At the intersection of country roads near a wooden cross, a very old grandmother in a gray shawl tied with a cross on her chest pulled out weeds and planted daisies and already gaping marigolds from a wicker basket. After greeting them, I asked how to get to the village where the ancient stone church was preserved, and noticed that the cross had been dug in recently, and the remains of an old wooden cross lay on the grass nearby. Noticing my curiosity, but not stopping what she was doing, Grandma began to tell me that the former cross was on the other side of the road.
- My parents said he had a grave. But would you be interested?.. and this is the way you need to go to the church," and she waved her hand in the right direction and continued to plant flowers.
But I still convinced my new friend that I would be interested to hear the story related to the old cross and the place where it was installed earlier.
That's the story.
After several years of drought and crop failures, famine came, followed by an imperceptible disease that mowed down people like grass. They drank various tinctures, herbalists, and those who could afford it went to the doctors, but nothing helped. There are half as many people in the area.
On the outskirts of a huge dense forest stood a forester's house. The owner of the house was dead, but the forester lived alone and had no children. The locals knew that she was not only a witch, but also a witch doctor. And some openly, some secretly, but many visited her for help in treating children of toddlers, and she did not refuse adults either.
And people turned to the forester: will she help to get rid of the disease? And what we heard from her was this: we need to return to the village, but not stay in the houses, be on the street. And take out the lying ones in the yard and wait patiently for as long as it takes. She also added that people should not be afraid and not hide from whoever comes to them.
They dispersed and did everything as the forester ordered them. It was already evening. Suddenly, the prolonged howl of a wolf tore the air. The dogs in the village got into the booths, and the people were scared too. But many immediately realized that the witch doctor had turned into a forest animal. And the she-wolf went from hut to hut, from yard to yard, not letting anyone pass who was touched by the disease. She licked their hands and feet, their bodies were thin, and immediately the patients began to feel better. The fever receded, the wounds healed, and my strength increased.
...After leaving the last village where people were sick, losing her strength, the wolf reached this stone, taking upon herself the suffering of people, and then she died.
- Even now, people have not forgotten how many human lives that forester saved. After that, they put a cross on the stone on the grave. And now it's been moved. I don't know why or who would do that," Grandma finished her story. Stopping at a stone, I noticed a hill next to it, on which orange marigold flowers were modestly swaying in the wind among white daisies.