Once upon a time there lived a man named Tyssia. He had a son and daughter. They lived well and quietly. And then the war came. The Yuraks killed Tyssia, plundered their property, and left their son and daughter on an empty monster. Of all the wealth, only one deer calf with hair growing back was left.
The boy sat for a long time and thought: he has to live somehow. And he began to work. First of all, I made a chum from pine branches. He and his sister began to live in it. One day a brother said to his sister:
“You sit in the tent, and I’ll go and look, I need to get some food.”
The boy went into the forest. His sister, crying, was left alone in the plague. The boy began to make traps in the forest. On this day I made three mouths. Pasti set. I went home.
The next day I went to examine the mouth. As soon as he got there, he saw that he had caught one partridge. I took a partridge. He made three more mouths, alerted all six mouths and went home. They boiled the partridge, ate half of it, and kept half as a reserve.
The next morning the brother left again. As soon as he approached, he saw that two mouths had fallen. He came closer and looked - two partridges had been killed. He took them out. I made three mouths again and alerted all nine mouths. I went home. Again, she and her sister ate half of the partridge. The rest were left in reserve.
The next morning the brother again went into the forest to his own mouth. He came up and saw that three mouths had fallen. Looks, two partridges have been swatted. In the third mouth lies some kind of black beast. The boy thinks: “It’s probably an unfortunate crow that got caught. Why, stupid, did it crawl into my mouth?” He went up to the crow's mouth to take it out, and looked - and it was a black fox. The guy was happy, his soul was happy, he took out the fox, opened his mouth and went home. In the plague, he and his sister ate a whole partridge in half and hid the other one. The guy skinned the fox; I hung the skin to dry.
The next day I went back to the pastures. From a distance he sees that three mouths have fallen, three partridges are visible, they have been caught. And in the fourth again the black fox lies. The guy made three more mouths, alerted them all and went to his tent. There he and his sister ate a whole partridge. Then the guy skinned the fox and hung the skin to dry.
The next morning the guy again hurries into the forest to his jaws. This time, four mouths of four partridges were taken, and in the fifth, a wonderful black fox was killed. The guy quickly returned home. My sister cooked partridge each. Everyone ate theirs. And they hid two partridges in reserve. The guy took off the fox skin, hung it up to dry, and went to bed. The next morning we got up and ate. Brother says to his sister:
- Well, I’m going somewhere today. You sit in the chum, wait for me.
He came out of the chum, harnessed his disheveled little bull to the sledge, and hit him lightly with the reins. The bull picked up the sled so much that the runner barely touched the surface of the snow. It was as if a thin trace remained from the tips of the capercaillie’s wing. The guy is going, going. He goes wherever his eyes take him. He hasn’t been anywhere himself: he doesn’t know where to go. Suddenly he sees a high hill in the distance, the top almost reaching the sky. The guy reached him and stopped to rest. The sun seemed to have already turned towards evening.
The guy is sitting on the sledge, thinking. Again something appeared in the distance. It’s as if a cloud is growing, as if the breath of deer is swirling over the herd like fog. Getting closer and closer. You can already see the argish is coming, stretching across the entire width of the tundra. Still closer. Ahead, you can see, a sled with a rider is walking. Twelve oxen are harnessed. The bulls' knees buckle, With difficulty, jumping, the bulls drag the sledge. Their shoulders on either side of their necks are like water barrels.
The sledges came close. A man got off the sledge, approached the guy and asked:
- What kind of land are you? Where did you come from? The guy answers:
“Where I was born, I don’t know who I am, I don’t know either.” You called me a man! Whether I was born from my father and mother, or from the fork of a tree, I don’t know. What's your name?
The visitor replied:
- My name is Hyssia the old man. Then the guy said:
- And my name is Tyssia.
“Ah,” said the old man, “that’s your father’s name!” I know, I know. A long time ago I killed one Tyssia here; I remember he still has a son and a daughter. So is it you? Well, is your sister alive too?
- Yes, she’s alive. And you, old man, what kind of nonsense are you remembering? Better give me food, because my sister is hungry at home.
- Okay, here’s an argish walking behind. When he comes, then you will take the food.
The old man turned, bent over the sled, and pulled out something. The guy looks. Sees like a bottle. He thinks: “Isn’t this a movie?” He himself had never seen wine before, but he had heard that there was some kind of wine. Old man Hyssia tells him:
-Come here! Let's drink this wine.
-What kind of wine do you have? How will I drink it? Neither in the morning nor in the evening, as long as I’ve been alive, have I ever drunk such a beer, or even seen it! Well, okay, if you give it with a good mind, let’s have a drink.
Hyssia the old man said again:
- Come closer here.
The guy reluctantly stepped towards him. The old man brought this liquid to his mouth. The guy took a sip. It's like it's bitter, but at the same time sweet. I took a sip again - it seemed very sweet. His legs became light, he could barely hear himself. Hyssia the old man put away the wine, got ready to drive on, and said to the guy:
“The argish walking behind will come, get some food there.” And I went forward. Twelve bulls, jumping, bending their knees, with difficulty caught the sledge. Argish reached for him.
The guy began to count the sledges of the argish. It’s hard to count: there are thirty-two women’s sledges alone, and women ride on them. In the middle of them, one such girl, or young woman, rode as if the owner of the water was the daughter. The guy told her:
- Tell me, are you a girl, or some kind of bird, or the daughter of a water owner? Stop your deer.
The girl obediently pulled the reins towards her and asked:
- What did you say? Eh, Tyssia, your heart is apparently so big, you drink and chat with everyone you meet! Right now, behind me, in the plague, Hyssia killed my father, mother, brothers and other people, and he took me and is taking me to his place.
- Don't tell me fairy tales. Better get some food. The girl untied the sledge, threw off the lid, grabbed the whole deer carcass with her hands, pulled it out and gave it to the guy. She tied the sled, and the argish moved on.
The guy sat for a long time and thought: “Should I go after old man Hyssia? His drink is so tasty.” He threw the deer carcass on the road and followed the old man Hyssia.
In the evening, as soon as Hyssia stopped, the women set up the tent, when Tyssia appeared from behind.
“Tyssia, why did you come again?” asked the old man. “Your food was so delicious, so I came to you to wash it down,” answered Tyssia.
- Okay, come into the chum.
They entered the tent. The women laid deerskin for them in the front place. Tyssia sat on her. And old man Hyssia is sitting next to that girl. They rolled a barrel of wine into the tent and placed it in the front corner. They began to scoop and drink wine with a ladle. Hyssia began to brag that he had thirty wives, each with a separate tent. Suddenly Hyssia asked:
- Thousand, is your sister alive?
- Alive.
- Is she beautiful?
- Yes, a little better than me.
- Tyssia, give me your sister. Whatever price you set, I will give it.
While they were sitting, Tyssia noticed that old man Hyssia had his clothes belted with his late father’s belt. Tyssia thinks, remains silent. Then he said:
“I won’t give up my sister for anything else, except for this belt of yours with a knife.”
Hyssia said nothing. He sat and was silent, then answered:
- Heh! How can I give away this belt? My whole life is in him. All my deer, all other wealth was obtained with this belt.
Tyssia asked:
- You won’t give it up for a young wife? I'll give you my sister, and three black foxes.
Old man Hyssia was silent for a long time. He sat as if he had dried up. Then he said:
- Okay.. Now you are stronger, take the belt for your sister and for the three black foxes. You won't be able to keep it forever. Anyway, sooner or later I’ll take the belt away from you.
The old man and the guy hugged and shook hands. Hyssia unfastened his belt with one hand and threw it to Tyssia. He caught the belt and wrapped it around his body. After that they started drinking again.
They drank and drank until old man Hyssia collapsed and fell asleep. During his sleep, the old man’s wives began to persuade Tyssia:
- Kill him, what are you watching!
He answered them:
- How can I kill an innocent person? He didn't do anything bad to me.
The next morning Tyssia went home. He entered the tent and saw his sister sitting, waiting for him. Told her:
- Well, I promised you to one person. When my sister heard it, she burst into tears and burst into tears. And Tyssia just sat down and immediately fell fast asleep. It's almost midnight now. My sister hears the sound of a bell on the street. Then you can hear the man swearing loudly. My sister got scared and started waking up her brother. He doesn't move at all. Then she grabbed an ax and hit him from behind with the butt. The brother immediately woke up and sat up:
- What happened?
I began to listen and learned that old man Hyssia was swearing on the street and there was a plague walking around.
- Thousands! Who promised me a beautiful sister? - Who took away my belt with a knife by deception?
Tyssia jumped up and barred the door. He took the knife out of its sheath. So Hyssia found the door, opened it, and with a refusal in his hand, shielding his eyes from the light with his other hand, the plague looked inside: where Tyssia’s beautiful sister was sitting. Then he climbed into the chum, shouting:
- Now I’ll come in to see you!
As soon as Hyssia’s head and neck appeared in the plague, Tyssia jumped up and pierced the old man’s throat with a knife. Old man Hyssia fell face down. Tyssia said to his sister:
- Get dressed!
She got dressed. Tyssia at this time brought the body of the old man Hyssia into the old coniferous tent and laid it down. Then the chum dumped the poles on the old man and set them on fire. Tyssia killed his disheveled little bull and placed it on the corpse of the old man Hyssia and burned it with fire. He himself sat on old man Hyssia’s sled and rode to the river. He rides and sings:
- God, what a sin I have committed! Don't give me punishment!
The old man Hyssia came to the tent and released all thirty of his wives, saying:
- Go home! Whoever came from, let him go back to his native land.
For himself, Tyssia kept only the girl he had stopped on the way. He distributed all the deer to his wives, but kept only this girl’s deer for himself.
We lived together like this for a long time.
One morning Tyssia says to his wife:
“You probably know whether your brothers had good riding reindeer?”
- Yes, under the mountain in the herd, there are three yellow bulls, and the tips of their noses are white.
That’s right, as soon as Tyssia went down the mountain, he saw three yellow bulls with white spots on their noses walking in a herd. Maug gathered the lasso on his hand. A herd of deer passes by him. Arkan threw. The largest of the yellow bulls was hit on the neck by a lasso. Tyssia dragged the bull towards the house. The other two, grunting, went for the big one themselves. Led to the plague. He pulled out one sledge from the middle of the sled. Her spears are made from a mammoth tusk. I harnessed the bulls to this sled. The reindeer is larger, the other two, harnessed behind, have their noses on the reindeer’s back, standing. Then Tyssia in the plague took out a motley sap, put on cut pimas from beaver skins, and put on a malitsa under the sap with a beaver edge. I went outside. The seven-jointed trochee was taken from the Mammoth fang. He got on the sledge and drove off. Three white-nosed bulls grabbed the sledges in such a way that their heads touched the edge of the cloud moving across the sky.
So I went wherever my eyes looked.
I drove and drove, looked around - I came to some lake. I went down to the shore. Sits on the sled. Suddenly he sees that from the opposite side of the lake three sledges with riders have appeared.
Here, they are approaching him. The first sledge is harnessed to three white bulls, a white bed is laid on it, and the rider is dressed in a white sokui. Three motley bulls are harnessed to the middle sledge, a motley sleigh bed is laid, and the rider is in a motley sledge. The last sled is harnessed to three black bulls. There is a black bed on it, and a man in black juice. The sledges arrived and stopped next to Tyssia. The people with the sledge asked him:
- What land are you from? The guy answered them:
- What land are you people from?
“We are three brothers of Hyssia.” We went to the Russians, now we are returning home. Recently our eldest brother here went to wander on this side. What kind of land are you? Have you seen him here?
“Some lousy old man Hyssia came here recently.” I killed him then. It was not in vain that he killed. I will not kill an innocent person. He killed my father, I found my late father’s belt from him, and that’s why I killed him.
- Ahh! It's good that you said it! God himself sent you to us!
And the brothers began to attack Tyssia. He jumped up from his map, grabbed the beater he had made for the sled bed from the Mammoth horn and began to beat Hyssia’s brothers. He beat him so hard that he smashed the bones of his arms and legs into crumbs. He put them on the sledge, turned the reindeer back, caught the reins and released them with words;
- Go, gather your army!
And these without arms, without legs, where will they go? Let's go back. Tyssia also turned the reins back onto the road. I went home. I arrived to the plague. He released the deer. He entered the chum. He doesn't say a word to his wife.
We lived like this for a long time. One morning Tyssia got up and said to his wife:
- Today, apparently, there will be war. Recently, when I was traveling, old man Hyssia beat three brothers, sent him back, and ordered an army to be gathered. Today they should come - I saw them in a dream this night. He went out into the street, caught his three yellow bulls with white noses, and harnessed them to the sledge. He asked his wife:
“You may know: during their lifetime, your father or brothers had military or hunting rifles, bows, or something else?”
The wife said:
“I don’t know whether or not they had weapons.” She came out of the chum, rummaged through her sledge for a long time, and found nothing. Tyssia also followed her. Seeing that she found nothing, he put on his juice, took the ax, and put it on the sled. His wife and sister grabbed him crying and wanted to hold him. He got on the sled and rode off. As always, the bulls grabbed him so hard that he almost flew up to the cloud moving across the sky. I went to that very lake. I drove ashore and stopped. The sledges have just stopped. Tyssia saw that many sledges had appeared on the opposite side of the lake, with no end in sight. They went down to the middle of the lake, saw Tyssia, and started shooting. Arrows fall on him like rain. Tyssia watched everything and suddenly said to himself:
- Why am I sitting here?
He jumped up, grabbed a mallet for knocking out a sled bed, made from mammoth bone, and threw it downhill. The broken ice made the lake look ruffled. I looked and it was as if the pure tundra had opened up. The enemies began to drown between the ice, and those who remained alive began to run away. Some, in their madness, stab each other with knives, shouting to each other:
- It was you who brought me here by deception!
Tyssia sat on the sledge and began to catch up with the fleeing people, shooting them with a bow. Then he turned the reindeer home. I arrived at my tent only in the evening.
From then on, Tyssia and his wife lived and lived peacefully.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru