Just once upon a time

Just once upon a time

Sine an to ta

(a short story from 'Anuyep' - 'Written things')

Long ago lived among Sakhalin Ainu a young man. Once, when there was a winter, this young man went hunting.  He wandered in the forest for a long time, without meeting any game. By the evening he finally managed to shoot a deer. However the deer was not seriously wounded and it was not possible to catch it up on deep snow. The young man decided to stop on a lodging for the night and to continue prosecution of this deer with a dawn. In the morning the young man went on searches of the deer. Having passed for a while he found out  the deer,  took his bow enclosed an arrow and shot. When he approached to the dead deer he saw that an another's arrow had stuck out of it already. At this moment an unknown girl went out of bushes and told that it was her arrow, and that it was she who had killed the deer. The young man didn't begin to argue and has allowed the girl to take the deer away. He  looked after her when she went through the forest.  Then he turned and quickly went to opposite side. After a while the young came down in a deep and came across someone's ski traces. One trace as the young man defined, belonged to the girl that shot the deer. The second trace obviously belonged to a man. The young man stopped and was motionless for a while listening to the forest... And then sharply turned and went aside opposite to that where conducted ski traces...

Many years later on one of settlements this young man who was a very old man at that time met an old woman who was for some reason seemed his acquaintance. Little by little - they got to talking. And she told him story that many years ago once when there was winter she had shot a wounded deer and had met a young man who had wounded this deer the first, but had allowed her to take it away...

The old man lit up his pipe and began to remember that after he had given that deer, he had turned back and by the noon had come to a deep and had come across two ski traces one of which obviously had belonged to a man... Having come across these traces he had decided to go hunting to another side... The old woman smiled, added to the old man a few tea and told that person who had possessed man's trace, had been her father...