Two brothers lived. The eldest was Egdyga, the youngest was called Udzya (stupid). So they lived, they hunted, they fished a little, but they lived poorly and poorly. There were no clothes. They wove clothes and made robes from dry grass. Other people laughed.
One day Egdyga says: “How will we continue to live, where will we look for a bride?” We need to get married. Uja answers:
- I figured out what to do. Let's go to another camp. Kanda-Mafa lives there. He has two daughters, we will match her.
Egdyga got angry and said to his brother:
“You’re stupid, Uja, you don’t understand anything.” How do we go to him? He is rich, he will ask for a large dowry. We have nothing. Then Uja laughed and said:
“If you listen to me this time, it will be good.” Let's go!
So they went to that camp. Kanda-Mafa lived there. They came to his house and stood at the threshold. The eldest daughter began to laugh at them:
– Who sewed these robes for you?
She pulls threads out of their robes and throws them into the fire.
The younger sister tells her:
- Why are you doing this, it’s not good to laugh. The elder one answers:
“They still don’t understand anything.”
Kanda-Mafa looked at them for a long time, then asked: why did they come? The brothers told him about their business, that they had come to get married.
Kanda-Mafa laughed and said:
– I don’t know your wealth. If you have more wealth than me, then take my daughters as your wives.
Egdyga became frightened as he listened to the old man. And the old man said one more word:
- If your wealth is less than mine, then you will come to me to do all kinds of work, you will serve me...
Then the younger brother Uja says:
- Okay, Kanda-Mafa, you judged correctly, we agree. Let's see who has more wealth.
When they left the house, Egdyga began to scold his brother. At home, he also cursed all the time. This is what he said:
- Why don’t you think with your head? Now we will suffer for the rest of our lives. Kanda-Mafa will beat you with sticks...
“Shut up,” says Uja, “you don’t know what kind of dream I had.” I have to go to the hill.
Having said this, he left the hut. I went to the hills. There, at the very top, I saw a turtle. Asks:
- Why did you climb so high? Turtle says:
- Don’t you know that there is a lot of water coming, there will be a flood...
Ujia ran home, gathered all the people, and told everyone about this matter. People listen and don't know what to do.
One of the oldest old women says:
“We need to find a good hill, we’ll be saved on this hill.”
So people found a high hill and began to move to this place. They took all the skins out of the barns and took them there on boats, hung all the colorful robes on fliers, and put the iron cauldrons on the ground.
Uja says to his brother:
– Egdyga, let’s go quickly, Kanda-Mafa is waiting for us.
We came there. Kanda-Mafa began to show off his wealth. He showed a lot of sable skins, a lot of different robes, all kinds of fabric. So I thought: Here are two fools who want to compare their wealth with me.
Uja, without thinking for long, says:
“You have a lot, Kanda-Mafa, but we have more, let’s go have a look.”
Kanda-Mafa came to the hill, saw how many iron cauldrons, how many different furs, how many robes of all kinds, and he almost burst with envy and got angry.
“Okay, take my daughters, I see that you are rich,” he says.
Egdyga took the eldest daughter, Udzia took the youngest.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru