A long time ago, many years ago, at the mouth of five deep-sea rivers with wide valleys and burning capes, under a tree with thick branches lived Tyvgunai the Well done. This young man did not know either his father or mother, did not know whether he was born by a thunderstorm, whether he was born by a woman, or whether he came out of the cradle himself - he was an orphan. He gnawed the willow with his teeth and, twisting the bowstring, made himself a small hunting bow from the bast of the willow. And he lived by getting them various small animals.
Living like this, one day I thought: “I’ll go up the river and see what’s there,” and off I went. Tired on the road. Suddenly he looks - the camp appeared. He comes up and sees two ducks swimming along the shore. Having crept up to them, I wanted to shoot an arrow, but the ducks continued to dive and swim. He pulled the bowstring, but did not shoot, for fear of killing someone's bird.
Then he asked:
— Maybe you belong to one of the locals? Let's talk, you tell me everything and don't say later that I killed you without warning you! - says Tyvgunai, well done.
The ducks took off. As they took off, they sang:
- Well, Tyvgunai the good fellow, born under a spreading tree, almost destroyed us. Probably he
he’s a kind person, that’s why he regretted it. We, having become ducks, almost allowed ourselves to be destroyed. There was a thimble left on the mound where we sat before swimming. Take it and take care of it, it will do you good!
Tyvgunai the good fellow looked at the golden thimble, took it and put it in his pocket. Then he came to the camp. A lot of people gathered there, and there were many heroes. Among them is the rich owner of the camp.
This owner said:
— There you can see the arc of a bow stuck into the ground. To the hero who managed to pull out this bow, I will give my daughter as a wife.
Every day the heroes tried to pull out this bow, but no one could pull it out. Tyvgunai the good fellow walked and walked, looked and went home. Returning, he sees a hero sitting under a spreading tree. Noticing him, Tyvgunai got scared. And he tells him:
- Don't be afraid of me, I am your older brother. Many years have passed since I have been looking for you. Where did you come from?
“I walked upstream of the river, there is one camp where the heroes are trying to pull out a bow stuck in the ground in order to marry the rich man’s daughter, but no one can pull it out, I looked at it and returned,” says Tyvgunai.
“Here is my horse, enter his left ear and you will find food, enter his right ear and you will find clothes,” says the elder brother Cholbon-Chokuldai.
Tyvgunai the good fellow did everything as his brother ordered and became a hero. They rode up the river on horseback. We arrived, and the bow was sticking out as it was, no one could pull it out. Then Cholbon-Chokuldai jumped off his horse and pulled his bow, the arc of the bow broke and bounced up, a little later something flashed like lightning; when the arc reached the Upper World, it was as if thunder thundered.
Then Cholbon-Chokuldai and his brother mounted their horses and flew to the Upper World to see what had happened.
We reached the Upper World. It turned out to be land, there were so many people there, like mosquitoes, and cattle like gadflies. When we walked along it, we saw smoke coming out from under the ground. They leaned over to the place where it was smoking and saw a half-burnt old man and woman sitting.
“Old lady, my liver hurts, I would like to give you a piece of liver,” says the old man.
The old woman answers:
“Uh, my hostesses gave me a piece of liver, saying: “Brush the skin with the liver to make it soft.” If I give up my liver, they will again hammer my poor head with their silver tongs.
“Old lady, I have a headache, don’t you have a little brain?” - asks the old man.
- Oh, you’ve already eaten that piece of brain that they gave you yesterday, they’ll be hammering my poor head again. My chest aches, but in this world there is no one to remember me. When you were young and fought with the heroes and when they, having defeated you, flew into this world, taking us with them, I left a two-year-old boy under a large larch, covering with measles, saying: “If he remains alive, let him be called Cholbon-Chokulday.” I left a six-month-old boy under a branchy tree, covered him with an old deer board, saying: “If you stay alive, you will be called Tyvgunai the Young One.” But they probably didn't survive. How can they get into this world? My chest aches,” says the old woman.
Hearing these words, the brothers entered the tent.
- Where are you guys from? - asks the old woman.
“We came from the Middle World, my name is Cholbon-Chokuldai, and this is my younger brother Tyvgu-nai-well done,” says the eldest.
“We came into this world when the heroes defeated us. They left you in your homeland. There are heroes here that no one can resist. Now they lie: their death came from the Middle World and tore half of their body from each. They roast us on fire, asking: “Who is in your homeland?
stayed?" And they force their shamans to do magic: let them, they say, find out where death came to them from. If the shamans cannot find out, they cut off their heads,” the mother said.
Then the brothers went out, killed several heads of cattle and gave their parents something to eat. Then we went to the big house of the heroes. The house was full of people; the guys hid, sat down and began to watch how the heroes cut off the heads of the shamans. So they brought one shaman, she began to predict:
“The people who sent death from the Middle World have come and are sitting here among you.
- Hey, cut off her head, don’t let her deceive you, how can they be among us! - ordered. senior hero.
Then the shaman said:
“Good fellows, don’t let me cut off my head, come before us,” and she lowered the tambourine.
Cholbon-Chokuldai and Tyvgunai-well done appeared before the heroes. Both wounded heroes stood up and stared at the guys. One hero’s name was Singkoltukon-Eden, the other was Begaltukon-Eden.
“We were the heads of the clan, the best of Eden, the greatest of the great, and now we have become cripples, sitting here.” You won, so cure us!
The guys spat on their palms, rubbed the heroes, and they, becoming the same as they were before, rose to their feet. Getting up, they went to the fighting area and went to fight. The brothers are behind them. Having mounted their horses, the elder began to fight with the elder, the younger with the younger. So they fought, taking off on horses to the very edge of the Upper World. Suddenly Cholbon-Chokuldai stopped seeing. And Singkoltukon, jumping from one side or the other, began to chop it down with his palm tree. At this time the horse Cholbon—Cho-kuldaya—sang.
- Above my left ear, under my mane, there is a silver hatchet, quickly take it and hit it across my muzzle. After that, look. down! When you bend over, you will see a small raft tied with
four corners to Singkoltukon's horse. On it, one old woman lit a smoker and fumigates us with smoke. Kill her. The blood dripping from my nose will be extinguished by her smoker. When the smoke goes out, you will see clearly again.
Cholbon-Chokuldai, as the horse ordered him, grabbed an ax, hit the horse on the nose with a swing, blood gushed out in a stream, and it became light. “I looked down and it turned out that the old woman was sitting on a raft tied to Singkoltukon’s horse and fumigate it with smoke. Cholbon-Chokuldai killed her with one shot.
They started beating again. After a while Singkoltukon says:
- Well, apparently, none of us can defeat each other, let's stop fighting and come to us.
Let's go. Having arrived, we entered the house. Home was very good. Singkoltukon says:
- Well, sit down here!
The seat was also good, strong in appearance. As soon as Cholbon-Chokuldai said “I’ll sit down!”, the seat under him broke through and he flew down. He flew for a long, long time and suddenly heard:
“I, Singkoltukon, brought a brave man down to the Lower World.
“If he had driven cattle in front of him and behind him, we would have waited for him to eat,” Cholbon-Chokuldai hears again.
Our man has nothing, out of frustration he scooped clay into his palms and said: “Transformed, walk ahead of me,” and threw the clay forward. The clay turned into cattle. He grabbed the clay with his other hand, saying: “Having turned into cattle, follow behind me” - and threw it back, it turned into cattle.
Here goes further. He hears again:
- A brave man, he has cattle in front and behind him. Well, bring him into the house, smoke him for three days, let him get used to the smell of this country.
When he entered the house, one old woman, sitting by the fire, was singeing a man's head, throwing it into the fire and taking it out from there. There were many human bones lying there. The old woman says:
— A person who ends up in this country does not return to his homeland, I also lived in the Middle Land. If you are a human being, then don’t breathe in the air of this country for three days; if you breathe in, you won’t leave here.
For three days those cannibals burned human bones in the fire. Our man sat, not breathing the air of this country, waited for the main cannibal to fall asleep, watched him, but would he fall asleep! He didn’t close his eyes for thirty days. When a month had passed, I closed one eye, and three days later I closed the second. So he closed both eyes.
Above the place where Cholbon-Chokuldai was sitting, there hung a huge bell, like a plague, the bell had a tongue. Our man, turning into a spider, stretched his web to the bell's tongue. The web, having reached the tongue, immediately stuck. Cholbon-Chokuldai walked along it. As he approached, he saw: through the sky, like the eye of a needle, the opening of the Upper Land was barely visible.
Our man began to climb up the tongue of the bell, and when he got up, he immediately flew up, turning either into a gadfly or a bird. And so he began to approach the hole. When there was a distance left to him equal to the length of a large larch, he turned into a man and jumped. When he jumped, a bell rang below and the cannibal’s cry was heard:
- Oh! Cholbon-Chokuldai escaped!
And then the sound of a chase was heard. Cholbon-Chokuldai barely escaped. In the place where he came out, an ogre stuck out up to his chest. Almost grabbed him, but did not dare to go further, he returned, saying:
- And continue to come, having cattle in front and behind, then only come back.
Since then, they say, shamans began to take cattle for ka-lane.
Cholbon-Chokuldai returned and saw that Singkoltu-kon-Eden was watching the horses fight. Cholbon-Chokuldai said then:
“You dog, before you deceive me again, I’ll get even with you!” Let's go to the rock where the earth meets the sky, there they will judge which of us is right and which is wrong.
He agreed and went after Cholbon-Chokuldai. Finally we came to that place. Cholbon-Chokuldai was the first to mount his horse and jump into the gap when the sky moved away. Only the tip of the horse's tail was cut off. When Singkoltukon jumped on his horse, he was cut in two. That's how he died.
Cholbon-Chokuldai went to look for his brother. I followed the footsteps of the battle. Finally I saw the horses clinging to each other with their teeth. He looked again and saw that his brother and Singkoltukon’s brother, clutching each other’s faces with their nails, exhausted, were already lying near death.
Cholbon-chokuldai spat on his palms, and as soon as he stroked his brother, he immediately became the same as before.
- Well, how are you? Can you still fight or not?
- Tyvgunai pulled Begaltukon the rich man by the hand and helped him sit down. He said:
“I can’t now, my brother helped you, help me too.” By killing me, exhausted, you will not gain glory.
He is also being treated, and he has become the same as he was before. Now let's look for each other's souls, bring
- let them negotiate. Begaltukon says:
- When you go down to the Middle Land, at the mouth of five deep-water rivers there is a large reach, go down to the very middle of it, into the very depths, there are many galyans floating there. There is the smallest silver hookah, catch it, catch it and bring it. After thinking for five days, aiming for ten days; shoot an arrow, saying: “Come back with a message on the bowstring, with a gift at the tip of the tip.”
When he fired, a splash of water was heard below, sounding like strong thunder. Tyvgunai lost consciousness. That arrow quickly returned, carrying Tyvgunai’s soul. Tyvgunai the good fellow tried to take it away, but the arrow would not yield to him; it gave it to its owner.
Then Tyvgunai began to sing;
- When you rise up the current of three deep
water rivers, you will pass the sources and the mountains will move closer to them, at the very middle of the peak you will find a huge larch with ninety-nine holes. Split it like dust, from those ninety-nine holes ninety-nine swallows will fly out, from them a small swallow will fly highest, catch and bring it.
He aimed for ten days with a strong bow made from the heart of a tree, thought for five days and, saying: “Come back with a message on the bowstring, with a gift at the tip of the tip,” he shot an arrow. It exploded with a noise, as if bright lightning had flashed. After some time, the arrow thundered like strong thunder, hit a larch tree with ninety-nine holes and pierced it, splitting it like rotten wood. Begaltukon also lost consciousness several times.
Suddenly they see a swallow flying far, far away, under the very bottom edge of the sky, with an arrow flying straight behind it. They are already approaching the opening of the Upper Land, a swallow is about to fly away. Tyvgunai the good fellow remembered the thimble, threw it towards the hole, and the hole closed tightly. The swallow flew into the thimble, the arrow caught it and brought it back.
Begaltukon tried to take his soul, but gave the arrow to its owner.
“Well, now none of us will win, let’s make peace, we won’t fight, we’ll exchange our souls, you go home,” says Begaltukon.
The guys took their mother and father with them, returned to the Middle Land, and lived happily ever after, they say. Tyvgunai the good man married a girl who gave him her thimble, and Cholbon-Chokuldai married the daughter of the owner of a rich camp, and they lived very well.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru