An old owl lived with his old woman, and they had one and only son.
The time has come for my son to get married. Then the old owl said to his old woman:
- We need to marry our son. Do you know a wife for him?
The old owl answered:
- I sit in the tent all day long. What do I know? You go everywhere. You know better where to find a wife for our son.
The old owl said to this:
- Well, if you don’t know, then I know. Crows have a younger sister. We will have to migrate to their land.
The owls set off on their journey. Whether they wandered for a long time or for a short time, they just arrived without any incidents. The ravens' younger sister was taken as a wife for their son. They played a wedding. Then the owls went back to their land. We went through about seven day migrations. We stopped and set up the tent. They live in one place for several days.
The sister of the ravens is very black. And she has a hot temper. She will not tolerate any word spoken against her. And the old owl woman is grumpy and always wants to stand her ground.
One day a young daughter-in-law began to comb her hair.
“Grandma,” she says, “I need to grease my head.” Do you have the brain from a wild deer's leg? The old owl grumbled in response:
- You needed the brain from the leg of a wild deer! Where can I get it from? Your family didn't put brains in your sledge. And no matter what you smear on a black head, it still won’t turn white.
The daughter-in-law replied:
“My blackness came into the world with me.” So, word for word, they argued. The daughter-in-law got angry with her mother-in-law and said:
- While my traces are still visible, I’ll go back to my land.
The sister of the ravens left, and the owls migrated to their own places. They need to look for a new wife for their son.
Spring has come. Buzzards have arrived from warm countries. Then the old owl woman said:
“We wandered through the forests in search of a bride. And then the bride girls themselves came to us. Our son can marry the daughter of buzzard birds.
The owls took the daughter of the buzzard birds as a wife for their son. They played a wedding. They began to live together. The daughter-in-law is good to everyone: she is kind, hard-working, she prepares water and firewood for the plague, she never says a rude word.
Only once did my daughter-in-law get a headache. It's getting worse every day.
The old owl says to his old woman:
“Our daughter-in-law is good, no matter how she died.” The old owl said:
— Not far from us lives, they say, a mousecatcher shaman. We need to call him, maybe he can cure our daughter-in-law. The owl's son went after the mousecatcher shaman. The mousecatcher shaman came and said:
— Make a tent out of turf for the sick person. While I am treating you, do not enter this plague.
The owls made a chum from turf. They brought the patient in there. The mousecatcher shaman entered with her. It cures for seven days. Owls don’t dare come close to the plague.
Seven days later, the voice of the mousecatcher shaman died down. Then he said:
— Open the doors of the tent.
The old owl opened the doors of the plague, and the mousecatcher shaman flew out like an arrow. The old owl listened and said:
“We can no longer hear the moans of our patient.” She's probably gotten better.
The owls entered the chum, and only bones remained from the daughter of the buzzards.
The old owl man, his old woman, and their only son began to shed tears. Like args, tears flow down both sides of their beaks.
Buzzards began to migrate to warm countries, saw owls crying, and said:
- Why are you crying so much? We also have women’s hats and brides. If one dies, we'll give you another. The old owl said:
“We weren’t lucky with wives from other places.” We will spend the winter in our tundra land on a thorny ridge. Maybe we can find a bride for our son in these places.
The buzzards flew away, and the owls began to cry again. They cried so much that their eyes closed. Since then, the owls have not seen daylight.
This fairy tale is over.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru