In ancient times, when the Gnerru birds were people, one man of the ancient people married Gnerru. They went to collect termite larvae: her husband dug them out with a stick, and she put them in a bag made of gazelle skin. The larvae were all in the ground, she washed them, and they returned home.
The next morning, Gnerru and her husband went in search of food again. The husband was digging out the larvae - he was below, in the hole, and Gnerru was standing at the top. He put the larvae into a bag held by Gnerra. She shook the bag, and he dug out more and more and put it on top. Then he went to another place and again found the larvae, he dug them up and also put them in a bag. And now the bag was already full to the top.
But he again went to look for the larvae, dug them up and exclaimed:
“Give me your little kaross, I’ll put the larvae in it!”
The wife objected:
“We, from the Gnerru clan, are not accustomed to putting dirty grubs in our kaross, which we put on our backs.
He exclaimed again:
“Give me your little kaross, I’ll put the larvae in it.” The wife said:
“Put it on the ground, we are not accustomed to putting larvae with soil in karossas.” And he kept repeating:
- Well, give me, give me a small kaross to put the larvae in. Then the wife said:
- And you put them on the ground and sprinkle earth on top.
He exclaimed again:
“Give me the kaross, I’ll put the larvae in it,” and he tore the kaross from her. And her insides fell out.
Seeing this, he began to cry and exclaimed:
- Oh, my wife! What should I do now? And the wife stood up and sang:
We are from the Gnerru clan,
It is not customary for us to place dirty larvae
In karossas that we carry on our backs.
We are from the Gnerru clan,
It is not customary for us to place dirty larvae
In karossas that we carry on our backs.
She put her entrails back and walked towards her mother's house. And so she walked and sang:
We are from the Gnerru clan,
It is not customary for us to place dirty larvae
In karossas that we carry on our backs.
Her mother was at home, she heard and said to one of her daughters:
“Look in the direction where your older sister went to look for food,” it seems to me as if the wind carries her voice. Has something happened? After all, your sisters’ husbands don’t know how to behave as they should.
Her daughter stood up, looked and exclaimed:
- Here comes your daughter, she walks and falls!
Then the mother said:
“You see what your older sisters’ husbands are doing!” If they take us as wives, then they should behave properly, but they act like crazy.
She ran to meet her daughter, taking with her a new small kaross, which she had hidden just in case. She put it on her daughter, picked up her entrails, put it in a small karosse and tied her daughter with kaross straps - there were four of them since the karosse was made from the skin of a gazelle and these are strips of skin from the legs of a gazelle. And she slowly led her daughter home, she took her to her hut.
She was very angry with her daughter's husband and when he wanted to come to his wife, she did not let him in. She told him to return to his people. She said that since the people of the ancient people do not understand how to behave with the Gnerru, then let them leave.
And so her daughter’s husband went back to his family, and the Gnerru continued to live there.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru