The defender by Nicholas Kalashnikoff
"The defender" by Nicholas Kalashnikoff is a children''s novel written in the mid-20th century. Set in the mountains of northeastern Siberia, it follows Turgen, a Lamut healer and hunter who becomes guardian of a herd of wild mountain rams while facing village superstition and the hazards of the tundra. His circle widens to include the widow Marfa, her children Tim and Aksa, and a fallen lamb he rescues, as he seeks harmony
between people and the wild. The opening of this novel frames the tale as one told to the narrator by Yakut Tim about his Lamut stepfather Turgen, a solitary healer shunned after a shaman’s “visions” and village gossip claim he consorts with rams and devils. Turgen befriends the poor widow Marfa and her children, trades food for milk, and turns his loneliness into a mission: hauling hay to the crags to feed a small herd until they accept his presence; he even scares off a bear and watches their leader repel wolves. He dreams of the Great Spirit’s approval, then, when gunshots panic the herd and a lamb falls from a rock bridge, he doctors the lamb—Lad—at home, despite fresh rumors stirred by a drunkard who sees it. Once healed, Lad is returned to his grateful family, and another dream emboldens Turgen to ask Marfa to join lives; she agrees, and the children visit his mountain hut as he resolves to protect the rams under the local one-hunter custom. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Kalashnikoff, Nicholas, 1888-1961 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Louden, Claire |
| Illustrator | Louden, George, 1920-1997 |
| LoC No. | 51012840 |
| Title | The defender |
| Original Publication | New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1951. |
| Credits | Tim Lindell, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres |
| Subject | Shepherds -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Rams -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Endangered species -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Even (Asian people) -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Yakut (Turkic people) -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Siberia (Russia) -- Juvenile fiction |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 77051 |
| Release Date | Oct 14, 2025 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 428 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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