One day the Indians went fishing. Having caught a lot of fish, they lit a fire and buried it in the hot ashes under the smoldering coals to fry it. While the food was being prepared, we decided to go fishing in the nearby river.
At this very time, Mary the Sun and his younger brother Ari the Month crept up to the fire, urinated on it while no one saw them, and ran away. The fire, of course, went out, and only the toad, which in those days was like a man, saw what Mary and Ari had done. She approached the fire and then noticed one more smoldering ember. She grabbed it and hid it in her mouth.
When the Indians returned and saw that the fire had gone out, they became terribly angry:
“Someone put out our fire!” Let's find the villain and kill him!
And they began to look everywhere for the culprit; they asked everyone they met:
“Did you put out our fire?” Did you do this heinous thing? And all the animals answered:
- No, not me! No, not me!
Finally they met a toad, and they asked her:
“Did you put out our fire?” Come here, now we'll deal with you!
Then the toad replied:
- No, it’s not me, don’t kill me, but rather put your foot on the back of my head and press lightly.
One of the Indians did as she ordered, and the toad vomited up a coal that was hidden in its mouth. Seeing this, the Indians shouted:
“Now it’s clear that it was you who put out the fire!” Let's kill her! But the toad immediately objected:
- No, I didn’t put out your fire. This was done by Mary and his brother Ari. But I saw everything, found one more smoldering ember and saved it to give it to you when you return.
Then the Indians said:
“Well, since you saved the fire for us, we won’t kill you.”
They released the toad, but decided to deal with Mary and Ari, who had put out the fire. And that's what they did.
The Indians collected all the animals and birds: a large emu, an ostrich, a partridge and others that run fast, tied feathers or wool on their heads into a bunch and put a coal in each. After this, the Indians drove the animals to where the brothers Mary and Ari were hiding in order to surround them and burn them alive. The birds ran through the dry forest and set it on fire. And Mary and Ari, not knowing where to find salvation - fire surrounded them everywhere - climbed into the trees. Mary - on a tall, strong tree, and Ari - on a low and rotten one. The flames were approaching, so they reached Ari's tree and burned it to the ground. Ari-Moon fell into the fire and burned, only charred bones remained from him.
The flame also crept up to the tree on which Mary was sitting. But it was strong, and the fire could not cope with it, the flame died down, the fire still flared up in the forest, but not for long. And when it completely went out, Mary the Sun descended to the ground. He wanted to see Brother Month so much that he went to look for him, although he knew that Ari had died. But where the tree Ari climbed stood, his brother found only charred bones. Mary looked at them silently, then he piled them on the warm ashes and left. When Mary returned some time later, he did not find the bones and asked loudly:
– And who needed my brother’s bones? He looked at the ashes again and walked away. But then suddenly I heard Mary’s song:
– Ay, ay, ire ike ari kori ko; ire ike ari kori ko! (Oh! Oh! I had a baked moon for lunch! I had a baked moon for lunch!)
Brother Sun illuminated the singer to get a better look: he turned out to be a wolf cub. Mary approached him and asked:
-What are you singing, grandson?
And the wolf cub quickly answers him like this:
- I don’t sing anything like that. I just ate baked crab. That's all.
Mary didn’t question him anymore, he understood what the wolf cub was singing about, the lies didn’t help him, and so Mary invited the wolf cub to run a race, saying:
“Little wolf, you should put on a belt so that you can run more adroitly.” If you want, take this rope and tie it with it. The little wolf agreed:
- Yes, a rope will do.
Mary gave him a rope and advised him to tie it tightly around his stomach. The wolf cub mated, but loosely. Then Mary said:
- Tie it tighter, otherwise you won’t lose it anytime soon. The wolf cub obeyed, and as soon as he pulled it tighter, his belly popped out from under the rope. Mary said:
- Now you won’t leave me. Run, and I'll follow you. The wolf cub started to run, but soon got tired, and Mary began to catch up with him. Suddenly the wolf cub tripped and fell. He hit himself so hard that his stuffed belly burst and he died instantly. Looking at the fallen insides of the wolf cub, Mary discovered Ari’s bones among them. Mary so wanted to revive her brother that he carefully collected them, then took a thick stick - like Ari’s torso, two thinner ones and two very thin ones - his legs and arms. Instead of the head, he put a small and black nest of termites, and on a thick log he poured the bones that he had extracted from the insides of the wolf cub. Then Mary collected medicinal herbs and prepared an infusion from them, which he sprinkled on the likeness of a man he had made. He covered the doll with leaves and left.
The next day, when he returned and removed the leaves, he saw that the nest had turned into a real head, and the sticks into arms, legs, and a torso. In front of Mary was his brother, only dead, he was not breathing. Then Mary the Sun said:
– Bop koddu akai; adugo, aipobireu, aigo, avago, evo... Kayamodoge: a rego! (The spirits are out hunting; a leopard, a spotted jaguar, a cobra and a rattlesnake - all the enemies of the Kayamodogs are chasing you! Let's run quickly!)
And the younger brother - Month - answered him:
- Uh, and nudu nure. (Yes, yes, it seems I slept for a long time.) He got up and stood up. Mary told him:
“Well, since you’re alive, let’s go hunting.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru