There lived a husband and wife, and they had their only son, Ivasik. As Ivasik grew up a little, he began to ask his father:
- Make me a boat and a paddle, dad, so I can catch fish and feed you in your old age.
“What are you doing, son, you’re still young,” says the father.
And he said: do it, do it. So his father made him a boat and a paddle, and began
Ivasik to fish. The river will float far, far away, and meanwhile his mother will cook him something to eat, pour it into two pots, take also a white shirt for Ivasik, go to the shore, stand and call:
Ivasik, Ivasik,
Swim - swim
To the shore:
I'll give you something to eat and drink,
And it’s good to walk around.
And Ivasik will hear:
- Yes, this is my mother’s voice. Swim, swim, little boat, to the shore.
He will swim, have lunch, take a white shirt, thank him, give the mother the fish he caught and go back to the river.
The witch saw Ivasik and said to herself:
- It would be nice to try Ivasik meat. Well, I'll lure him.
At lunchtime she came to the shore and called:
Ivasik, Ivasik,
Swim-swim
To the shore:
I'll give you something to eat and drink,
And it’s good to walk around.
Ivasik listened and listened:
- No, this is not my mother’s voice: my mother has a voice like silk, but this is like a wolf’s. Swim, sail, little boat, away!
The witch realized that she couldn’t lure her like that, and ran to the blacksmith:
- Blacksmith, forge me a voice like Ivasik’s mother.
The blacksmith forged a thin voice for her, she went to the river and in a new voice called to Ivasik:
Ivasik, Ivasik,
Swim-swim
To the shore:
I'll give you something to eat and drink,
And it’s good to walk around.
“That’s my mother’s voice.” Swim, swim, little boat, to the shore.
Only Ivasik is on the bank, and his witch is a master! - and she dragged me into her hut. She brought it and said to her daughter:
- Here you go, Alenka, boy, fry it for me for lunch.
“Okay, mom,” Alenka answers. “I’ve already lit the stove.”
“Then I’ll go get some salt,” says the witch, “until I return so that the roast is ready.”
The witch went for salt, and Alenka took a shovel and said to Ivasik:
- Sit down, lad, on the shovel.
- Yes, I can’t!
- Sit down, sit down!
And Ivasik puts his hand, then his head, but still doesn’t sit down, as if he doesn’t know how, and then to Alenka:
“You show me how to sit down, and I’ll sit down.”
- Yes, just like that, look!
Alenka sat down on the shovel, and Ivasik - clap! - into the oven, closed the damper, and there she was fried.
Ivasik ran out of the hut and suddenly heard the witch coming.
He quickly climbed onto the sycamore tree, hid and sat there.
The witch entered the hut and saw that Alenka was gone.
- Well, damned girl! As soon as I left the hut, she had already rushed off. So I'll ask you! Well, I'll have lunch myself. She pulled the roast out of the oven, ate her fill, went and lay down under the sycamore tree and, well, rocked:
- I’ll go for a ride, lie around, having eaten some Ivasik meat.
But Ivasik couldn’t bear it, and she said:
- Ride, lie around, having eaten Alenka’s meat!
- How are you here, such and such a robber! Wait, I’ll eat you anyway!
And the witch began to gnaw the sycamore; gnawing and clicking his teeth. Ivasik sees that things are bad, and then lo and behold, the geese are flying. He told them:
Geese, geese, swans!
Take me on your wings
Carry me to my father,
And the priest has food and drink,
And it’s good to walk around.
And they say:
“We don’t have time, let the ones in the back take you.”
And they flew. And the witch gnaws everything, the sycamore is already shaking.
The rear geese flew up, Ivasik approached them:
Geese, geese, swans!
Take me on your wings
Carry me to my father,
And the priest has food and drink,
And it’s good to walk around.
- Let the last one take you! - they said yes and flew off.
And the witch had already gnawed the sycamore so much that it bent over and was about to fall.
And then a little goose flies; One of her wings is broken, she has become separated from the flock and is flying behind. Ivasik cried to her:
Oh little swan goose,
Take me on your wing
Yes, take it to your father,
And the priest has food and drink,
And it’s good to walk around.
I felt sorry for little Ivasik:
- Okay, sit down, maybe we’ll get there somehow.
Ivasik sat on it and flew off.
When the witch saw that Ivasik had escaped, she became furious and sulked so much that she burst.
And Ivasik and the little goose flew and flew and sat down under the priest’s window. Ivasik stood under the window and listened to what the old people were saying. And there the mother takes the pies out of the oven, two at a time, puts them on the window and says:
- This is for you, grandfather, and this is for me. Ivasik from behind the window and responds:
- But Ivasik is not there!
“Oh, old man,” says the mother, “it’s like I hear Ivasik’s voice!”
- Where is it, old woman, our Ivasik is no longer in the world.
The old woman wiped away her tears and went back to the pies:
- This is for you, grandfather, and this is for me. Well, Ivasik again:
- But Ivasik is not there.
“No, old man,” says the mother, “I can hear it well, it’s him.”
The old people walked out the threshold, and lo and behold: Ivasik was standing under the window. We greeted each other, hugged each other in joy and were overjoyed! Ivasik’s mother washed his head, gave him a white shirt, fed him, and poured out the best grain for him.
So they began to live together. And they still live. Yes, they chew bread.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru