“Now I’ll force you to pull with a rod!” And the fish are still lying quietly. Icha broke off the rod and hit the fish with the rod. The fish moved a little.
“You are stupid, you can barely move!” Icha shouted, and he pulled the sled himself. And suddenly the fish grabbed the sleigh so strongly that Icha fell to the side, and the sleigh, barely touching the snow, rushed along the top. Icha got up and ran crying. He sees: the fish rushed past the plague - straight to the ice hole. Icha waves his arms and shouts:
- Grandma, help!
The grandmother came out of the chum, saw what had happened, and ran to the ice hole. She stopped the fish, unharnessed the sleigh, and released the fish into the hole. She went to the tent, Iche said:
- Didn’t you hear my words? I said, don’t make the fish angry, but what are you saying? Almost got into trouble.
The carcasses of the deer were unloaded from the sleds. A whole leg of meat was cut off from one of the carcasses, a large fire was lit in the plague, and the meat was boiled. Icha dragged the skins from the killed deer into the tent and hung them up to dry.
Ichin chum stood on the edge of the princely city. Who lives how, the prince can see everything. The prince sees: there is a lot of smoke coming from Ichi’s tent. The prince says to the servants:
“Go and see why there is such a big smoke coming out of Ichin’s plague.”
The prince's servants, named Hem and Thimble, went to Ichin's plague. They entered the tent and saw many reindeer skins hung on a pole. The meat is cooked on the fire. After they ate, Icha said to them at parting:
“I went hunting and got these seven bulls.” Podol and Thimble ran to the prince and told him that Icha had killed a lot of deer. And Icha put on his skis, took an ax, and went out of the house into the forest again. He goes wherever his eyes lead him. I walked into the very middle of the forest. There the funeral mound rises, and fire and smoke stream out from it. He came up and listened. There, two voices can be heard saying, they are agreeing on how to destroy the people of the princely city. Icha remembered that he made this burial mound for the prince’s eldest daughters after their death. He thinks: “That’s what! The prince’s daughters, apparently, have become evil yerets (sorceresses). They can cause big trouble.”
I went home to my grandmother. Lived, lived. Suddenly such a misfortune happened: every night five or six tents from the princely city are empty, people disappear from them. The prince got scared, called his servants - Hem with a Thimble - and said:
- Call Icha to me, maybe he will find out where my people are disappearing to.
The servants ran. They entered Icha's tent. Icha asks them:
- Why did you come?
“We didn’t come on our own, the prince sent us.” Our people are leaving every night, getting lost somewhere. You, Icha, don’t you know what the reason is?
Icha answers:
— The prince’s two daughters died. Both of them became yerets. They are the ones who drag people to themselves. I almost fell for them.
The servants ran back to the prince and told him. The prince ordered to call Ichu. Hem and Thimble ran to Icha again.
- Icha, the prince is calling you to his place. We all went together to the prince. The prince says to Icha:
“My people are lost every night. Soon there will be very few people left. Won't you help us? Are you unable to do anything? I will give my youngest daughter to you for your help.
Icha agreed to help the prince and his people. Says to the prince:
- Gather your people into one chum - gather them all into your biggest chum.
After that, Icha brought the patron saint, grandfather the vine, and placed it on the path. He planted seven of his vines at the entrance to the prince's tent, and hid himself not far from the barn with refusal. So evening gave way to night. The night was almost halfway there, but everything was quiet. Suddenly there was a knock on the path; it was clear that the Yereti were coming from the forest after the princely people. Here she saw my grandfather’s patron vine (he was standing on the path), grabbed her and shouted:
- Why are you standing without a master? What are you good for? She threw the vine to the side and moved on. She approached the tent and saw seven wooden vines sitting side by side at the entrance. She shouted to them:
- Why are you sitting here? Why did they lean against the plague? And they answered her:
- Why are you shouting? We are hungry, you go to the barn, bring us food, then we will let you into the tent.
She left the path and headed towards the barn. And there Icha! By refusing, he cut off her head and threw her body next to the barn. He sat down to guard himself again. After a while, a noise was heard again on the path; someone came out of the forest and said:
“Where did my sister go, why has she been gone for so long?” “It was another yeretya who went out and gathered for the people in Knyazev City.” Suddenly my grandfather’s patron vine saw him on the path, grabbed him, and scolded him:
-Have you found a new owner? Wait, we'll eat your owner,
Threw the vine to the side. I approached the plague. Seven wooden vines are sitting at the entrance, leaning against the door. She shouts:
- Why are you hanging around here? Why did they lean against the plague? They answer her:
“You better go to the barn and bring us some food.” We sent one woman here, but for some reason she’s not coming back, and we’re hungry.
Yeretya swears. However, she went to the barn. She sees her sister lying down.
- Why are you lying down here? Or did you eat so many people without me that you got tired?
She ran into the chum to quickly eat more people. Icha, sneaking up, hit her with a refusal and cut off her head.
“Look,” Icha says to the people, “they have great greed, they ate people whole.” How much grief they caused us.
They put the Yeretei together and burned them over a high fire. Prince Iche gave his daughter as his wife. He made me his assistant. People began to live quietly, with one friendly mind.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru