Page 6 - THE FROG MAUNTAIN SHAMAN GIRL

no beast in sight. Now the black forest was getting greener
and greener. Birds were singing, grasshoppers chirring. The
girl was happy. She thanked the fox deity for help and
promised to feed it and its family for all their life days. Then
she hurried to the village to get the people happy news. But
the village looked empty. Not a soul around; the deserted
houses were being ruined, mossy. The girl realised that while
she'd been staying in the Lower World, the earth had counted
plenty of years. She grieved and burst out crying. Then she
ran back to the Frog mountain and said, «Let me in the
Lower World, Frog. There is no home for me on the earth».
She laid down on the sun heated stone and the Frog
swallowed her and let her down the Lower World. And the
stone is still keeping the hollow that echoes the shaman girl's
shape. They say, anyone lying down in the hollow with a
heart's desire is going to get the shaman girl's help. The
desire will come true. Will it? Who knows? But nowadays
the Frog mountain slopes can show people a wonderful lily
that is in blossom only once, but losing its bloom, it spreads
around the golden seeds promising new life. A rare flower as
it is, isn't it miraculous?

Lidiya Kisenkova
Elena Belobra

Translated by Nina Sinitsyna

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