Ossetian fairy tales in English

– “Those are Gazza's pitchfork tips.”

– “And what is that dangling between your legs?”

– “Those are round stones used to kill wolves.”

– “I'll show you now how to kill wolves!” – said the wolf. He jumped on a five-bellied goat and ate it.

The six-bellied goat felt that it has had enough and speaks to the seven-bellied goat:

– “It's getting dark, it's time for us to go home. If I leave, you'll be alone here.”

– “Wait a bit!” – asked the seven-bellied goat. “Now I'll fill my seventh belly and then we'll go together.”

The six-bellied goat replied:

– “I'll walk slowly, you'll catch up with me on the way.”

She walked slowly along the road, and the seven-bellied goat got carried away and stayed in the pasture.

The six-bellied goat reached the wolf. The wolf saw that goat and thought about it:

– “I'll pull it up, of course, but I've had enough of it. All right”, – he said to himself. “I'll eat a little, and let the rest be for tomorrow.”

It was already getting dark. The wolf killed the goat, ate as much as he could, and put the rest for tomorrow. He stretched out on the road and thought like this:

– “From such satiety it will be difficult for me to go home, I will rest here, and then I will go.”

Meanwhile, a seven-bellied goat appeared on the road.

– “Another goat”, – said the wolf. “And how should I deal with it? Well, I'll hold her up, or she will run away, and tomorrow morning I'll eat her together with the rest of the other goat.”

The seven-bellied goat came to the wolf.

– “Whose goat are you?” he asked.

– “I am Gazza's goat.”

– “And what kind of man is Gazza?”

– “Gazza is a hunter who beats wolves.”

– “And what's that on your head?” – asked the wolf.

– “And these are iron sticks used to kill wolves.”

– “What is that dangling between your legs?” asked the wolf.

– “These are round stones used to kill wolves”, – replied the goat.

– “Ah”, said the wolf to himself. “Things are not going well!”

He decided to run away, left the goat alive, forcibly went to the roadside and, heavy with satiety, stretched there. The seven-bellied goat saw the scraps on the road and said:

– “Ah, that's what the wolf has done! He ate all my friends! Only at dusk, the seven-bellied goat reached home.”

Gazza asked her:

– “Why did you come home so late? Where are your friends?”

The goat answered to him:

– “My friends were torn and eaten by a wolf, I was the only one who escaped.”

– “Tell me, where, on what road did all this happen?”, – asked Gazza.

The goat told him where the wolf was.

Gazza grabbed his gun and hurried on his way.

But the wolf was lying there, unable to get up, just looking up from below, watching. Gazza can't see him yet because the wolf is stretched out on the roadside.

When he reached the place, the goat had mentioned, Gazza looked around. He was sure that the wolf was somewhere near him.

When he saw Gazza approaching him, the wolf tried to run, but he could not run fast, weighed down with exhaustion. Meanwhile, Gazza noticed him and started to catch up with him. It is hard to catch up with a satiated wolf! Gazza quickly caught up with him, shot him with his rifle and killed him.

Gazza returned home. He was left with one saved seven-bellied goat. He began to live happily ever after and has lived until today.

A deer, a bear and two hedgehogs

Once upon a time there were two hedgehogs. They lived in the forest in a hollow tree.

One day a woodcutter went to the forest and cut down the hollow tree. He brought it home and cut it into big pieces to make it easier to stoke. The woodcutter's wife took some logs and heated the stove with them. She wanted to cook a meal for her hungry husband.

The hedgehogs felt the heat and prayed to God:

– “O God, save us, and we shall give you thanks with ahsarfambalams from the lungs of the deer and honey on the chest of the bear!”

A stench came from the hedgehogs.

– “What stinking wood is this!” – said the mistress and threw the wood out of the stove.

The hedgehogs were afraid to run away during the day, so they hid, and at night they got out of the village. By morning they were already in the steppe and there they agreed that one of them would settle on one mound, and the second – on another, which was far away from the first.

So they did. Each lurked on his own mound. Meanwhile, a deer approached the first hedgehog. The hedgehog talked to him and offered him a wager:

– “Let us race against each other”, – he said. “On this condition: whoever of us reaches the next mound first can slaughter and eat the one who has fallen behind.”

And he pointed out to the deer the mound on which the second hedgehog was sitting.