Here, in Naukan, four whaler brothers from the Alikhpagmit clan lived on the other side of the river. And on the other side of the river above the ravine lived whalers from the Imtugmit clan. Imtugmit people are skilled hunters and the best whalers. With the onset of spring, the Imtugmitians are the first to prepare for hunting. At noon, their rower runs from dugout to dugout, calling men to a whale hunt, and the Naukans rejoice that they will catch a whale. And when the Imtugmitians bring the whale first, the next day the Alikhpagmitians prepare for the hunt.
And then one day, when the Imtugmitians caught a whale, four Alikhpagmitian brothers, together with the foreman, also went out to sea in kayaks and caught a whale. These brothers were lucky and were never lazy in hunting.
With the onset of winter, having caught whales in their meat warehouses, the Naukans organized a holiday and gave part of the catch to the owner of the universe in order to have good luck in the hunt. The Master of the Universe watched people work all over the earth. If everyone worked well, he gave them a lot of food; if people were lazy, he punished them with hunger. And people, eating well, grew quickly.
One day the Imtugmitians caught a whale again, and the next day the Alikhpagmitians also began to prepare for the hunt. The elder brother of the Alikhpagmitians began to wake up his younger brothers early in the morning. Two woke up, but I couldn’t wake up the youngest. The younger one was lazy and hoped that he would have time to prepare for the hunt later. The elder brother began to scold him:
- Why don’t you get up, don’t listen to what I tell you? You follow your weak mind to prepare later. After all, we fulfill our father’s commandments, so we have spoils and feed our children. Your wife probably told you something, so why do you obey the woman’s words? We must act only according to our father’s commandments!
But the younger brother became lazy and did not want to get up, so the older brother left him alone and began to get ready to hunt with his two brothers. They collected their hunting equipment and went down to the canoe. The weather at sea was calm and... the hunters set sail from the shore.
When the older brothers sailed, the younger one got out of bed and said to his wife:
- It's time to get up! Those gathered for the hunt will probably leave me. Quickly give me my raincoat, short mittens, long mittens, a second thick raincoat for a kayak, and all my clothes that are hanging on the drying racks, and I’ll bring my hunting equipment here.
After that he left. His wife followed him out. The hunter, it turns out, went to get his kayak. The wife returned to the dugout. When I brought the kayak, through the vent of the dugout. said to his wife:
- Take the kayak and drag it into the dugout as quickly as possible, otherwise the brothers will leave me and I won’t catch up with them.
A kayak was pulled through the hole into the dugout. Entering, he said to his wife:
– Give me some hunting equipment and clothes as soon as possible. While his wife was collecting clothes and equipment, the hunter whittled the kayak oar and sharpened the ends. Then he put on his kayak clothes and said to his wife:
- Inflate the float tighter. The wife inflated the float, and the hunter attached it to the kayak along with the harpoon and said to the wife:
“Now look how far my older brothers have sailed.”
The wife leaned out into the dugout vent and answered:
- Over there, behind the Ukigalyuk rock, they are hidden from view. The hunter approached the kayak, put a long mitten on one hand, a short mitten on the other hand, and secured the visor over his eyes tightly. After that, he climbed into the kayak hole, carefully tucked the floors of the intestinal raincoat, and tightened the kayak belt. He got ready for the hunt and ordered his wife to open the hatch and call the wives of his older brothers. The wife opened an outlet and called all the wives of the older brothers. The hunter said to the women:
- Well, pick me up with the kayak and take me outside.
The women lifted the kayak with the hunter and carried it outside. The hunter told his wife to close the dugout vent. After that, he took his oar, leaned it against the corner of the dugout, and said to his wife:
- Come on, push the kayak down to the sea harder!
The wife said:
“I’ll push you down, you’ll fall and break along with the kayak on the coastal hummocks!”
Husband said:
- Push the kayak boldly, otherwise the older brothers will disappear and leave me.
And so the woman pushed the kayak with the hunter with all her might from a high place down to the sea. The hunter did not roll on the ground, but took off above it and swam through the air down to the edge of the fast ice.
Women from inside the dugout asked:
– Where is the kayak swimmer?
The hunter's wife replied:
- Over there, floating through the air towards the sea, approaching the edge of the fast ice. So he approached the edge of the ice, went down to the water, and swam!
After a while, the woman from inside asked again:
– Is the kayak swimmer visible now?
The hunter's wife replied:
- He saw a sea animal. Here he harpooned the beast. That’s where the beast pulled him along the current, and opposite Kigmak he was leading him. He pulled the animal to the kayak by the harpoon strap and hit him on the head with a stone hammer. The beast pulled the kayak even faster. It’s located near Mamrokhpak.
Now it’s no longer visible.
It turns out that it was the sealed seal that was pulling the hunter by the harpoon strap. The sealed seal led the hunter farther and farther from Naukan. Many times he pulled the bearded seal towards the kayak and hit it on the head with a hammer, but he still couldn’t stun it; the animal pulled it forward even more.
So the bearded seal dragged the hunter to Sanlyuk, and then dragged him past Oyak, but he still could not finish off the animal. Finally, the kayak approached the fork in the current. Then he pulled the beast up again, hit him on the head with a hammer, and killed him. Having cut the neck, the hunter inflated the animal and pulled it through the water to the shore. At this time, the fog descended, everything around was clouded, the ground was covered with fog. However, the hunter was driving towards the shore. I drove for a long time, but there was still no shore. And then the fog rose up, and the earth appeared in the distance. But what kind of land is this? The hunter, approaching the shore, began to peer. No, this is not Naukan land, this is foreign land. The coastline on this land is flat, there are no mountains at all, green grass grows all around. When I landed on the shore, I saw a dugout on a hill. A man walks from the dugout with a sack on his back, holding a wooden dish in one hand and a bucket of water in the other. Following the man, the woman came out and also went to the shore. We went down and approached the kayak. The hunter who arrived with the prey responded:
- Hey! The woman said:
“Go out and lift your kayak to that upper kayak over there.” After this, feed and water your sealed seal, and then cut it into three parts. Place the front part in the bag and I’ll carry it.
The hunter did everything as the woman ordered. The woman carried the sack of meat into the dugout, and her husband followed her. Then she came again, put the back part in a bag and carried it to the dugout. Her husband followed her. So all the loot was transferred. The hunter followed the hostess into the dugout. The inside of the home turned out to be very beautiful and clean. It’s as if there is sunlight all around, everything glitters. The guest could not utter a word from amazement, and froze. So the hostess cut the bearded seal meat into pieces and cooked it. This woman’s husband, it turns out, was the master of the universe, he was the creator. The master of the universe said:
- I wanted to eat! He said this to his wife:
“This hunter is greedy, probably, and he regrets what he got for me.” But his elder brother told him more than once about his father’s behests, so as not to be lazy, so as to follow the advice of his elders and not spare the best pieces for me. But this hunter did not believe anything, but wanted to live only by his own mind. Now let it overwinter once.
And the hunter lost with the kayak, listening to the owner, thinks: Where did I end up? Probably, I ended up with the master of the universe and got lost with him because I was disobedient and violated my father’s covenants. The owner of the dugout hears the speaking soul of a person and guesses all his thoughts. In the evening the wife of the owner of the universe said:
- The one who gave me mugs made of whale fins during the whale festival in winter, and then regretted it, now let him not be bored!
The next day, when the man woke up, he thought again: Where did I end up? And the owner said, hearing the voice of the man’s soul:
– You didn’t get anywhere. I took you. You’ll spend the night once, you’ll spend the winter once, then I’ll let you go. And if you are bored, then look at your brothers.
After this, he opened the floor of his dwelling and brought the man to the hole. The man looked down and saw the whole earth, and on the earth his brothers. The brothers caught a large whale and cooked the best pieces. It turns out that this celestial being kept the man with him for the future in order to punish him for disobedience to his older brothers, for failure to fulfill his father’s behests. The owner said to the man:
- There are your brothers on earth cooking whale meat, living well, working together. They do not break their father's covenants. And I give them everything they need, because they give me the best and purest food. If you come back and are disobedient again, you will get caught by me a second time and then you will never return to earth!
The soul of the lost man spoke: Now, when I return, I will carry out all the advice and orders of my elder brother. The owner of the dugout said:
– I hear the words of your soul. You'll probably be lying. Now, when you return, if you yourself want to be full, then prepare delicious food for me from your spoils: deer meat pate, deer fat pate. You will leave the best part of your spoils to me.
Feeling sorry for the hunter, the celestial thought: If he is very bored, then let him see earthly customs. After that, the man came out of the dugout. Coming out, I saw my canoe near the dugout; on one side of the kayak lies the complete kayak equipment: a fancy painted middle oar, a float, a long oar and everything else for sea hunting. On the other side of the kayak lies complete equipment for hunting on foot. Then, turning to the dugout where the owner was, he said this:
“Here is my word: as soon as I return, if return is possible, then in everything I will follow the behests of my father and the advice of my elder brother.
The owner of the dugout, hearing the man’s conversation, said:
- If you return home, you will forget about everything and deceive me.
The man entered the dugout again. The master of customs said so to the one who entered; “I heard your soul talking about home.” Now go and bring your kayak here. You will prepare for the hunt the same way you prepared for the last time at home.
The man brought a kayak and began to dress next to the middle fat man. When I got dressed, I climbed into the kayak and sat down in it. The owner of the customs took the belt from the wall, tied it around the middle of the kayak and said:
“If this belt turns out to be short, then I’ll pull you back out and you’ll stay with me forever.” If the belt reaches the ground, then you will return home to your brothers.
After this, the owner of the customs opened the floor of his dugout. The hunter looked down and saw his brothers. The brothers caught the whale and prepared delicious food from the best pieces. Taking hold of the belt, the master of customs lowered the hunter to the ground. The belt turned out to be long and reached the ground. The hunter came down and swam out to sea. Immediately a bearded seal appeared near the kayak. The man harpooned the beast and killed it with a hammer. He skinned it and swam to the shore. On the shore, his brothers were skinning the whale. The elder brother saw the kayak, then said:
- Hey, our lost brother is coming home! The man who arrived really turned out to be their brother. From then on, the younger brother followed all the advice of his older brothers. They say that these brothers were the best hunters, they were not lazy, they lived together.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru