At the beginning of the 20th century, a sorcerer lived in our village - the old man Pereverzev. He did not seem to do any harm to the villagers, but still they feared him. He quickly put his offenders in their place once and for all: either the domestic cattle did not go to their yard, then suddenly on a holiday such a person's face will be twisted with a gumboil … ceased.
The villagers never ceased to be amazed at the sorcerer's abilities. For example, his cow herself left the herd at noon, came to his yard to milk, and then she herself returned. Once my neighbor said that one winter, when she was a girl, she and her friends sat at home and ate pickles. Here, for no apparent reason, icy water gushed out from under the wall. The girls, raising their skirts, in horror climbed onto the table and benches. And suddenly there was a sorcerer's laugh. It became clear that Pereverzev was joking.
But once there was one incident, after which the people of the sorcerer really began to respect.
Our village stands on the high right bank of the Don, it is crossed by seven ravines, and how many of them are in the surrounding fields is in general countless. Therefore, making hay for the inhabitants has always been a hellish work. There were many people in the village, three thousand people, and therefore they had to mow not only on the pasture and in the ravines, but even in the meadow, which was 25 kilometers from the village, beyond Novaya Kalitva.
The hay was carried home from there on horses and oxen. Over the summer, of course, they did not have time to transport everything, so there were stacks in the meadow until winter. Hay was guarded from covetous people as best they could. And only the sorcerer Pereverzev, who also had haystacks there, never guarded them. He was calm for his good.
And then one autumn thieves decided to take away Pereverzev's haystack. That evening, when they were about to do their dirty deed, Pereverzev suddenly said to his grandmother:
- Prepare a good supper - there will be guests. He himself opened the gate and prepared a pitchfork. At midnight, a cart laden with hay drove into his yard. The men jumped off it and fell to their knees before the sorcerer.
- Daddy, I'm sorry, the devil has beguiled! they read.
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- Nothing, guys, nothing, - replied Pereverzev. - You did a good job. Now take your pitchfork, stack the hay here and go to dinner.
After supper the owner saw off the thieves from the yard.
“And look,” he said at parting, “if you see a haystack untouched by the cattle, you better go around it!
When the thieves were later asked why they had come to Pereverzev, they replied that they had no idea where they were going. There was only one road ahead of them and it was impossible to turn off it. Fire and water raged everywhere and did not give any movement to the right, or to the left, or back. Only forward!
The sorcerer Pereverzev had no children, only one niece. I remember this old woman, she lived on our street with relatives, never quarreled with anyone, in her own way she treated people from fear, barley, the evil eye, warts, and so on. They said that her uncle wanted to transfer his strength to her, but she failed to pass the test.
When her niece went to him to gain strength, she was accompanied by howls, whistles, laughter, neighing, laughing, hissing. She had to pass without looking back, but could not resist, stopped and looked around. There was no one behind. Uncle told her later:
- Very little has passed. There will be strength, but small.
Tatiana Tikhonovna KNIEVSKAYA, p. Derezovka, Voronezh region