In ancient times, there lived a simple man named Edil. He was so fearful that everyone called him nothing but "Cowardly Edil." Even at night, he would go outside for the smallest need accompanied by his wife.
One day, Edil was passing by a yurt and overheard a conversation about how there was plenty of gold in the Black Mountains, as small as millet; in the White Mountains, it was the size of peas, and in the Red Mountains, it was scattered like sheep droppings.
Edil lived very poorly. Therefore, upon hearing the news about the gold, he rushed home.
— Hey, woman, — he shouted from the doorway of his tattered hut, — bake me three flatbreads, give me an axe, and a bigger bag.
— What happened? — his wife did not understand her husband.
— I’m going to the mountains to collect gold.
— Who will you go with?
— Who with? I’ll go alone!
— What are you saying? You are a notorious coward! Do you want to die before your time?
— Don’t talk nonsense! I told you to prepare food and a bag! Or else I’ll hit you — I’ll smash you! — and he really did hit his wife.
Naturally, the wife not only got offended but even became angry with her husband. But what could a weak woman do against a strong man? She had to submit. She baked three flatbreads, placed them in a striped bag, and hung the large axe, which Edil used to chop wood, on a pole right at the exit of the yurt.
Soon night fell.
— Hey, wife, — said Edil before going to bed, — take me outside to relieve myself...
Offended, the wife silently took Edil by the hand, but as soon as he stepped over the threshold of the yurt, she tied the strings of the tent from the inside.
— Hey, woman, — Edil shouted in fear, — what are you doing? I’ll die of fright; look how dark it is around. Open up quickly! Otherwise, by morning you’ll be a widow; the devils will take me away.
Without answering, the wife extinguished the light and lay down to sleep. Edil made noise outside the yurt and soon calmed down too.
Thus, for the first time in his life, he spent the night outside. And nothing happened to him; no devils took him away.
— Well, now open up, — Edil pleaded at dawn. — Do you think I was afraid of anyone? Not at all. And who was there to be afraid of? There’s not a soul around. Give me the bag — it’s time to go to the mountains. I’m doing this for you, you fool!
The wife opened the tent. Edil took the bag and the axe and set off. He walked for a long time, and finally reached the Black Mountain. On the sand at the foot of the mountain, he saw glimmers of gold grains the size of small wheat seeds. "How many days will it take to fill the bag with gold? — thought Edil. — A whole lifetime wouldn’t be enough. No, I’ll go to the White Mountain instead. I’ll manage faster there."
And he headed towards the White Mountain. He walked all day and finally arrived. And indeed, at the foot of the mountain, the gold was the size of peas.
"And this gold is too small, — Edil reasoned. — To fill the bag, it would take half a lifetime here. I’ll go to the Red Mountain instead. Maybe the gold there will be bigger?"
And he set off for the Red Mountain. He walked all night and was not afraid at all; his wife had taught him a lesson once and for all. In the morning, he reached the foot of the Red Mountain and saw that gold lay everywhere, the size of sheep droppings.
"Oh, this is also small. It will take a long time to collect it to fill the bag. I’ll climb higher, walk through the gorge, maybe I’ll find gold the size of camel droppings. I’ll quickly gather a full bag and hurry home. However, I’ve already gone far from that nagging woman..."
And Edil walked further, ignoring the gold and stepping right over the scatter. Suddenly, from behind a rock, a giant appeared before him. He was dark-skinned like soot on a cauldron and fierce like a whirlwind. Upon seeing Edil, the giant burst out laughing. Edil also laughed, but out of fear.
— Why are you laughing? — asked the black giant.
— And why are you laughing? — Edil asked in return.
— I’m going — terribly hungry. I saw you and laughed with joy: I thought, here’s a splendid breakfast... Understand? And what are you so happy about?
— I’m death! — Edil lied. — I just took the form of a human to deceive you. Right now, I’ll take your soul, put it in this bag, and take it where it belongs. And there will be one less giant in the world. Tomorrow I’ll go after another giant. So get ready for death. Lie down on the ground, put your head on this flat stone — I’ll quickly cut it off with the axe; it’s sharp, and you won’t even have time to squeak. Come on, hurry up! How can you not be happy when the prey comes to you so easily!
— Oh, death, spare me! — the black giant bellowed. Why do you need such a small giant? You’d better go a little further. There lives a big giant — he’s a real soul eater! He just lay down to rest. You’ll catch him off guard. That’s a catch worthy of death.
— No, no, and don’t try to persuade me. Why should I go somewhere when you were the first to show up? Whoever shows up first must pay with their life. Enough talking! Lie down!
— Spare me! I’ll give you a gold ingot the size of a horse’s head.
— I don’t need that much, — Edil softened. — Just give me a bar the size of a sheep’s head.
— Fine. I’ll bring it right now, wait for me here.
— Hey, don’t you dare run away! — Edil warned. — I’ll find you anywhere. If you deceive me, it will be worse for you.
— I won’t deceive you. I know, you don’t joke with death, — said the giant and ran off somewhere with giant strides.
Soon he returned and laid a gold ingot the size of a ram’s head at Edil’s feet. Edil struggled to stuff the ingot into the bag, let the giant go in peace, and set off home.
At home, his wife could not believe her eyes — her cowardly husband brought back so much gold.
With the gold, they renewed their bed, household items, clothes, bought livestock, and lived like other people do.
But a few weeks later, another poor man settled nearby with his family. The women quickly became friends, and Edil’s wife told her new friend how they became wealthy overnight. Naturally, the poor man’s wife said to her husband: "Go, she says, to the mountains, bring back a gold ingot, and we’ll live like people. Do you see how Edil and his wife live?"
So he went to Edil:
— Neighbor, they say you went to the mountains and brought back a lot of gold. Tell me, where are those mountains, and is there still gold there? Or maybe we should go together? It’s more fun to go in pairs.
Edil agreed. And they set off to the mountains together. But on the way, fearing the black giant, Edil turned into another gorge. Naturally, there were no metal ingots there at all. They searched the mountains for three days but found nothing worthwhile. They only got tired and exhausted...
Suddenly they saw two poplars standing by the river. And near them, on the lawn, three large cauldrons were set up on tripods. A fire burned beneath them, and fresh meat from a moose was boiling in the cauldrons. The smell of boiled, fragrant meat spread throughout the area.
And the main thing — there was not a soul around.
Our heroes, hiding behind boulders, watched the glade for a long time. But no one appeared there until evening. In the twilight, they grew bold and approached the glade. They looked around once more and began to eat the hot meat.
— We’ll spend the night here, — Edil suggested to his companion. — Look how much meat is in the cauldrons! We won’t be able to finish it in a week. We’ll eat our fill and take each of our wives a bag — we can’t return home empty-handed! Just in case, we’ll sleep in the poplars — what if someone shows up? From above, we’ll see everything as if it were in the palm of our hand, and the branches will hide us — you won’t even notice us.
The neighbor agreed with Edil, and they climbed the trees for the night, each on his own. Just as they hid, out of nowhere — three giants seemed to have grown up in the glade.
The giants took the cauldrons off the fire, placed them between the poplars, waited for the meat to cool, and began to eat. Their teeth were evidently iron because the crunching sounded around as if someone was not gnawing bones but breaking dry branches of firewood.
Then one of the giants, tilting his head back to take a sip of broth straight from the cauldron he was holding, noticed Edil in the branches. And he nearly choked on the hot liquid from surprise.
— Oh my lord! — exclaimed the black giant, — there he is. — Look, our death is sitting on the poplar. Remember, I told you about it?
— Where? Where? — asked the giant to whom these words were addressed.
— There he is, on the branch of the poplar. Can’t you see?
— I see, now I see. But what kind of death is this? This is just an ordinary man. In my lifetime, I’ve eaten many such donkeys. I’ll eat this one for breakfast; let him sit until morning. He has nowhere to run while we’re sitting under the poplars.
— Oh, and I see another one on the other poplar, — roared the third giant. — And how small they both are compared to us. I’ll reach for this one and tickle him. I really like how people squeal and laugh when you tickle them.
And he began to rise up — huge, like a mountain. At that moment, Edil’s neighbor couldn’t take it anymore and fell from the tree. While he was falling, grabbing at branches, Edil shouted to him:
— Grab the lord! Grab the lord! We’ll quickly catch the others.
The giant lord, hearing this, dropped the piece of meat he was holding and took off running. The other two followed him — only the ground thundered and shook under their huge feet.
Edil, descending to the ground, rushed to his companion. He was dead. Edil buried his neighbor right there, under the poplars, filled his bag with meat, and set off home. What else could he do?