Two girls lived in the taiga. During the day we went to collect firewood and in the evening we cooked dinner in the yurt. One day they left to get firewood. The devil Zandarafu, the tall, tall one, came to their yurt. Instead of a head, he has a hammer, instead of a belly, a blacksmith's bellows, arms made of iron sticks, legs made of only bones, and instead of eyes, two coals glow. He collected all the cups from the girls, put them in a pile, and as soon as he breathed, all the cups fell apart. The girls returned and looked - the cups were broken.
-Who could have broken our cups? - the girls say.
The next day, the younger sister went to get firewood, and the older sister stayed in the yurt to see who was coming to their yurt and beating cups. When the elder sister saw Zandarafu, she was frightened - she was sitting there, not breathing. The devil collected all the cups, and as soon as he blew, the cups burst. He ate what was in the cauldron and left.
The younger sister returned from the taiga. The older sister tells her about Zandarafu, about how he broke the cups. And the younger sister laughs until she bursts into tears. It was very funny to her how Zandarafu broke the cups with the air from his stomach. The next day the younger sister says to the older one:
“Now you go to the taiga, and I’ll stay in the yurt and look at Zandarafa.”
“Stay,” says the elder sister, “just don’t laugh or sing songs, otherwise he’ll hear you and eat you.”
The older sister went into the taiga, and the younger sister hid under skins in a yurt. Zandarafu arrives. I collected all the cups again. As soon as he blew his fur, the cups burst in half. The younger sister couldn’t help but laugh as much as she wanted. He heard Zandarafa and said:
-Who is laughing like that?
He lifted the skins and saw: the youngest of the sisters was sitting. Zandarafu and swallowed it.
The elder sister returns to the yurt - there is no sister. He calls - no one answers. She felt sorry for her younger sister, she cried. She cried and cried and decided to find Zandarafa. She put on her best robe, took her knapsack and set off. He walks through the taiga and sees a yurt standing and an old woman sitting near the fire.
– Isn’t this where Zandarafu lives? - asks the older sister.
“Here,” the old woman answers. – How do you know Zandarafa?
- How can you not know? He ate my sister.
The old lady felt sorry for her younger sister, she began to cry.
“Don’t cry,” says the girl. - Let's kill Zandarafa and cut his stomach. Maybe my sister is still alive?
“Okay, so be it,” answered the old woman. She fed her older sister and hid her in the corner under the skins.
Zandarafu came, took a deep breath and shouted:
- Hey, old lady! Where does this smell of human spirit come from?
– You walked through the taiga and smelled the human spirit. That's what you think it smells like.
- You're lying, however. Look, old lady, I'll eat you.
Zandaraph began to go to bed. If he lies down on the skins, it’s awkward for him; if he lies down on a birch bark bed, it’s also awkward. The old woman gave him a grinder, which is used to crush the skin, and said:
- Lie down on this pillow.
Zandaraph lay down with his head on the pulp. And the old woman raised the roller from the crusher upward, just above Zandarafu’s head. Zandarafu lies and says:
- Sleep with one ear, listen with the other. Sleep with one eye, watch with the other. .
He talked and talked, and then fell asleep. And the girl and the old woman came up to him and began to crush his head with a roller. They crushed his head. Zandarafu lies there, not moving. They then took a knife, cut the stomach, and from there the younger sister jumped out. The sisters were delighted and hugged. And Zandarafu suddenly began to stir. The sisters and the old woman got scared and ran away.
Zandarafu stood up and looked: his stomach was cut, his head was dented, he was hungry. He got angry and growled:
- I’ll catch up - I’ll swallow everyone! - and ran.
The old woman and the girls run up to the river. On the other bank there is a forge. In it the blacksmith Egdiga forges spears.
- Egdiga! - they shout. - Help us! Zandarafu is chasing us and wants to eat us.
Egdig pushed the raft away from the shore and swam across the river. I planted them and transported them.
- Go to my yurt. “Eat what’s cooking in the cauldron,” he said, but he remained in the forge.
Zandaraph approaches the river. The head is bandaged with a bast, the stomach is skinny: all the breath has left it.
- Hey, Egdiga! – shouted to Zandarafu. - Give me the raft. I want to swim to the other side and have lunch. An old woman and two girls hid there.
Egdiga gave him a raft, but he himself thought: Well, just wait, I’ll teach you a lesson. You'll know how to swallow people!
Zandarafu swam to the middle of the river, and Egdiga took it and turned the raft over. Zandarafu fell into the water. The river carries him, spins him, and he shouts:
“Let my arms and legs turn into trees and dam the river!”
As soon as he said this, many trees appeared from his hands and feet, but not green trees with leaves, but dry and gnarled ones. They stood in the middle of the river so that the current would stop, and the river would carry them into the rubble. Then Zandaraph’s teeth turned into stones, lay across the river, and water flowed through the stones. Since then, Zandarafu’s bones have been lying in the rubble, and his teeth have been lying on the river rifts. And the river still runs its own way.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru