winter, the road for coaches runs down the Ob River, this one is kept only for the off-season. In autumn there are water openings (polynya) along the Ob, especially if there is a lot of snow, but still people go along the river. Until the very spring, deer argish and horse teams go until the ice is gone.
„Seems like the Khanty don't like the forest road. They call it the Royal Road.“
„Why would they like it. It brought so many troubles and adversities!“ And the women again began to cut trees.
Blizzard January and frosty February were particularly difficult for women and men at the timber works. Dark December wasn't easy for half-naked people either. They cut trees knee-deep in the snow, then pulled them out onto the wide road, and loaded them into horse-drawn sleighs. Wearing old sweatshirts and torn clothes, all day until dark they silently did the work they were told. Fortunately, it's getting dark early in winter, and the moon does not always illuminate the pain and suffering of people, so they were released home early. The couldn't stay in the dark forest, after all, they could run away.
A silent night star has seen much in its lifetime. Looking at the martyrdom of people from heaven, the moon was happy to melt within a week: it couldn't stand all of that earthly grief.
In recent years, those who made friends with the locals got warm fur kits. The settlers exchanged them from local Khanty women for beads, then for bright earrings. Pukan anki of the little Tatar worked in her kits covering her knees. Levne gave her friend fur boots two years ago. Quietly, before the guards saw, she laid them by the woodpile and sprinkled them with snow. The midwife of Khatan evie could only take them and put them at the wood works.
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 running around in a headscarf, in local clothes. But they said it was the little Tatar. They recognize me, call me Godmother.“
„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.
