Children's fairy tales online. A man and a bear, or how to avoid a quarrel with the owner of the taiga

Pause.

Won't you leave? No?

Long kiss.

XI

The same, Luke with an axe, a gardener with a rake, a coachman with a pitchfork and workers with a woodcutter.

Pause.

A curtain

The Evrinians met with newcomers for business - exchange, purchase and sale, but they did not let them into their lives. However, when a bee takes a bribe, flying from flower to flower, does it not leave golden pollen on the red flower from the blue or yellow one? And the newcomers left something behind, although it was not yet obvious, not always perceptible - the breath of the Great Human River, and every child knows that a quiet wind fans the ember and carries a forest fire.

But then how to live? - Maxim Kargin thought. - An island? No one will come to the rescue when the island is attacked by a black pestilence, famine and death. And in the Big River - death to the clan... But is it only possible to preserve ancient laws so that the law preserves the clan? Big River will destroy and carry away the dams of laws, wash away customs. And who will we become then? And can you stop the waves of that River?..

So his son, Miron, was called by the Great Human River, he wants to understand it, and first to understand the neighboring island, which is called the land of the people of Takha - the Sosva Mansi.

Maxim did not dissuade his son, he only said:

It is not the path that leads a person - he himself makes the path. There is no man without his own path. Cowards and weak, women and children walk along strange, easy paths. I know: distant, unknown places add intelligence and life to a hunter. Go! Stretch your trail after you!

And Miron Kartin, concealing within himself the joy and pride of recognition, went with the dogs to forest in the distant lands of the Sosva Mansi. It wasn’t because the Kondinsky Urmans were impoverished, but Mirona was drawn into the distance. From the threshold of the yurt, the distance always seems incomprehensibly distant. But this is only up to the first, heaviest, most overwhelming step. The first step was taken, the second... and the fifth... and the hundredth step - and the path stretched out, like a weak thread behind a piercingly daring needle.

The Eureans did not see Myron for a long time.

He returned at the end of winter, during the last wolf blizzard. And not alone. A woman in a sakhi and a squirrel fur coat, “lyenyakh,” easily jumped off the heavily loaded sled and followed Miron into the hut. That woman was large, broad-shouldered, as tall as Miron. A bright silk scarf with long tassels is thrown at one end behind the back, and the other falls freely onto the chest, covering the face.

Hello, live long, Father Maxim! - Miron greeted.

Pase olyn sim com! Live well, dear man! Who? Where did you get it from? - nodded towards the woman old painting. - What land, what kind of woman is this woman?

That's my wife, Tetyum! Her name is Aprasinha. She is from the people of the Chaika family. Crane Creek is her name.

Ap-ra-sinya,” said Kartin. - From the people of the Chaika family... You have long ripened, filled with strength, to sow the seed and grow the fruit. In front of God, this woman must bring sons to our family. Pase olyn sim ne! - the old man turned to Aprasinya. - Live well, dear woman!

Show yourself! - the old man ordered.

“He’s probably torturing,” Myron thought. My chest felt tight: now Aprasinya’s face will open, and anger will seize my father. If he beats you up, okay, you can be patient for a little while, but what if he curses you and drives you out of the house like a stupid dog?

And the old man was waiting. He wanted to know what laws were in the lands of Takhyt-Makhum, what laws the men there imposed on a woman, on such a restless, anxious and unsteady creature? Maxim Kartin sacredly respected the laws, although he could not explain to himself strange custom"avoidance". A woman opens her face to her relatives, to her husband, to his younger brothers, even though they are married. But in front of her older brothers, in front of her father-in-law, the daughter-in-law could not open her face...

Show yourself! - the old man repeated more quietly.

Aye, Sairyn Kotalum - White Bright Day! - Oh, Pupius Samt - in front of Shaitan! The gods do not allow me to reveal my face, father!

Maybe my son brought a forest snag into the house? Or Vor-Lulne - Leshachikha? - old Kartin grinned. “Such a lucky hunter must have a beautiful wife, like an important woman.” Don't be afraid! I let you, Crane Creek!

Aprasinya’s light, shimmering, like a starry sky, slightly high-cheeked face with slanted eyes raised to the temples attracted not so much beauty and health, but restrained authority. Bottomless whirlpool eyes pulled me into themselves, cast invisible fetters, and there was no strength to tear myself away from them, like from the sky, I was enchanted by the elastic, formidable will and pagan power that lurked in the depths of those eyes.

Ap-ra-sinya! - the old man whispered. - Cover your face... It glows. It threatens like the face of Surnenne - the Golden Woman! What kind of bride price did you pay, Miron?

The son remained silent, Aprasinya managed to throw off her squirrel fur coat. Seven younger brothers and sisters, relatives who arrived in time and neighbors, burning with curiosity, saw a strong, broad-shouldered girl in a light Mansi parka made of golden spit. The hem of the parka is decorated with a wide strip of white deer fur, and thin, clear patterns run intricately across the white field. The pattern includes hare ears and a sable head, a duck wing, an oar and a flexible birch branch...

Aye, beautiful girl! - a whisper slipped through like an ermine.

Covering her face with a handkerchief, Aprasinya opened the door and slipped out frosty night. The snow squealed subtly under her light pussycats. She deftly untied the belt knots, unloaded the sledges and took the reindeer under the shed to the wall of the hut. Without haste, she carefully removed the icicles from the leader’s wide nostrils and wiped the sunken sides of the important women with a piece of skin. Silently, carefully opening the door, she carried the load into the hut. She collected birch logs from the woodpile, chopped a splinter with a knife and lit a fire in the fire pit. Sisters and younger brothers Mirona surrounded her, rattled their cauldrons, ran around, circled around her like lop-eared puppies, squealing with delight because Aprasinya was so beautiful, strong, so calm and self-confident.

Myron untied the bags and threw at his father’s feet flowing furs of sables, martens, black foxes streaked with gray hair, kolinas, bundles of bluish-smoky skins of squirrels and ermines.

Rich, lucky booty! - old Kartin smiled contentedly. - You are an excellent hunter, Myron! My children, your brothers and sisters, will be fed and warm.

Myron tried to tell his father about his long journey, but he interrupted him:

You, son, tell me what kind of bride price you paid for Aprasinya? - The father looked sideways at the girl who was loading the koltashikha with elk meat and throwing dry roots and herbs into the boiling broth, taking them out of an embroidered suede bag. The yurt was filled with the smells of the borabelomnik, waking up in the dawn dew.

I didn’t give kalym, tetyum... - the son answered unexpectedly for Maxim.

Stole?! - the old man stood up. - Stole? - his voice breathed through the drifting snow.

Don't give a damn?! Oops! May it burn me! Didn’t you give the bride price?! - there was a draft of whispers.

No, Tetyum! Didn't steal it! - Myron smiled. - Aprasinya cannot be stolen. She is the wind, she is not given into your hands. “Just as a ray from the sun cannot be stolen, like a star from the bottom of a stream,” the son answered with quiet, hidden joy.

How? How without a bride price? Without ransom - how?! Corrupted?! Or is she wild? Who did you bring to my house, Myron?! - Kartin does not understand how his son could break the ancient law. - You will cause the revenge of her family! There are very few of us Kartins left to protect our family from dishonor!

I must have gone to the Underworld. “I’ve probably already approached my ancestors,” Myron said quietly. - I’ve already seen your father, Tetyum! Aprasinya brought me back to the sun...

Then you owe her doubly! - the old man snapped. - She returned you to the earth, and you stole her?! Her family will not forgive our family. Young blood rushed into your head. You are causing a quarrel with Taha's people.

When Maxim's grandfather was still young, the age-old enmity between the people of Takha, Konda and As - the Great Ob was smoldering and flaring up. The people of the Sosva lands attacked the camps of the Kondin people, took away the women, stole them, abducted them without ransom, and even killed them. On the Cowberry River, Takha’s people stole Maxim’s grandfather Painting and exchanged it with the Nenets for a reindeer team. Only in the third year did the young hunter find his way home... On the secret paths the Kondinians lay in wait for the people of Sosva, who were returning with rich booty, beat them, took away their prey and furs. And this went on for a long time, and for a long time the elders of the Konda and Takha clans extinguished the enmity - it carried away young men, mature hunters, and produced orphans and widows.

When going on a trip, or just relaxing in nature, it is wrong to assume that somewhere out there, in the taiga, there is an angry, hungry bear lurking and dreaming of tearing you into small pieces. In fact, meeting a person is just as stressful for a bear as meeting him is for a person. Practice shows that this animal always prefers to hide. You can walk all day long in its tracks, its hiding places, its habitats, but you will never meet it anywhere, and even if the meeting did occur, then most of these predators tend to want to escape. However, it should be noted that this only happens in cases where a person respects this animal, knows its habits and, based on this, follows a few simple rules, which we will try to formulate here.

ONE DAY,

While working in the village of Vzmorye, I had to give a ride to a fellow traveler with two buckets of champignons. On the way we started talking. It turned out that this woman collects wild plants every year throughout the summer.

“But there are a lot of bears in your area,” I was surprised, “and as far as I can see, you don’t have any means of protection with you.”

“The remedy is very simple,” she smiled, “before going out into nature, I take some rag, soak it in a strong bleach solution and put it in a plastic bag. When I arrive in the forest, I take it out and wrap a rag around the bottom of my boot.

- And what? Are the bears running away?

“Yes, I’ve been following in their footsteps for twenty years now, but I’ve never met them before, I saw them from afar.”

NOTHING

The bear's sense of smell and hearing are as underdeveloped. As for vision, it is very weak. An animal sees through its eyes in much the same way as a person looking through cloudy glass. Sometimes, when meeting bears at short distances, I watched them turn their heads, move their ears and sniff the air, trying to figure out who and what was in front of them. This predator's sense of smell is perfect. For example, have you ever tried to move in absolute darkness, through a forest, without lighting? Let me tell you that even with a good flashlight it is not so easy. The bear calmly walks through the thickets all night. With his magnificent radars - smell and hearing, he literally scans every twig. We can say that his sense of smell is his main vision. You will still be a kilometer away from the predator, and he will already know where you are and in which direction you are moving. In principle, the entire concept of human security is built on these two features of the beast. Imagine that you decided to attack someone, and suddenly they suddenly blindfolded you - you will definitely have to refuse the attack. The same is true for a bear; from a strong foreign smell it literally “goes blind” and tries to avoid this smell a mile away. In general, many experts agree that the best remedy against an aggressive predator, this is a special gas canister. Biologists from the state of Alaska, where today there are approximately 150 thousand bears, interviewed about one hundred and seventy people who had ever used special gas against the beast. For the most part, these were cases when bears came out to housing or campsites due to the smell of food, but there were also several attacks on tourists who, as it turned out, did not comply with elementary rules and were saved only thanks to a spray can. Based on the above, we can already determine for ourselves several simple rules of behavior in the wild.

SO, RULE ONE

In the forest, under no circumstances should you, figuratively speaking, “smell like sausage.” Actively use mosquito and tick repellents. Pack food carefully in plastic. In parking lots, before eating, light a fire. Don't throw away scraps and burn all trash, including empty ones. cans. When preparing for the night, tidy up and wash the dishes. If the pot is left with food, cover it with grass or burdocks. In this case, it is advisable to place empty cups and mugs on top. If a furry guest arrives at night, the noise of the dishes will notify you of his arrival. Place your clothes and backpacks in liners (plastic bags) overnight. Light a fire before spending the night. The best option“Nodya” is made of three short logs, such a fire burns for a long time, and by morning there are still coals left. It is very undesirable to go to remote corners of nature for beer and barbecue, and if at the same time your children are running uncontrollably through the bushes, then this is generally unforgivable stupidity. Once in the forest, at one of the quarries of our enterprise, security guards stopped at a post and decided to celebrate their arrival with barbecue. Less than an hour had passed when a bear came out into the clearing and “swept up” all their treats. The guys barely managed to hide in the trailer, and sat for a whole week without water, and the animal, hoping for a continuation of the banquet, guarded them until it was scared away by foresters who accidentally drove there.

RULE TWO

Of course, it also happens that the bear cannot always smell us. This happens in cases where we move towards it against the wind, or during the flowering of strong-smelling herbs, as well as in places large cluster rotten fish. In these situations, we use such a property of the beast as its perfect hearing. When moving along streams, thickets, paths, it is advisable to shout or make any other noise, especially in places with limited visibility of the space, for example, at closed bends in the river, elevation changes, etc. During long solo trips, when my throat starts to hurt from screaming, for example, I take out a cup or mug, tie them together and hang them on my belt, near my leg - the rattle turns out just right! Every time you go down to the river, be careful, a bear disturbed during prey is very nervous, and God forbid you meet him unexpectedly, but if he hears you in advance, he still won’t risk it and will hurry to hide.

CRITICAL DISTANCE

One of the characteristics of a predator is that when it meets a person at close range, it begins to perceive it as a threatening enemy. This, of course, does not mean that the animal will definitely attack you. WITH psychological point There are three types of bears different types: cowards, Olympians and fighters. We will not consider a coward; if he ran away from you, then thank God. The Olympian will calmly stand and watch, turn his head, sniff the air, trying to determine who is in front of him, and perhaps even what the animal is feeling at this time, scanning your internal state and if you were psychologically prepared for this meeting, do not panic and remain calm, then this bear will also leave. (I described one of these meetings) Well, the third, rarest type is a fighter. At a critical distance (and in my opinion it is less than ten meters), he attacks immediately and is a very dangerous type, based on which we have the next two topics, namely means of defense and psychological preparedness.

Let's look at them in order.

We will not discuss in this article firearms, since it is separate, large and complex topic. Let's turn to simple and accessible means to everyone.

GAS CAN

As mentioned above, the protection is very good. A strong jet of a special caustic composition, hitting seven meters, is guaranteed to stop a predator’s attack, but only if you are psychologically prepared for this attack. When an angry predator rushes towards a person, roaring and grinning mouth, not everyone has the nerves to stand calmly and direct a stream of gas into his face. The big disadvantage of this product is that in the event of a strong headwind or side wind, its effectiveness is reduced to zero. In risky places, take this factor into account in advance. When purchasing a canister, ask for a certificate of conformity; the gas must be specifically designed to protect against bears. Unfortunately, on currently in our retail outlets there is nothing like that.

Last year I went to the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk “Medved” store. I see there is something similar, with “owner of the taiga” painted and the inscription “From aggressive animals.” I bought it and paid 800 rubles. A week later I took it with me on a hike. By the evening of the first day of the trip, when I arrive at the parking lot, I take the spray can out of my pocket and don’t understand anything, in large letters It says NIGHT VIOLET HAIRSPray. Strange, I think, where did I get this from? And where is the anti-bear remedy? It turned out to be a bug. In a damp pocket, the paper sticker peeled off to reveal the real inscription. Now my friends are teasing me and asking: “Did you want to do the bear’s hair?”

FALSE FIRE

I have been using this remedy for many years. A noisy, bright, strong fire that burns for a minute is also capable of stopping an attacking predator. I'll be honest, despite great amount travels and encounters with a bear, I have never had to light a flare for self-defense since the predator kept leaving. And yet there were cases when it was the flare that saved me. I'll try to decipher it. It’s one thing when you stand in front of a bear empty-handed, and quite another when you have a weapon that you trust. In the spring of 2008, two of my comrades asked me to teach them how to navigate in hiking conditions using a compass and map. Having chosen an unfamiliar route, we went hiking during the May holidays. On the second day of the journey, descending from the slope, on one of the tributaries of the Shebuninka River, on long distance we saw a bear in the distance. Deciding to show off in front of the experienced traveler, despite the warning, my companions boldly rushed forward. Crossing the stormy river, I was careful not to get water into the swamps and for some time lost sight of my comrades. Having finished the crossing and raising my head, I see two daredevils flying towards me and shouting: “HE’S RUNNING,” rushing past. Instantly taking out a flare, I prepared for the attack. The bear was rapidly approaching and about five meters away, when the hand was ready to pull the cord, the animal suddenly turned sharply to the left and jumped into the forest. Subsequently, analyzing this incident, I came to the conclusion that it was my calmness and restraint that forced the beast to stop the attack, and most importantly, I owed this calmness precisely to the presence of a flare in my hands.

SELECTION OF FLARES

As practice has shown, the best ship's flare, our Russian production. It is launched from the cord, and instantly, unlike Western models that have a three-second delay, which is extreme situation unacceptable. The disadvantages include the conical handle, narrowed towards the bottom. As a rule, when hiking, your hands are wet, slippery, and sometimes dirty with earth and clay, and it is very difficult to hold the fire when starting. Therefore, we need to come up with something, for example, wrap a collar around the handle with electrical tape.

AND ANOTHER IMPORTANT POINT

During travel, all protective equipment should be in pockets specially equipped for them, that is, zippers, rivets, fixing elastic bands, etc. The design of the pocket for the flare should allow it to be pulled out instantly and at the same time it should not fall out spontaneously. If you put the fire in a simple pocket, then after a couple of hours of travel you will notice that you no longer have it, this has been tested in practice many times. It is just as stupid to put a fire in a backpack, as some of my friends do, in this case the whole meaning of its presence is completely lost. This is the same as hunting with a gun disassembled and put in a case.

POSTCRYPTUM

One famous traveler, who devoted a lot of time to studying the lifestyle of bears, claims that out of every two hundred meetings between a person and a predator, only one is dangerous. I hope that following the above rules will help you safely survive this two-hundredth meeting.