In ancient, distant times, when my great-great-grandfather was not yet in the world, they say, in the country of Zakraman, in the city of Hamadan, lived a poor, poor, but cheerful, smart orphan girl Aimisey. She collected manure along the roads for dung, sold it to people, and used these pennies to feed herself. She didn’t ask for alms from anyone.
One day Aimisey sold a bag of manure, was returning home, and saw ripe pears on a tree by the road. She really wanted pears!
The orphan climbed to the very top, sits and feasts on pears. And a cannibal witch walked by. I saw Aimisey, stopped and shouted in a rude voice:
- Throw me a pear too!
The girl chose the ripest one and threw it down. The witch liked the pear.
- Throw more! Throw it! - the witch pestered until Aimisey picked the last pear.
Then the witch shook the tree violently, and Aimisey fell into a basket that hung behind the cannibal’s back.
The witch hurried home. She ran to her gate and shouted in a rough voice:
- They're adamant! Hhaja! Mallajai! Open the gates!
Three witches' daughters ran out and opened the gates. They put a lump of halva into the witch's mouth. More than anything else, the cannibal, it turns out, loved halva. When she was fed halva, she did not eat people.
The next day, the cannibal left in the morning to get prey. Akhrajat, Kkhaja and Mallazhai remained at home. They were kind girls, they were afraid of their mother and did not love her. The sisters made friends with Aimisey and promised:
“We won’t give you to our mother!”
In the evening, the witch returned home with an empty basket, angry and hungry. But the daughters handed her a large piece of halva at the gate, and she went to bed. So for a whole week the sisters fed the mother halva, so that she would not eat Aimisey.
And then I saw Ahrajat: a witch sharpening a long knife in a dark barn and saying: “I don’t want halva anymore! I want meat! Today I’ll fry Aimisey.”
Akhrazhat ran to her sisters in tears.
-What are you crying about? - the sisters were alarmed.
“Mother wants to eat our Aimisey.” Sharpening a knife in a dark barn.
The girls understood: we can’t delay any longer. We quickly collected food for the road, put on shoes and clothes, helping each other, and silently opened the gate...
They flew like birds, but they didn’t go far. The witch just turned her nose and immediately sensed that the house was empty. She rushed after him. About to overtake, about to grab Aimisey... And the girls were already on the river bank. They threw a long pole across the river and ran to the other side. The witch also rashly jumped onto the pole, but slipped and fell into the water.
The fast river carried her along.
- Save me! I'm drowning! - the witch strained.
The daughters rushed to save her, but to no avail! The river spun the witch and drowned her in its waves.
The sisters and Aimisey returned home. There was a lot of stuff there in chests and bags, in cellars and bins. The girls lived without knowing any need, amicably and cheerfully.
The suitors in those parts heard that the cannibal witch had disappeared, and four beautiful girls, enviable brides, lived in her house.
The grooms began to woo them. They came, saying: “Choose anyone from us!” Aimisey chose a shepherd for herself. Akhrazhat - saddler. Khadja - tinker. Mallajai - mason.
Four fun weddings took place. All the neighboring villages feasted on them. And I was there. They gave me an emerald ring. It’s a pity, on the way home robbers took it from me. I barely escaped them alive!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru