Once upon a time there lived a rich Nganasan, Three-Faced Arms. He had an old wife, an adult daughter, a girl, and a one-year-old son.
Once a girl was sitting and sewing in the chum in front of the open entrance and saw: three argish were coming towards them from the tundra. Before she had time to be surprised by this, she sees that there are already three tents standing.
She became embarrassed, turned her tent in the other direction so that those who came would not see her, and sat down to sew again. As soon as she raised her eyes from work, she saw that three argish were coming towards them, and again three plagues grew up in the distance. She turned the tent in the third direction. And from this side six argish had already arrived, and six tents appeared. Once again she turned her chums, but from here she saw that as many as twelve caravans (argish) were coming, and twelve chums had grown up in front of her. A total of twenty-four plagues surrounded her.
When the last twelve tents were brought, the old man with three-fat arms looked at them and said:
- There will be trouble. They probably came to marry their daughter. If we give it to one, the others will kill you.
Here, from the first plagues, three matchmaker women arrived with argish gifts. They stopped in front of the tent, began to sing, and woo the girl. An old man came out to them, refused to give up his daughter and turned his back to them. In turn, three, six and twelve matchmakers came from the other three camps, but the old man refused them all.
Then men drove out from the guest camps and began shouting to the old man to give him his daughter. A terrible noise arose near the tent. The old man said here:
“Rather than disappear in the plague, I’d rather go fight them myself.” I'll ask them. And you, daughter, protect your son. Die yourself, but save his life.
He took his bow and arrows and left the tent. Such a battle began that the entire plague was riddled with arrows. The old woman also says:
“Let me die next to my husband.”
She came out of the tent with a bow and arrows. She saw that three heroes were creeping up on the old man from the side, took aim and pierced them all with one arrow.
The girl took her brother in her arms and sat there the entire time the fight lasted. Finally it became quiet. One hero looked into the tent, saw her sitting with a child in her arms and said to others:
-What did we fight for? This is not a girl, but a woman!
“This is not a woman, but a girl,” others say.
This hero came in and wanted to grab the girl. But she pushed him so hard that he flew far away from her, across ridges, lakes and rivers. The hero returned and began to kindly tell the girl that her father and mother had been killed and that she still had nowhere to go. The girl thought and agreed to wander with him, but in separate covered sleighs, together with her brother. The hero agreed. He harnessed the reindeer, packed her property, and the girl with her brother in her arms went with him. Three years passed. The girl and her brother are still wandering around. Everything does not allow the hero to approach him.
My brother grew so much in three years that he looked like a real man.
The hero decided to kill the guy. Otherwise, he thinks, he’ll kill us all later. He decided to start a fight with the girl in order to divert her attention, and his old father would then kill the guy with a stick.
But again the hero flew away from the girl’s push. From then on, she began to hide the guy under skins in the sled. But it was difficult for her. I had to be on guard all the time so that my brother wouldn’t be killed somehow. Therefore she said to him:
- Hide in the snow and leave us alone. I will leave food and clothes for you under a stick stuck in the snow, and you follow in our footsteps.
So the guy followed in the footsteps of the argish. At each plague site I found food left by my sister. But one day the Argish reached a large river and crossed it on the ice. But the guy walked quietly, and by the time he got to the river, the ice had already passed, he had to turn and walk along it.
He walked along the river bank downstream. After a while, I found a covered sleigh on the river bank and saw deer on a maut (lasso) near it. He found clothes and food in the sled.
He harnessed the reindeer, lay down in the sleigh, and the reindeer took him, but where, he himself did not know.
The deer carried him like this for a long time and finally stopped near a large herd. This herd belonged to the guy’s father, the old man Three-Fazed Arms. The shepherd's son approached the sled that had arrived and saw a man in it. He quickly ran to the tent and told his father the shepherd. The old shepherd recognized the owner's sleigh and reindeer and guessed that it was the son of the old man, Three-Faced Arms. He brought the guy to his tent, and he lived here until he grew up completely.
Once two sons of a shepherd and a guy went to a high mountain. At the top, her boyfriend lay down and did not move.
The shepherd's sons pushed and pulled him, but they could not do anything with him and left him on the mountain.
At home they told their father about this. The old shepherd sent his eldest son to wake up the guy, but the son returned with nothing. He also sent another son - again to no avail. I went myself. He sat down near the head of the lying guy and said:
“I know what you’re sad about.” If you have a solution, go for it. I won't hold you.
Then the guy got up and returned to the tent. The old man spoke to him again:
– Your father has two one-horned deer in his herd. These deer are very fast and strong. You can catch them only with a copper hook sixty fathoms long. If you have the strength, take this mount.
The guy took the sixty fathom copper maut and went to the herd. The two one-horned runners stay the furthest away from people. The guy did not run up to them, threw a maut from a distance and caught one. He threw the mout again and another runner hit him straight.
The guy harnessed an iron sled with copper leashes, took an iron trochee (pole) and rode north. I drove along the tundra for a long time until I reached the battlefield. Many people were killed, and among them was a hero in iron clothes. The guy drove for many more days and found another battlefield. Lying among the corpses was another hero - in copper clothes. A few days later the guy ran over people’s corpses again. The whole earth is covered with ice. The hero in silver clothes was among them. The guy was surprised who could kill such mighty heroes. He also wants to measure his strength with him.
Then the guy rushed into the tundra and ran into a lonely tent. From the plague there are traces of man. Each footprint is such a distance from the other that in three steps the runner should be out of sight.
The guy found an old woman in the plague. He did not know that this old woman was his aunt. She told him that her husband had gone to help his brother, who had been fighting with some heroes for many years.
The guy didn’t say anything to his aunt and followed the trail of her husband. He found tracks many miles apart and finally saw that a battle was going on far ahead of him. Three people attack three others. Three retreat, fight back, three advance, preventing them from turning and running away. Not knowing who they were attacking, the guy shot an arrow at the retreating people and killed all three.
Then the three attackers turned to him, and he recognized one as his father and the other as his mother.
His father silently approached him and overturned the sled along with him. Then all three - father, mother and uncle - got into his sleigh and drove off. The guy jumped to his feet and ran after them. So he ran all the way to the chum, keeping up with the sled.
They ate in the tent, but they didn’t feed the guy and didn’t talk to him.
In the morning we went south. The guy, without eating or drinking, runs on foot to get the argish. So, hungry, I ran until we arrived back at my father’s herd. But then only Three-Faced Hands said to his son:
- Let's go look for our daughter.
The old man again harnessed two one-horned deer and rode north, and his son ran after him on foot.
We arrived at the tents. There is not a single man in them. Only women and girls. The women told the old man Three-Fazed Hands that one old man in the neighboring Chumovie had his enemies take a girl in battle. But a hero with a copper jaw came from somewhere, killed all the men in those tents and took the girl away.
The men from these tents wanted to take the girl away from him, but he killed them all too.
Next the father and son went. We found many more tents without men. Again the women told them that their husbands wanted to take the girl away from the mighty hero, but he beat them all.
At night the old man and his son reached the hero’s camp. They see their girls standing near a covered sled. The old man, Three-Stretched Arms, wanted to get into the sled, but she pushed him so hard that he flew far away. Then my brother climbed into the sled. She pushed him. But her blow struck as if on a stone mountain, and the sled was thrown back. The father followed the guy in. Then she recognized him and said:
– Don’t be angry with these people with whom I live now. They freed me from my captors.
Only then did the old man seem to recognize his son and begin to talk to him.
“Let’s go visit the tent now,” he said. When they began to enter the tent, a young hero rose from his seat and wanted to hit the guy who had entered. But the owner of the tent, his father, stopped his hand and said:
“I told you, son, that this girl must have relatives somewhere.” So they came for her. Now we need to speak to them with honor, so that they give it for you. Don't you see that people equal to you have come?
The hero calmed down. The old man invited those who came in to sit down.
They seated the father next to him, and the guy next to his daughter so that he could look after her.
The old men talked honestly among themselves, and the next day the old man with three-fat hands took his daughter to his tent. The father of a young hero sent with him, who freed the girl and his daughter, as well as half of his wealth. The hero's sister placed her large tent near the old man's tent with three-fat arms, and she became the wife of this old man's son. And the hero, who freed the girl, went after them. As soon as Three-fat Hands and his son came home and entered their tent, the young hero entered the tent immediately after the old man and his son and began to woo the girl. Then the old man with three-fat arms said:
- Here is your beloved, you suffered and fought a lot for her. You can take it for yourself.
The old man, Three-fat Hands, gave his daughter for the young hero and with her half of his wealth.
Since then, these heroes lived peacefully with their families, and their descendants still live.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru