Only my sister and I lived at the very mouth of the Haryuchi-Yaga. And our last name was Kharyuchi. I was single, she was a girl. I once tell her:
- After your father, after your mother, I raised you for ten years. We have fifty heads of deer: they neither increase nor decrease. We live alone, we are bored. We need to move towards people, sister. There is such a place, I know: if you go by convoy, you have to travel for three months. There are seven Tungus brothers there. They have a lot of fish, a lot of geese. In winter, wild deer are hunted. When he said that, they began to dismantle the plague. The reindeer were harnessed. I went in front, my sister went behind. Four months passed. We came to a large ridge. Then I told my sister:
- Look!
The sister looked. I saw seven tents under the ridge.
- This is what the Tungus plague will be like.
Here we set up our tent on the ridge. Then they harnessed four reindeer and went to the Tungus. They received us well. They asked to live together. We spent the winter with them. Spring has come, the lakes have opened up, the geese have flown in, a lot of geese. Summer has come. The geese moulted.
The Tungus then told us:
- Let's go kill geese.
I and the younger Tungus harnessed four black bulls for my sister. And for myself, six white bulls. We drove for half a day. We saw the lake. Big lake. There are many geese in the middle of the lake. The younger Tungus and I each took a boat. Let's go along the lake. They started shooting. The boat was filled with geese. I brought three boats, Tungus - two.
“Enough, enough,” said the Tungus, “they won’t take us away.” The geese were piled on the sleigh. Let's go to the plagues. We spent the summer. It's autumn. Then it snowed. The frosts have begun.
Tungus tells me:
— There is the Tunguska River. We need to go there to hunt for wild deer.
Tomorrow I went with my sister, the younger Tungus went with his sister. We traveled for three weeks. We stopped at the Tunguska River.
We hunted for three months. Many deer were killed. The killed deer were brought back home. Then I told my sister:
“Now we need to live better: in the summer we killed a lot of geese and wild deer.” We won't eat our own deer.
We spent the winter well. Spring has come. Tungus say:
- Let's go fishing.
Three Tungus left, I was the fourth. We reached the mouth of the Tunguska River. We caught and caught all summer. Autumn has come. We caught a lot of fish. They put it on the sleigh.
We arrived at the old place. They began to live. We lived together for three years. Once they gathered in one place, the elder Tungus said to me:
- When you came to us, you had fifty deer, now there are two hundred. You are single, our youngest Tungus is also single. You have a sister, we also have a sister. Do you think we should take turns? You take our sister, we take yours.
I agreed. He went into his tent and said the same thing to his sister: she agreed. There was a wedding here, a big wedding. After the wedding I told the Tungus:
- I’ll go to my homeland. Let go or not? Tungus said:
- Whether you go is up to you. Whenever you want, come to us.
I took all my deer. The Tungus gave me another hundred heads. And I left for my homeland, Kharyuchi-Yaga. I still live in my homeland.
The tribes-peoples had friendship. Only with the rich there was no friendship.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru