No one remembers when this happened, but they say it was a long time ago. Not far from one Na-Ninsk camp, the terrible giantess Kaldyamu settled. Rocking her baby, she sang in a voice like the roar of distant thunder. The unsteady limb of little Kaldyamushka hung on the branch of a huge old birch tree, which moaned like a sick old woman with every sway. People were shaking with fear while listening to Kaldyama's songs. And why not be afraid! After all, the old people used to say that if Kaldyamu gets angry with a person, he takes him to his cave and forces him to eat larch, spruce or fir resin. If anyone refuses, Kaldyamu pierces his neck with his only finger and brings him back to the camp, but this person soon dies.
A little girl Noska lived in this camp. She found out about the giantess's little son and began to ask her grandmother Laiga.
- Dada, dada, let's go see little Kaldyamushka, let's go, yeah, dada?
[Dada (ulch.) – grandmother. ]
“Have you completely lost your mind, Noska?” The giantess will kill us.
- Maybe he won’t kill, dada. We'll go see Kaldyamushka when she goes into the taiga.
Grandmother Laiga became completely angry and out of frustration even spat into the burning Holi fire.
[Holi (ulch.) – a stove in an ulch fanzochka, made of stones; without a door. ]
She flatly refused to go to the giantess Kaldyam.
But I must say that Noska was not at all like her quiet, shy friends. She was not shy about playing with the boys, she knew how to shoot a bow very well, she did not allow any of them to offend her, and she could even get into a fight with them. The boys of the camp were even afraid of her.
Grandmother Laiga loved her granddaughter very much, but, dissatisfied with her actions, she complained to some neighbor:
“Anae, look how my granddaughter is growing up; however, when she grows up, the devils themselves will be afraid of her.”
[Anae is an exclamation, like the Russian oi-e-e. ]
Unable to persuade her grandmother, Noska decided to go see Kaldyamushka alone. As soon as the giantess went to the taiga, the girl ran up to that old birch tree on which the shaky tree with the baby was hanging. He looks: Kaldyamushka is lying in the mud, but he is already as big as Gaga’s uncle, the tallest man in their camp. She lies and cries. The girl Noska Kaldyamushka felt sorry. She brought him a whole load of millet porridge, fed him and gave him spring water to drink. Kaldyamushka calmed down and fell soundly asleep. And Noska returned home.
And so she began to go there every day, either to feed or to give water to the little giant.
Kaldyamushka is completely used to the girl. If she didn’t come for a long time, he would cry loudly and call for the girl.
Then Noska decided to see the giantess herself.
Kaldyama. She hid in the small baby's skin diapers and began to wait. And the well-fed Kaldyamushka sleeps and does not know that Sock is hidden in his diapers. The giantess Kaldyamu, tall as Mount Pili, comes and asks in a thunderous voice:
- Did anyone offend you, my son? The girl lies almost alive from fear. But Noska was brave, she answers:
“Nobody offended me, Mama Kaldyamu.”
The giantess Kaldyamu was glad that her son began to speak, stroked his face with her terrible hand with a single finger and fell asleep under the birch tree, snoring like the roar of distant thunder. She was fast asleep, and meanwhile Noska ran home. She began to come to Kaldyamushka and soon became completely her own.
The poor hunter Donsku and the evil shaman Delobu lived in the same camp. The shaman was friends with the merchant Wang Tao, and both of them offended the poor. One day Noska noticed that a merchant and a shaman entered the house of Donsku, who had many children. And in the evening they met in the shaman's fanza. Noska, hiding under the window, heard their conversation. Merchant Wang Tao boasted:
“We cleverly deceived that fool Donska!” He gave me his fur almost for nothing. Thank you for your help. I won't be in debt. You will always do this and you will become the richest among the nani.
Little heart Socks flared up with hatred for these cunning, greedy people.
“Well, wait a minute, I’ll complain about you to the giantess Kaldyam,” she decided.
One evening, when the giantess asked her son if anyone had offended him, Sock, who again hid in the mud, answered:
“Today I was almost burned by the shaman Delobu and the merchant Wang Tao. They wanted to make a big fire under our birch tree. It’s good that the people of the camp stood up for me.
- That's how it is! – the giantess Kaldyamu got angry. That same night she found the cunning shaman Delobu and the evil merchant Wang Tao and carried them away ten hills, forty mari and seven seas, throwing them to be devoured by hungry predatory animals. The poor breathed freely. And Noska calmed down.
One thing worried the people of the camp. How long will Kaldyama live near them? What if he wants to kill someone? And then Noska began to think about how to drive away the terrible giantess Kaldyama from the Nanin camp. She turned to Grandma Laiga again:
- Baba, is Kaldyamu afraid of anything?
- I don’t know, Noska. However, our oldest sagdimdi, Oskina dama Saida, knows about this. You ask him.
Soon the nimble Noska bowed low to the completely withered, like a yukola, old man with a wrinkled, shaking face:
“Wise lady, people say that only you know what Kaldyamu fears most.” It's true, you're the only one who knows?
Ancient Saida leaned towards the girl with his right ear:
“Speak louder, I can’t hear you, little one.” The girl repeated her question loudly.
“Now I hear, I hear, my little one!” I don’t know if it’s true or not, but old people said that Kaldyamu is most afraid of boyar and rosehip needles.
Noska was perplexed: How! So big and strong, like these Kaldyamu, can they be afraid of some kind of rosehip and boyar needles?
And so, when Kaldyama’s mother asked if anyone had offended her son, Noska replied:
“Today, Kaldyamu’s mother, the Nanin girl Noska told me that the inhabitants of the camp are going to stroke you with the needles of the boyar and wild rose.
The giantess Kaldyamu was frightened, caught the wind with her son and quickly walked into the taiga. And Noska was in shaky state. She barely had time to grab the top branch of a tall larch and held on until the terrible giantess disappeared from sight. Then she came down from the tree and returned home.
Kaldyamu and her son settled on the distant large hill of Echi, in a deep cave. Kaldyamushka has already surpassed his mother in height. That’s why he’s Kaldyamushka, to grow so quickly, and that’s why he’s a man, to become taller than his mother. The two of them began to go hunting together.
But one day, while hunting, the giantess Kaldyamu stumbled from a high cliff and rolled down with a roar.
Dying, she punished her son: Beware of people most of all, among them there are cunning and evil ones. They can kill a fierce animal, any bird from a distance, they know how to catch fish with different nets and hooks, they can kill us, although we, Kaldyama, are much larger and stronger than them.
Having buried his mother on the high Komi Mountain, Kaldyamushka became sad.
And he decided: I will live with people if they accept me. They are kind after all. Mother was probably mistaken in saying that they were evil. If all people are like Noska, then people are the kindest in the world. Kaldyamushka headed towards the camp.
The dogs were the first to raise the alarm, then the people saw: a terrible giant was coming towards them. They got scared and began to arm themselves to fight him: some took a spear in their hands, some took a bow and arrows, some pulled out a lauch.
[Laucha (Ulch) – saber. ]
- Quicker! Quicker! Don't be afraid, together we will defeat him! - they shouted. Hearing these exclamations, little Sock ran out into the street. She also saw the giant. And she recognized her Kaldyamushka. With all her strength she shouted to the people:
– Don’t touch him, it’s Kaldyamushka!
And she boldly ran towards him. People looked at her with fear. And he, seeing Noska, knelt down, bowed to his little intercessor, and then carefully took her in his arms and kissed her on the cheek.
Then the people breathed a sigh of relief and put away their weapons. And Kaldyamushka began to live with people. And he looked like people: the same hands, five fingers on his hand, only he was very tall. He had as much strength as the twenty strongest men.
But Kaldyamushka was still only a boy, so he loved to play with children. The boys will begin to compete to see who will throw the stone further, Kaldyamushka looks and looks, then he grabs a stone the size of the boy’s head, swings it and throws it - the stone falls into the middle of the Amur! On the shore there is such an enthusiastic cry that some old women plug their ears with their fingers. And Kaldyamushka will pick up one of his friends, throw him high into the air and catch him. The first lucky one asks for another, a third... Only the arrival of Socks stops the fuss.
“Anae, this Kaldyamu will cripple one of the kids.” “He, however, probably wants to take him to the taiga,” grumbles the old evil Ayakta, who for some reason did not like Kaldyamushka.
“You’ve completely lost your mind from anger.” Kaldyamu are kind giants, they become evil when you touch them. And our Kaldyamushka is special, he loves children, and a person who loves children is always a kind person. And have you forgotten that our Kaldyamushka is still just a child, he’s even younger than little Socks? - the oldest, very kind sagdimdi Saida scolded old Ayakta.
Kaldyamushka came up with such a game. He will stand about ten paces from the children and order them to fire stones at him. A hail of stones flies at him, but he manages to deftly deflect the blows. At first Noska was afraid for Kaldyamushka, and then, convinced of his dexterity, she herself began to throw stones at him.
“And if we throw stones at you from different directions, will you be able to repel them?” - asks Noska.
“I’ll try,” says Kaldyamushka.
Although initially some thrown stones still hit him, but then Kaldyamushka became so skilled that he did not miss a single stone. The clever Kaldyamushka became one of the children's friends; they followed on his heels.
But then one day a storm broke out on the Amur, such waves began to roam that the boats standing on the shore floated like splinters. People were fussing and could not pull their boats to a safe place: the crazy waves did not allow them to do this.
“Anae, what should we do, he will break the only boat, how will we catch fish?” - the old woman began to wail, followed by others.
- Let's run to help people! - Noska shouted to the boys and was the first to rush to the shore.
Kaldyamushka hurried after her. He will pick up the boat, lift it like an ordinary trough, pour out the water and place it far from the shore. He quickly moved all the boats to a safe place, even the boat of the old woman Ayakta, which had been blown far into the Amur by the wind, he took it out and placed it at the very threshold of her house. People first looked at Kaldyamushka in surprise, then they began to smile, and when he placed the old woman’s boat near the door of her fanza, cheerful laughter rolled along the shore.
– Why do people laugh, Noska? – the good giant asked offendedly.
– The boat should be placed close to the shore, so that later it will be easier to push it into the water. “Don’t be offended by people, they laugh lovingly,” Noska explained.
Old Ayakta watched how Kaldyamushka saved the boats, and, pleased, said:
– It turns out this Kaldyamushka is a good one. I shouldn't have been afraid of him. Kaldyamushka began to help people in other matters: he would help feed the dogs, or even prepare firewood for the winter for everyone.
So one day he decided to catch fish. I asked Socks’ father for a net and went fishing. Small rivers along the way will block his path - he will step over them, if they come across wider ones, he will ford them. Why should he cross some river or bay when the deepest of them are knee-deep!
Noska was interested in how Kaldyamushka would catch fish: after all, he had never picked up a net.
The girl slowly followed him and, when he chose a place to fish, hid in the grass.
Kaldyamushka chose the wide Karamchu Bay with a narrow mouth. So he set up the net. But how? Sock is suppressed by laughter, she can barely restrain herself so as not to give away her presence. A net is used to block a bay or channel, and Kaldyamushka placed a net along the mouth of the bay. Will you catch fish like this? If Kaldyamushka had been an experienced fisherman, he would have blocked the mouth of the bay with a net.
So he went to chase fish. I chased and chased, then I checked the net, but there weren’t any fish.
“I probably didn’t drive well,” Kaldyamushka thinks. I went for a drive again. I came back and the network was empty.
The young giant got angry, let's dig up the mud and block the mouth of the bay. Having finished his work, he found a large plank from an old discarded boat and walked along the bay. He walks with his feet and with his big stick rake the water as if it were snow and not the water of the bay. This caused the waves to spread out, as if in a strong storm. Fish began to wash ashore. Kaldyamushka laughed joyfully and began to collect the fish in a large vandaka - a basket made of vines and willow roots. Small fish remained on the wet shore.
“The fry will disappear!” - Noska got scared and ran out of her hiding place.
“Anae, you can’t leave small fish like that, Kaldyamushka, they will quickly die in this heat.” Let's throw it into the water.
When they threw all the small fish into the water, Noska taught Kaldyamushka how to place the net correctly. And they destroyed the dam made of silt and sand: the bay cannot be turned into a closed lake: fish will not enter it.
And people thanked Kaldyamushka for the fish. They fell deeply in love with the giant boy for his kind heart and skillful hands. Over time, Kaldyamushka learned to hunt: he killed enough animals and game to feed the people of the camp, but so that the taiga did not become like the poor nani’s barn.
So gradually he became his own person in the camp, familiar with the customs of the Nani. Not right away!
One day, an alarming rumor spread through the Nanin camps that a big battle was about to take place between the families of Gubatu and Punadi. They said that someone from the Punadi clan greatly offended someone from the Gubatu clan - so people should kill each other out of revenge. Nani are peaceful people, they do not like killing, some distant clans sent their people to Gubat and Punadi. But they failed to reconcile.
Noska also heard about this and turned to old sagdimdi Saida:
- Lady, dear, teach me what to do? He replied:
– You know Vaika’s father Aldanga, right? He is a good manga: he achieved peace between the clans of Suldak and Lonka, when they also wanted to fight among themselves over hunting grounds.
[Manga (Ulch) – mediator in tribal disputes. ]
- So we must send him! – Noska hastily interrupted.
“We sent it, but they didn’t even want to listen to him.” Especially Gubatu. Let the Punadis answer with their blood for the insult they have caused us, they say.
“So nothing can be done, lady?”
- So it turns out, my little one.
– And let them kill each other, and the children remain orphans?!
“I don’t know what can be done,” the elder answered in a weak voice.
[Am – a father’s affectionate address to a child. ]
Saddened Noska left the fanza of the oldest sagdimdi. Out of despair, she began to cry, which rarely happened to her.
The girl barely had time to wipe away her tears when Kaldyamushka appeared.
– What’s tormenting you, Noska? he asked. The girl told him everything.
“Okay, Noska, I’ll go persuade them, but if they don’t listen to me, I’ll break all their arrows, spears, knives and lauchas, and teach them a lesson.”
Kaldyamushka walked, stepping over streams, fording channels, bays and lakes. So he approaches one camp, and there is noise, screams, smartly dressed people running back and forth like disturbed ants. Surprised, Kaldyamushka came closer to the camp and saw: a lot of people had gathered on the shore. In the middle of a large boat, a smartly dressed girl sits and cries, and on the oars are young guys, also smartly dressed. And the boat is supported on a long rope by elderly men and women and shout:
“We won’t let our daughter be taken away, we will take her away.”
And the guys laugh and press the oars together, trying to take the girl away faster.
“However, it is the winners who take with them a beautiful girl. Am I too late? - thought Kaldyamushka and tightly grabbed the stern of the boat.
- Why are you taking the poor girl away from her parents? Isn’t it enough for you that you killed people from her family in vain? At least leave the girl to her parents,” Kaldyamushka persuades the guys.
People don’t understand him, but when Kaldyamushka repeated the request, everyone began to laugh, and the loudest of all were the guys who were sitting on the oars. Oh, yes! You killed people and are still laughing at me? Well, watch out!
He picked up the boat with the people sitting in it and placed it on a high ravine, and then began to throw the smartly dressed guys into the water, but so that they would not drown.
Having done his job, Kaldyamushka walked on. What's up here? Some shout indignantly: why did he upset the wedding? Others laugh loudly at the boys who were bathed by this young giant. But no one decided to pursue Kaldyamushka to take revenge: they knew well what strength this young giant had.
Offended people came to the Noski camp and complained about Kaldyamushka, who disrupted the wedding and almost drowned the groom and his comrades.
“You’ll forgive him, he’s still just a boy and doesn’t know our human customs,” say the old people from the Noski family.
They presented the bride and groom with a large cauldron and a piece of bright silk.
Reassured, the people went back to repeat the wedding that Kaldyamushka had upset.
“He’ll do something else. We need to hurry up and explain it properly again,” Noska got worried and went to catch up with Kaldyamushka.
She caught up with him at Kolto Bay.
- What are you doing here, Kaldyamushka?
“I’m digging a ditch, you see, the bay is drying up, the fish are dying,” he answers.
- Tell me, why did you offend people?
- What people? And... these are the ones who killed others and wanted to take the girl away by force? Those people, or what?
“Those people didn’t kill anyone.” They had a holiday, they had a wedding.
- Wedding? Then why was the girl crying and her parents didn’t want to let her go?
“That’s how it’s supposed to be, that’s our custom.”
- Look like that! So, I shouldn’t have offended people. We need to return to them, we need to ask for an apology from them.
“There’s no need to go back, Kaldyamushka: our people apologized to them and gave them gifts.” You go ahead, you need to get to Gubatu faster. But if you celebrate a wedding again, then congratulate the people and tell them: Live happily.
- Okay, Noska. Live happily,” repeated Kaldyamushka.
Noska went home, and Kaldyamushka went on. Walking and walking, he came to one camp. He sees: near the fanzochka, from the roof of which thick smoke was pouring out, people are scurrying around, carrying water in chumans. And near the fanzochka women are crying, loudest of all - one beautiful, smartly dressed girl is crying.
“They’re probably giving the girl away in marriage, but there’s a wedding here, and smoke is pouring out of the roof because the food is being prepared,” Kaldyamushka thought and approached the women.
– Congratulations, live happily! - he said and bowed low to the women.
- How! Here the fanza is on fire, and he laughs at us?
The women even stopped crying out of indignation. One old woman even threw a lump of clay at Kaldyamushka.
Kaldyamushka retreated from the people and did not fight back, for fear of accidentally killing someone. He ran to look for Noska and caught up with her.
“I won’t greet people at the wedding anymore: I wished them happiness, but they get angry, curse, throw dirt,” he complained to Noska.
Having questioned Kaldyamushka in detail, Noska exclaimed:
- Anae, you made a mistake! You should have helped people put out the fire.
– There was a fire there?! “Kaldyamushka grabbed his head in despair and ran.
He runs and runs and ends up in another camp. And in that camp near one large fanza, people are fussing, running, carrying water in chumans, and thick smoke is pouring out of the roof and door. Kaldyamushka began to look for suitable containers for water. His choice fell on a large five-oared boat, on which, however, hunters go to the seal hunt in Dyulahi Namu. Picking up the boat, he went ashore and scooped up some water. Having opened the door wide, I saw: in the middle of the hut a large fire was burning, and around the fire people were fiddling with hammers and some iron rods, dipping red-hot pieces of iron into tubs of water.
[Dulahi Namu – Eastern Sea. This is what the Ulchi call the Tatar Strait. ]
- Eh, is this how to put out a fire? – he shouted and splashed all the water on the fire.
People looked at him in surprise, and then began to shout at him and wave iron rods.
– This Kaldyama must be killed! - one young nani shouted and, taking a spear in his hands, turned to him. Kaldyamushka retreated here too: he was afraid of accidentally killing someone.
“I helped them put out the fire, and they shouted at me, cursed at me, waved iron rods, and one even wanted to throw a spear at me,” he complained to Noska.
Noska says:
“However, you ended up with Punadi, they probably forged arrows, spears, and knives to fight Gubatu.” We need to persuade them not to prepare for war and to stop forging weapons.
Kaldyamushka went again. Seeing Punadi, he said:
- Prepare more weapons. When are you expecting Gubatu?
- They will probably be today.
Kaldyamushka headed towards Gubat. I reached the town of Kuspu and began to wait for them.
He waits and waits, the sun has risen to the middle of the sky and is shooting rays at the earth. When it began to descend, Gubat appeared. They are traveling on five large boats. On the first boat, in the middle of it, the largest shaman of Tarding sits, singing loudly, striking a tambourine with a stick - a hyspa:
Oh, our ancestors, the sevens - gods,
Inspire our people with courage and bravery,
To bravely fight the damned Punadis,
To destroy them all.
- Geh! Geh! To destroy them all! - the others echo him.
“Warriors, just wait,” Kaldyamushka said out loud, then stood up to his full enormous height.
- Hey, Gubatu, go back, why do you need to shed other people’s and your own blood? - Kaldyamushka shouts.
Gubatu doesn’t listen to him and continues on his way. Kaldyamushka again asks them to return home. Gubatu doesn’t listen to him; on the contrary, they shout angrily:
- Hey, Kaldyamu, don’t stop us from taking revenge for the insult, otherwise we’ll kill you too, forest devil!
Kaldyamushka got angry and shouted:
– Hey, Gubatu, listen carefully to what I’m going to say.
- I won’t let you fight! This is what I say, friend of the Kaldyamushka people, remember this!
And Kaldyamushka began to uproot trees and block the channel along which the Gubatu were sailing.
- Shoot him, let's kill this damned forest devil! - shouts the Tarding shaman.
Gubatu shot arrows at Kaldyamushka. And he came out into the open - shoot, they say, I’m not afraid of your arrows anyway.
All the arrows were fired by Gubata, but not a single one hit Kaldyamushka: how could you really hit him if the kids taught him to deflect them? Then Gubatu began to throw spears at him, but they did not reach Kaldyamushka, and those that did reach, he deftly picked up and broke, like boys break withered stems of asi.
[Asi is a plant. ]
Finally, Kaldyamushka got tired of this game. He shouted:
- Hey, Gubatu, if you don’t come tomorrow to make peace with Punadi, I will destroy your camp, and you, foolish warriors, will drown in the Amur. I, Kaldyamushka, a friend of people, have said my word.
Then he picked up the boat with the frightened shaman and other warriors and placed it at the very top of the coastal hill of Kichonny.
The same fate befell the warriors from other boats.
“I’ll be waiting for you tomorrow at the Punadi camp.” If you don’t come there to make peace, then look, I said I will. Now pray to heaven and thank the girl Noska, who stood up for you.
Then he came to Punadi and announced to them:
“Tomorrow Gubatu will come to you to make peace, and you make sure that none of you grabs a weapon.”
Gubatu and Punadi made peace.
After this, the old people say, there were no wars between the Nanin clans.
Kaldyamushka did many good deeds for people. And he always consulted with Noska, this smart and brave girl.
Much time has passed since then, but people remember with kind words the Nanin girl Noska and the giant boy Kaldyamushka. I know that Kaldyamu only existed in fairy tales, but when I tell this fairy tale to my little granddaughters, they always tell me that there was such a Kaldyamushka.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru