05. Acquaintance

Every summer, my mother took the girl to her grandmother in a village in another region. For three months: brought it in early June, and picked it up at the end of August. And the grandmother and her granddaughter almost immediately left for their beloved grandfather to the sea and mountains, to the south. Their trips were secret, because the daughter had a fight with her dad and did not want to communicate with him, let alone allow her to communicate with her granddaughter.

In the land of the Argonauts, the sea and the sky were blue, the peaches were juicy, and there were many flowers and trees. Many children came to this village for the summer: girls and boys. The girls especially like the curly blond boy, whose eye color was outperformed by the sea and the sky in terms of the saturation of blue.

The boy made friends with the girl and waited for a trip to the sea the whole next year. When they met again, the girl was also very happy, she missed her. They again began to walk in the mountains, eat berries and fruits in the forests, swim naked in cold rivers, explore dark caves, watch spiders and have fun together.

One evening a neighbor came to my grandparents and, talking to the girl, said that this boy would still marry another, because he should marry girls of only his own faith. And she said that such girls are also here, and they also want to be friends with the boy.

The next day the girl asked the boy about it. He did not know what to answer, the girl was upset, and the boy went home. In the evening, grandmother and grandfather returned home, but the girl was not at home. Probably stayed overnight at a party, they thought, and calmly went to bed. The girl did not come home either in the morning or for lunch, and in the afternoon a boy came to invite the girl to walk together.

But how did you come without her? - exclaimed the grandmother. - We thought she was sleeping with you! The girl is missing. The whole village dropped everything and went to the mountains screaming. But the girl was already far away. There were mountains near the grandfather's house, and the girl several times saw a pair of mountain goats with little kids. She loved little fluffy animals so much.

When the boy left without answering her question, she went up the hill in frustrated feelings and saw a family of goats. Previously, the kids did not come close to her, but today they ran in a race to meet her. And the girl went into the mountains with the kids and a pair of mountain goats. On the second day, she felt hungry, and she cheerfully ate grass with her new friends. Several days passed in this way. The girl ate grass and wild fruits that were sometimes found in the trees (mature and unripe), the bark of young trees, and anything that could be eaten. The journey had been going on for several days, they went high into the mountains and groomed along the upper ridge, communicated with each other in goat's language and had a great time together.

Once, wolves came out to their merry company. The goats with the kids immediately galloped over the stones upstairs, but the girl did not have time. The wolves also had cubs, one a little lighter, the second a little darker, but both gray and fluffy. Adult wolves approached the girl, sniffed at her, but did not eat. For several days of traveling in the mountains and eating grass, only skin and bones remained from the girl, there was especially nothing to eat there. Then the cubs ran up to the girl and began to play with the girl. So she stayed to travel with the wolves. With wolves, she tried big dead birds, fresh meat of hares, small birds. The girl usually slept with the wolves at night, while the adult wolves were on the hunt, and during the day she walked with the wolves while the wolves slept during the day. In the evening, the wolves woke up and simply rested until complete darkness next to the girl and their children. The girl stroked adult wolves, tore burdocks out of wool and shag them to make their skins fluffy. The wolves also taught her how to howl and communicate with each other.

The girl was happy and glad to have new friends, but the resentment still upset her. On the third or fourth day of life with the wolves in the evening, when the five of them were resting on the top of the mountain and admiring the setting orange sun, a boy came out from behind the stones. Seeing him, an adult wolf immediately jumped on all its paws, jumped into the center of the strong and bared its jaws.

“Don't look into your eyes,” the girl shouted. - Don't look, he's afraid of you. The girl went to the side of the shelf and gently stroked its side. The wolf snapped back, but continued to stare at the boy with his mouth open. The boy was so upset that the girl was missing that he did not feel fear. He went to look for the girl in the mountains himself, in the evening, when all the inhabitants returned to the village with nothing. At night, he climbed out through a hole in the fence, walked under the girl's windows, in which the lights were on, and went up the hill next to her house, because he knew that she had gone there. He was looking for her all these days, he ate almost nothing, although he took cheese and bread. He ate wild fruits, sometimes found the places where the girl slept: beds made of leaves and branches, and also slept on them. He looked into the starry night sky and asked his god only to see those green eyes and a timid smile again.

When he ran out of cheese and bread, he continued his search, deciding that he would either find her or die himself, because he no longer wanted to live, probably at his 5 years old. The girl went with her grandfather to the mountains. He walked along these twisted branches higher and higher into the mountains and one day he came out from behind the stones. A small mountain clearing was bounded on both sides by the stones of the mountain, on the other side there was an abyss. A pair of wolves lay directly in front of him, and to the right sat a girl with wolf cubs. The wolf immediately jumped up and growled, but the girl came up to him and began to stroke him.

- Look how fluffy, - said the girl. The boy held out the last piece of bread, which he had kept for two days for her, knowing that he himself was dying of hunger. He went up to them, gave the bread and cheese, she took a bite, and gave the rest to the wolves and wolf cubs. “They are really good,” the girl said, don't be afraid. The boy gently stroked the wolf, the girl hugged him and gave the wolf the remaining piece of cheese. The wolf took the cheese, snapped softly and went back to his friend's place.

While events were developing it became dark, it was dangerous to go down the mountain at night, so that night the boy and the girl slept with the wolves. In the morning, there were no adult wolves, so before leaving, the boy and girl waited home so as not to leave the wolf cubs alone. The girl did not even want to leave, and agreed only after she found out that everyone was looking for her and was very worried, especially for her grandparents. They went down the mountain and went to a cafe to the boy's distant relatives, because they had gone 70 kilometers from the village. They called the village from the cafe, and a police car came to pick them up. It turns out that while they were gone, the grandmother called the girl's dad, and he came to look for her, asking for time off at work and telling his wife about an urgent business trip.

When the girl and boy returned to the village, everyone was very happy. The next day, the grandfather invited the boy with his relatives and neighbors to dinner. At dinner, the grandfather asked the boy what reward he wanted for saving his granddaughter. The boy thought for a few seconds and said that he wanted the girl to be given to him as his wife. He said: "I want to marry her and always be together." - Well, - said the grandfather, - when do you want to marry her: now or later? “Now,” the boy replied. All the neighbors were shocked.

Grandpa could not refuse. A couple of days later they organized a wedding and the boy and girl slept together for the first time as husband and wife. Since then, they have been married. This story will be confirmed to you by every indigenous inhabitant of those places;) And her love is same lasting till nowadays.