This happened in ancient times. Well done guy went to visit his father-in-law. Beyond the third pass he saw seven old men. They sit sedately by the fire, puffing on long pipes, waiting for the meat to cook.
The young man rode up to the fire, silently dismounted from his horse, silently lit his pipe, put his foot in the stirrup, and got ready to ride on. Then one of the old men says to him:
“It’s not a great honor for the young bator who, without saying hello to the elders, lit his pipe from their fire and hurried on the road, forgetting our proverb: eat what’s cooked, listen to the old men.”
The young man humbly listened to the old man and said:
- Your truth - I made a big mistake, but not out of pride and conceit, but out of my inexperience and carelessness, for which I ask your forgiveness.
The young man sat down by the fire, tasted the cooked meat, listened to the old man’s advice and moved on.
And his soul felt so light that he wanted to sing a song. But as soon as he began to sing a free song, his eyes, ears, and nostrils picked up the tune!
The fellow was frightened, fell silent and did not open his mouth until the very end of the journey.
Having reached his father-in-law's yurt, the young man silently crossed the threshold, silently drank tea and - to the great amazement of his father-in-law - silently drove away from the yard.
His young wife came out to meet him at home. But the young man didn’t say a word to her, he changed his horse and trotted off into the steppe to graze his herd.
He grazes one day, grazes another, grazes for a week, and doesn’t even show his nose at home. The wife became sad. “What would that mean?” he thinks. “My husband has never been silent, but here he came as a guest and didn’t say hello; he left to graze the herd but didn’t say goodbye and, it seems, doesn’t think about returning home.”
She ordered her horse to be saddled and went to look for her husband. And when I found it, I began to blame:
- Is this what real husbands do? He returned from visiting and didn’t say a kind word, went off to graze the herd and didn’t give any news about himself!
The young man did not have the strength to endure any longer. He opened his mouth and immediately spoke not only with his tongue, but also with his nostrils, eyes, and ears.
Having found out what was the matter, the wife scolded the young man for his secrecy and said:
“Tomorrow at dawn, when our shepherd boy bends down and starts fanning the coals, you step over him.”
That's what the good guy did. She spread to attack the shepherd boy. Out of fright, he rushed into the street and jumped over the black ram. The ram bleated in a voice that was not his own. Seven wolves heard him, came and ate him, without even leaving his skin. It spread to attack seven wolves. Since then they have been howling with seven voices.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru