Once upon a time in Peve, on the Oriomu River, there lived a young man whose name was Novare. Novare's father died, and he lived alone with his mother. Novara was a handsome young man and all the girls liked him.
One evening, Novare heard his fellow villager say to another fellow villager:
- Tomorrow you and I will exchange sisters.
Novare thought: “They exchange sisters, but I don’t have a sister, I can’t exchange with anyone.” Novare's mother also heard what the men were saying and said to her son:
- When they switch sisters tomorrow, don’t go to their wedding, stay at home.
Both girls who were supposed to be exchanged cried and said:
- It’s bad that they will change us, we don’t want those men - we want Novare.
They went to Mother Novara and cried for a long time. The next day there were two weddings. One groom said to the other:
- I will marry your sister, let her come to live in my house.
“Okay,” said the other, “and I’ll marry yours - we’ll exchange sisters.”
After that, everyone went to the gardens to get vegetables for the wedding feast. Novare's mother said to her son:
- Walk behind everyone, let people not see your face, and when they reach the place where they turn towards the vegetable gardens, you turn in the other direction.
The mother did not want the girls to see her son.
Then Novare's mother took two braided bracelets that her son wore above his elbows, threaded a string through them, tied it and put it around his neck like a necklace. After that, she pushed a small boat into the water from the shore, got into it and swam down the Oriom to the seashore to look for a bride for her son.
First she sailed to Old Mawata and saw young men and girls on the shore - they were playing with a rope, and one girl among them was very beautiful. The woman took her son’s woven bracelets, which she had brought with her, and began to try them on for the girls - the one for whom they would be just right would be suitable for Novara’s wife. Finally she tried them on for the most beautiful one, but they turned out to be too small for her. faces, and Novare’s mother took off the girl’s bracelets and said:
“You don’t eat much, that’s why you’re all thin.” Eat more, you'll get fat.
She swam further and sailed to Gurahi. There were no adults in the village at that time, but young men and girls were playing with string on the shore. Mother Novare stuck an oar into the bottom not far from the shore, tied the boat to it and waded towards the boys and girls.
“Oh,” they shouted, “a woman has come to us from the forest!”
Novara's mother began trying on her son's bracelets for these girls, but the bracelets did not fit any of them. One girl was more beautiful than the others, but the bracelets were too big for her.
“It’s because you eat little,” Novara’s mother told the girls. “If you ate a lot, you would be fat, but as it is, you have only bones.”
From Gurakha she sailed to Ubiri, and there the girls also played string on the shore. They saw Novare's mother and shouted:
- Look, some old woman has arrived!
Mother Novare again tied the boat to the oar, went ashore and gave them woven bracelets to try on. The girls started trying them on, but none of the bracelets fit. They didn’t even fit the most beautiful of them all, and Novare’s mother took the bracelets and hung them around her neck again. She told the Ubiri girls what she had told others before:
“You don’t eat much, that’s why you’re so skinny—skin and bones.”
Mother Novare pulled the oar out of the bottom and swam to Mibu, but there were no people there, and she swam from there to Iasu. There were no adults in Ias; everyone had gone to the gardens, and the boys and girls were playing with string on the shore. Mother Novare stuck an oar into the bottom, tied the boat to it and waded to the shore. The most beautiful girl tried on Novara's bracelets first, and after her the others tried on, but none of the bracelets fit, and Novara's mother, telling them the same thing that she told the girls of other places, took the bracelets and moved on.
Finally she sailed to Dibiri and immediately saw a very beautiful girl on the shore - she was playing with her friends with a string. Novara’s mother thought: “This girl is probably suitable for Novara as a wife, it would be nice for me to take her with me.”
Novare's mother again stuck the oar into the bottom not far from the shore, tied the boat to it, waded to the girls and let them try on her son's bracelets. The girls started trying them on, but the bracelets were too big for everyone. The most beautiful of the girls was the last to try them on, and the bracelets suited her just right. Then several girls ran to the gardens, where the residents of Dibiri were working at that time, and said to their fellow villagers:
- A woman sailed from the forest, she found a bride for her son with us!
All the inhabitants of Dibiri went to the village and, seeing Novare’s mother there, began to ask her:
“Is it true that you found a wife for your son with us?”
- Yes, it's true. “I’ve been to many places, but I’ve never seen a girl like this,” Novara’s mother answered.
She did not remove the bracelets from the girl’s hands. Residents of Dibiri said:
- Go to bed now, and tomorrow you will take the girl with you - no one will bother you.
In the morning, the girl’s father and mother loaded a large boat with all sorts of fruits and vegetables and also put two large aukhi roots there. They put Novare's mother and their daughter in this boat - the boat in which Novare's mother sailed to them was too small. Before the women set off, the bride's parents said:
- Sail straight to Peva, don’t spend the night in poverty.
The inhabitants of Dibiri called on the east wind to help the boat sail, and Novare's mother and the bride for her son set sail. They sailed to Kiwai, and the people there asked the woman:
- Well, have you found a wife for your son?
“Yes, I found it,” Novara’s mother answered.
They sailed further and sailed to Ubiri, and there the inhabitants also asked Novare’s mother:
-Have you found a wife for your son? . And Novara's mother answered:
- Yes, I found it.
So they asked her in all the villages past which she sailed when she was looking for a bride for her son, and Novare’s mother answered to everyone that she had found a bride.
When they reached the mouth of Oriomu, the girl said:
- Let's spend the night here - we are tired, because we sailed for a long time.
“Okay,” said the old woman, “we’ll spend the night.”
They went ashore and lit a fire, and then Novare's mother spread a mat and said to the girl:
- Let's go to bed on the shore.
“No,” the girl answered, “you lie down on the shore, and I’ll lie down in the boat.”
So they did. At night, a Hiwai-Abere came to the place where they slept. She cut off the top of the aukhi root with a sharp shell and cut out the entire core from the root. After this, Hiwai-Abere took off the sleeping girl’s jewelry, which her parents had given her, and put them on herself, and she also put on Novare’s bracelets, and then she put the girl in an empty aukhi root, put the cut top on it, and threw the root into the river. Having done this, the Hiwai Abere wrapped her head in a mat and went to sleep in the boat, in the girl’s place.
[Hiwai-abere is an evil female mythical creature. According to the Papuans, Kiwai, Hiwai-Abere are very fat, they have a large head, a huge belly and short legs. Their fingernails are hard and so sharp that they kill wild pigs with them.]
In the morning Novare's mother got up and, thinking that her son's bride was lying next to the boat, said:
- Get up, now we will swim further. In response, the Hiwai-Abere moaned:
- Oh, old woman, I’m shivering, I’m very cold, I can’t get up.
All the time, as the Hiwai Abere do, she let out loudly bad air, and Mother Novare said:
- Well, I’m taking the girl! It's just a shame for you. Okay, lie down, I'll row myself.
They swam upstream and finally arrived at Peva. The mother shouted from the boat:
- Novare, come here, I brought you a wife! Hiwai-Abere's mother said:
- Unroll the mat, show people your face! Here is your husband, Novare, he wants to see you.
But Hiwai-Abere answered:
- Oh, I can’t unroll the mat, I’m very cold, I’m shivering!
They went to the hut, and there the Hiwai Abere began to cook food for Novare, but she cooked it poorly, the food remained half-raw, and the mother had to cook it herself.
To sleep that night Novare went to the men's house. A strong tide drove the aukhi root, which contained the real bride, upstream. The girl cried in it and sang: “Novare, Novare, I am sailing to you, my husband, Novare!”
Novare’s mother heard her lamentations, sat up in bed and thought: “It’s probably Novare’s real bride crying on the river, and the one I brought is actually a Hiwai-Abere.” She felt very sorry for the girl she was bringing from Dibiri to marry her son.
In the morning, the low tide carried the aukhi root back to the mouth. When everyone stood up, the mother called Novare:
- Come here, I want to tell you something. Hiwai-Abere heard this and shouted:
- Why are you calling Novare, he’s not your husband! Let him better come to me and sit with me!
Novare, however, did not listen to her and did not sit with her. He tried to pull off the mat in which she was wrapped, but the hiwai abere did not allow him to do this. Then he went to his mother, and she said:
“Novare, the woman I brought is actually a Hiwai-Abere, and your real bride cried tonight at the river.” Probably, this Hiwai-Abere at night, when the girl was sleeping, threw her out of the boat and lay down in her place. Go cut a long stem of bamboo, make a hook at the end of it and go to the river at night.
Novare did everything as his mother told him. Night came, everyone fell asleep, only Novare was awake - he sat down on the shore and began to wait. The tide was beginning to rise and the moon was shining brightly. The auja root, in which Novare's bride was, was carried up the river again by the tide, but only first washed to the other bank. Then the tide began to ebb, and now the root was carried towards the shore on which Novare was sitting. Novare hooked the root. The girl inside felt that the root was being pulled somewhere, and screamed:
- Is that you, Novare?
Novare did not answer her, but was very happy. He pulled the root to the very shore, broke it, and a girl came out from inside. Her whole body was stained with aukhi juice, but Novare washed the girl and rubbed her with aromatic herbs. After that, he left her on the shore, while he went to get a skirt for her and various jewelry. When she put everything on, they went to the village. There Novare took a bow and arrows, and the girl took a digging stick, and they hid near the hut where Hiwai-Abere was sleeping.
It began to get light, and the girl said to Novara: “Don’t kill her right away, just shoot her with a bow, and I’ll finish her off myself.”
Finally, the Hiwai Abere came out of the hut, and then Novare shot at her with a bow, and the girl rushed at her and crushed her head with a digging tool. Then Novare cut off the head of the Hiwai-Abere and threw away the body. After this, the girl became his wife, and they lived together in Peve.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru