Duet with a she-wolf

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The story of the power of the Russian song that saved the family during the Second World War

“It was … 1943 … My father fought at the front, and my mother stayed at home with her four children. I, the oldest, was only 12 years old. Mom began to teach the cow to Paradise to walk in a harness. Probably, with my feminine heart, I felt that the war would be protracted.

It's time to prepare food for the winter. The mowing was allocated to us not far from the village, behind a steep ravine. It was August, the weather was warm, so we managed to prepare hay quickly, in 4 days. Before the rains, it was necessary to take the heaps out of the forest. Having laid down the last loader of hay, we tied the cart with ropes. I stayed upstairs, and my mother took Raya by the leash (she could not teach her to the reins) and commanded: "Well, with God!"

Photo of 1943. ("Before loading", assess the physical condition of the peasant wet nurse)

The road went straight at first, then downhill. To our left we could see an old birch forest, to our right - plantings of a young pine forest. I was dozing off to the creak of the wheels, when suddenly I heard my mother scream: "Fedya, throw me a pitchfork with a short handle!" Sleepily, I did not immediately understand what was what, but soon in 2-3 m I saw a large gray wolf. I, too, armed myself with the second pitchfork and instantly slid down first onto the croup of a cow, then onto the ground. And only then did he notice that a second wolf was running nearby. And again I hear my mother's agitated voice: "Son, why did you come down, they will eat us!"

But, apparently, she did not lose her composure. Immediately she gave the order: "Do not wave a pitchfork, defend yourself only when the wolf rushes at you or the cow." And also: "A she-wolf is running to your right; there may be cubs nearby." Then, out of nowhere, four wolf cubs ran out and immediately to the cow. They jump in front of her very nose, spin. And she wheezes and tries to hit them with horns. As soon as the cow shakes its head, the wolves immediately growl and show a grin that chills the soul. At this point, mom calms the cow: "Raichka, they are playing, they are still small, calm down!"

And suddenly, unexpectedly for me, my mother sang her favorite song: It’s not the wind that tends the branch, It’s not the oak tree that makes noise, - That is mine, my heart groans, Like an autumn leaf, it trembles … And my mother’s voice was very strong. And as soon as she began to strike high notes, the she-wolf stopped and began to howl. So, with the songs, we got to the cool log. Instead of resting for a few minutes, as usual, the cow went up the hill without slowing down. I don’t know how this story would have ended if the car had not appeared. The old lorry rattled, rattled, and most importantly - smoked like a steam locomotive, since it worked not on gasoline, but on birch chocks. Such machines were popularly called "samovars". Climbing the mountain, we lost sight of our pursuers. So many years have passed, and this story is still in my memory.

(Khaldin F. P. Chelyabinsk region, in abbreviation., "Bulletin of healthy lifestyle" No. 8 2013, p. 23)

The same song "It's not the wind that tends a branch …"