Once upon a time there lived an Eget. This Eget was a skilled hunter. So one day he went hunting. He met a wolf. Eget wanted to kill him, but the wolf begged in a human voice: “Don’t kill me, Eget! Someday I will serve you." Eget did not kill the wolf and moved on.
The hunter-eget saw the golden eagle and wanted to shoot it, but the golden eagle also spoke in a human voice: “Don’t kill me, I’ll be useful to you.” The hunter-eget moved on. So he saw a goldfish in the water and wanted to catch it, but the goldfish also begged in a human voice: “Oh eget, leave me!” Wherever you are, I will hasten to your aid.” Eget did not touch the fish and moved on. So he saw in the distance a hut with smoke coming from the chimney. Eget went to this hut. There lived an evil, despicable old woman. The old woman met the eget and began to ask him where he was coming from and where he was going.
- I'll give you one job. My three horses are feeding in the forest. You catch them and bring them here. “If you bring me, I’ll marry you to any of the three daughters you love, but if you don’t bring me, I’ll eat you,” said the old woman.
The Eget hunter went into the forest, but the horses did not fall into his hands. The hunter got tired, sat down on a stone and cried. A wolf approached him and asked:
- Why are you crying, yeget?
- How can I not cry! - answered the eget. - The old woman ordered to catch her three horses, but I cannot catch them. Now the old woman will eat me.
“Don’t be sad,” said the wolf and instantly drove the old woman’s three horses to the eget (and these horses were precisely the old woman’s daughters).
Eget brought the horses to the old woman.
- Why did you give it to him? - the old woman shouted at her daughters and again let them go into the forest. “If he starts catching you again, you will turn into birds and rise into the air,” she told her daughters.
And so it happened: the eget wanted to catch them, but they turned into birds and rose into the air. The Eget hunter cried bitterly. But then a golden eagle appeared and helped him catch the birds.
The old woman became even more angry and said to her daughters:
- If he catches you again, turn into fish and swim into the depths of the sea.
The old woman again ordered the eget to catch her horses. Eget again chased the horses and was about to catch them, but they turned into fish and swam into the depths of the sea. Out of grief, the eget sat down on the shore and began to cry. A goldfish swims up to the shore and says:
- Don’t be sad, yeget, I’ll help you. Three horses of this eget turned into fish and swam into the depths of the sea. Find them and bring them here!” she ordered the fish.
The fish immediately found them and brought them to the eget. Then the old woman said to him:
- Here are three daughters, choose any one! Eget chose his youngest daughter.
Then the youngest daughter says to Eget:
“Our mother is very evil: she will turn me into a pockmarked, hunchbacked girl, she will make my middle sister elderly, and she will present the eldest as beautiful.” Don't make a mistake in your choice!
The old woman, indeed, ordered him to choose any of the three daughters. Eget Hunter said:
- Okay, I want this pockmarked, hunchbacked one!
The old woman became even more angry and said to her daughters:
- Oh woe is me! There was nothing you could do! Yes, I can handle this shit myself. “Go now to the barn,” she told the horseman, “take the horse out of there and ride it around.”
The youngest daughter said to the eget:
- She will turn into a horse herself. First of all, take an iron sukmar (club); as soon as you enter the barn, hit her with it. Then she will want to rise into the air with you, and you hit her on the head with a sukmar, then she will not be able to do anything.
The hunter-eget went to the barn and took the iron sukmar in his hands.
The horse wanted to kick him, but the eget hit it with a sukmar, led it out and sat on horseback. The horse jumped almost to the roof of the hut, and the eget hit it on the head. And the horse sank to the ground. Eget walked around her and brought her back to the barn.
When the eget left, the horse turned into an old woman and, quietly sneaking into the hut, lay down on the stove, complaining that she had a headache.
She had to marry off her youngest daughter to an eget. They say that even now they are living and living well and making good money.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru