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This story happened back in the eighteenth century, not far from the river Vilyui.
Returning to his village, the Yakut rode a horse on a deaf winter at the taiga and at some point I realized that I won’t have time to get home before dawn. In such cases, travelers usually spent the night in empty booths standing in the clearing by the road. Some of these booths were specially built for this purpose, others were abandoned houses in which they once lived families.
The late rider remembered that there was a clearing nearby with such a hut (he had stayed in it before), and directed his horse there. Already at dusk, the Yakut approached the familiar farce and suddenly noticed that someone is inside: the light is on in the windows, and from the stove pipes blowing smoke and sparks fly. This discovery was very pleasing a traveler, because in a company it’s more fun to survive the night, and get warm after such a cold does not hurt.
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A beautiful stranger
At a hitching post a man was surprised to find a high thoroughbred snow-white horse, in comparison with which his own the workhorse looked completely miserable. The foreign horse was harnessed to luxurious, skillfully crafted cart with a rare for those times padded seat, and even painted with a bright pattern. Seeing all this, Yakut realized that it was not anyone who chose the hut for the night, but wealthy merchant or big warden.
A photo from open sources
The frantic traveler did not know whether his noble stranger would be delighted appearance, but it was so cold outside that he decided to try happiness. You can always return to the night, but there is a chance that you will be warmed and possibly even fed.
Our hero dismounted and wanted to bring the horse to the hitch, but she began to push hard and didn’t want to stand next to her with a white handsome. Deciding that his horse is also shy of his a noble tribeman, a man tied her to the nearest to a tree. Shaking off the snow from clothes and bringing himself to more or less a decent look, he knocked timidly on the door and went into the booth.
It really was warm and cozy. Firewood cracked in the stove, in soup was boiling in a pot, and various dishes and a bottle were on the table the fault. The traveler did not believe his eyes when he saw whom all this good belonged. A young Russian woman was sitting at the stove in rich clothes – surprisingly beautiful, tall, with long red hair. The beautiful stranger was just combing her magnificent hair with a comb with gems when she saw a stranger.
There was a long pause. Not knowing the Russian language and completely embarrassed, Yakut first trampled at the entrance, and then still decided back out: the hut, although it was a draw, but the rules of decency they didn’t allow him to constrain an unknown lady with his presence, which was also the first to take this place.
Suddenly the red-haired beauty stood up and without any shadow awkwardness or fear asked the guest to stay. Yakut language she I didn’t know, therefore, she spoke in gestures.
Of course, our hero did not refuse. He took off his shoes, took off outerwear. The woman invited him to sit at the table, spilled on plates of soup, broke guest bread, sliced ham. Steel supper. During the meal, the stranger began something enthusiastically speak to a man, periodically pointing to a window. Apparently, told how she managed to find herself in such a wilderness.
The guest only nodded and assented, pretending to understand everything. He extremely liked the treat of a Russian woman, especially if take into account that in the morning the traveler did not have poppy dew in his mouth. When he asked for supplements, the hostess happily added him soup.
Yakut felt that he had met with a merchant from Irkutsk, who sent to Yakutsk through Vilyui. Of course, ride alone through the taiga, with such expensive property and, probably, money – an extremely dangerous undertaking for a woman, however, these Russians are capable and not such recklessness …
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… Meanwhile, the red-haired beauty asked her vis-a-vis to uncork a bottle of wine. Soon it hit the Yakut in the head, and he already began to tell the stranger about himself. She nodded with interest and occasionally burst into laughter, showing in turn that understands what is at stake. The man felt like in a dream, and this strange communication made the situation even more romantic mystery.
The fire in the stove flared up and the hut grew hotter. Yakut took off his thick winter shirt, the interlocutor followed his example and left without a top dress. When the bottle came to an end from somewhere another woman got out with a stronger drink.
In the end, the traveler became very drunk, and the “merchant” began give him unambiguous hints, and then completely dragged him trestle bed. Not believing to the end that he became the hero of such a winter tale, Yakut fulfilled his mission and forgot deep sleep …
The terrible consequences of an accidental meeting
He woke up late at night from an unbearable cold piercing whole body. With horror, a man saw that he was half naked in the dark ice booth, where, besides him, there is nobody and, apparently, not It was. And the stove has obviously not been used at all recently.
The health of our hero was disgusting: arms and legs managed to freeze, his head cracked with a hangover. Kneading limbs and dressing, the Yakut went outside and noticed in the moonlight, that under the hitch, near which he saw a snow-white stallion, no no trace … Sitting on a horse, a yakut in complete dismay galloped into your village.
However, not a hangover or even severe hypothermia of steel fatal to the lover of the red-haired beauty. Caught at Dawn at home, he realized that his headache was only getting worse. Soon to she had chills, fever, vomiting, and terrible pains throughout her body. Yakut was laid down and did not get up anymore. On his deathbed in order to remove from the soul stone, he told his family what happened to him that terrible at night.
The death of the unfortunate was the first in a series of terrible deaths, as the scourge that fell upon the inhabitants of Yakutia. In the beginning, one after another the villagers of our hero get sick, then the epidemic spread to neighboring villages, then swept a whole ulus – but even then the weather didn’t stop. The dead were tens of thousands, and the few survivors remained forever disfigured. Spirit the smallpox, as the shamans concluded, appeared from the west in the form of a beautiful Russian woman with red hair to bring suffering and death. Before each outbreak, she appeared here and there, and every lone traveler she managed to seduce signed the death sentence to his relatives and fellow countrymen …
In pre-revolutionary times, smallpox periodically mowed a significant part of the Yakut population, penetrating even the most remote and remote corners. Local ideas about the spirit of black smallpox as a rich Russian merchant was very stable. Folklorists believe that this is not surprising, because the infection every time came here by trade from Irkutsk, and it was brought to Yakutia by visiting Russian merchants and travelers Hence this personification.
Yakutia time
