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The woman quickly learned to care for boots with long boot-top. The main thing was that she needed to put grass insoles not only for heat, but so that they absorb moisture, and, of course, dry in time, kneading wet soles with her hands. Pukan anki looked well after her boots, and therefore Levne replaced her kit soles only once, the previous summer, sewed new ones and said:
„You care for your kits like a karkam, a dexterous Khanty woman. You can wear them for another two or three years.“
That day women have already complied with their norm. They were standing near horses laden with forest and talking:
„They don't even spare a pregnant woman, though she will give birth soon,“ Pukan anki pointed at a young woman who raised a felled tree to drag it to the road. „She'll give birth right in the snow.“
Looking down at the ground, the godmother said:
„We've already built a new village, but there is no freedom. We have to come every day.“
„We are fine, we have boots and sweatshirts. Women from the second brigade who were sent to the Kunovat river last year were all wearing shoes. They were urban. I wonder if they survived or not? It's good if the local Khanty shared their clothes, but what if there were no people there? Frost penetrates the skin, and your whole soul aches.“
„How many winters and years have passed since they sent us into these snows?“ Pukan anki pulled up her kits, carefully brushing off the adhering snow so that they would not get wet.
„It's been five years I guess!“ answered the godmother.
„Well, yes, the girl, our little Tatar, survived among the Khanty on fish. She's been almost five now, and she's only talking their language.“
„I also saw her, she's already big. I thought it was their child ru
„I pray for their family every day, because they called me a midwife. When Anshem iki brought me a knife and mumbled something on their language, I got scared. I thought he came to kill me. But he shoved the knife into my hands and left.“
„Well, yes, now we know their customs. He gave me the cross, remember? I could be sent to prison for it. I was crossing myself, fighting off, but this heathen put it in my hand and left without crossing. I tried to hide many times, but for some reason I'm afraid to throw it away.“
„Keep it,“ her friend reassured her, „maybe this knife and the cross are mercifully saving us in these forests.“
„The Khanty say we protect the girl, but maybe it's the girl and the gifts from strangers that protect us among these snows?“ Khatan evie's godmother looked at the road with a blurred look.
„Why strangers? These are now our relatives, the parents of our goddaughter,“ protested Pukan anki, who was flushed from frost.
Soon the foreman came on a horse and a sled loaded with firewood, and went towards the new village. Countless villages have appeared all over the North. How many people the new Soviet power drove from their native lands?
In the old days in Russia there were villages and towns, now there were settlements. This word always came from convicts, settlers who had been driven to Siberia even in tsarist times. Now the Soviet government was doing the same.
Another hunter went to women's workplace, returning home with a hunting belt full of different game. The hunter stopped to rest, leaned on a ski stick, and cheerfully greeted the lumberjacks:
„Vushcha ulat! Juh evatty hojatat.“
„Hello, Juhur!“ The women were delighted.
„I'm sure you've already fulfilled the production plan for fur ahead of schedule! Your belt is full every day. We saw your photo on the board of honor!“
„Little more! Pa voi, look for ooh velam tail, mohty hun moshatlen! The beast also has brains, not easy to get it.“
„Well done! You are young, but have two children and you are the best worker already!“ Talkative women understood little from his answer.
Far away, on the other half of the Ob, a deer argish appeared. A large herd of deer was following the sledges. Yuhur hurried home.
„Look,“ Pukan anki pushed the godmother of Khatan evie, „the reindeer herders are returning.“
„I wonder if the Ob is all frozen? Yesterday, people said that the water around was open. The river is insidious, the current is fast, and the wide Ob freezes unevenly.“
„Yesterday I went to get water, at a stony roll over, and the current is still seething. How do they feel that the ice is frozen?“
„So they wander. They never sit in one place: they go where the deer is,“ the women were talking, sitting on the wood.
Onas slowly crossed the wide Ob, still covered with thin ice, approaching the Royal Road. In Pitlourkurt, only chimneys peeked out from under the soft snowdrifts. Villagers also noticed the reindeer herders, and sent the children to tie the ubiquitous dogs.
„Tie dogs, or they will disperse the herd! How do you catch a deer then?“ The children ran after the village dogs that ran away towards the reindeer herders. Village hunting huskies made such a noise that everyone, from the smallest to the oldest, came out into the street. Everyone wanted to see the reindeer herders getting to their winter camps. All Pitlourkurt residents had sons, parents or just relatives among them. Each family had a few deer: some had one or two, some even more. Everyone was waiting for good news.
Soon all growling and barking dogs were tied. Dumbfounded dogs tried to break their leashes, not hearing their owners shouting.
Reaching the wide Royal Road on the Ob, Onas stopped at the village.
„They got to the Royal Road, now it will be easier for them to go further!“
The villagers hugged with relatives, the old people took turns kissing the younger, greeting them.
„Grandmother,“ Tatya asked Levne, „why is the road called Royal?“
„I don't know, granddaughter. They say that in the old days the Russian tsar paved the way for our villages.“ He liked beautiful sables, that's why his merchants went on this road. Now they transport fish and furs without a stop.»
«Instead they bring sugar, flour, salt, and tobacco to our village,» Khutline joined the conversation.
«That's why we also need this road. One bad thing is that dogs are not used to passing carts. They bark day and night.»
«And now the road is called Royal because it's convenient for us. Walking along a well-paved road is easier: you won't get stuck in snowdrifts.»
«Let's go home, we are waiting for guests tomorrow,» said Levne to the girls, «the reindeer herders will come.»
People moved to their homes.
Summer 1941
In the month of vonzi, when the ringing snow streams are already tired of ru
The river started. Piled on top of each other, heavy dirty ice swept away islands and trees along the way. The high sandy shores collapsed, and the mighty cedars and thin birches, exposing their roots, rolled upside down to a stormy river – just like people. The weak died, the strong survived in this whirl. The ice, plunging into the dark deep waters, sharply emerged from the seething mess, rushing to the Gulf of Ob.
Having been exposed from the frozen cover, the high-water river As happily breathed in deeply, tossing up the foam and shards of the last ice floes glistening in the sun. Muddy water animatedly played with spring sunshine after a long winter hibernation and extended to the sandy shores. The men rushed to fishing, putting nets on the sors that had been freed from ice.