It was a very long time ago. Many years ago, the sun did not disappear from the sky over the Nenets land. Lakes and rivers then, like water in a cauldron, were boiling, there were so many fish in them. From the shores of the seas to the very forests, herds of reindeer grazed. Blue and white foxes could not be caught in traps. Every spring, geese, ducks and swans swarmed in clouds. The Nenets lived happily in the tundra.
And far beyond the forests lived a black kite. He had two heads, two greedy beaks, two pairs of envious eyes. No matter how much good he had, it all seemed not enough to him. He was served by his faithful servants, the evil hawks.
Once a hawk flew far into the tundra and saw how well the Nenets lived. He returned to his master, the kite, and told him everything.
Here the black kite became even blacker with envy. He decided to use cunning to take the sun from the Nenets. He ordered his servants to weave a large net. He hit the ground and turned into a fat merchant. I took a lot of drunk water with me and went to the Nenets tents.
The Nenets greeted him like a guest. They sat us down on the skins and treated us to deer meat and fish. And the merchant began to treat them to drunken water. The Nenets' heads were spinning from the drunken water. They began to sing and dance, then they all fell asleep.
The fat merchant was waiting for just this.
He called his servants with a loud whistle. A thousand hawks flew in. They threw the net over the sun and dragged it along. The merchant whistled a second time, and another thousand hawks flew in. They stole the deer, exterminated the blue and white foxes, and took all the wealth from the Nenets.
But the Nenets were fast asleep and did not hear anything. Finally they woke up and did not recognize their land. It was a dark night in the tundra. A cold north wind was blowing and a snowstorm was raging. Lakes and rivers were covered with thick ice.
Since then, misfortune began to haunt the Nenets plagues. Children were born weak. The old people were blinded by the smoke of the fires. There was no sun - we had to burn fires in the cold dark tents day and night. Previously, the Nenets loved to sing songs, but without the sun they forgot about the songs. Only the whistle of a blizzard and the howl of a wolf could be heard in the tundra.
And the black two-headed kite lived in its golden tent. He kept the sun that he had taken away from the Nenets in golden chains.
Many years passed like this. In the direction where the two-headed kite lived, a mighty eagle and a flock of eaglets grew up. They wanted the sun to shine on everyone, to warm everyone.
The kite did not give up the sun.
The eagle and eaglets began to fight with the black kite and the evil hawks. The black kite hits the eagle with two iron beaks and tears it with iron claws. Hawks hang over the eagle like a cloud. Help the black kite.
But the eagle has mighty strength, it fights for life and death. And the eaglets fight with him, peck the hawks, and pluck all the feathers from the two-headed kite.
They fought like this for a long time. Finally, an eagle soared high into the sky, rose above the clouds and rushed at the black kite. The kite flew like a stone to the ground and fell into a tundra lake. To. The cold waves parted from the very bottom, then closed again over the black kite. The hawks saw this and scattered screaming in all directions. But the eaglets caught up with them and pecked them all to death.
And the mighty eagle broke the golden chains and freed the sun. The sun has become in the middle of the sky, it shines for everyone, it warms everyone.
Its rays also reach the tundra. Now it’s good for the Nenets to live in the tundra, they work together. They raised a lot of deer. They go hunting together, killing arctic foxes and silver foxes. They swim along lakes and rivers in self-propelled boats and catch fish.
Fun has returned to the Nenets plagues. Again the Nenets began to sing songs, better than before. It is sung in those songs about Soviet power; it brought joy and happiness to the Nenets.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru