Once upon a time there lived a man named Tulimak in the northern islands. He lived with his family away from people and was a successful hunter. He always had enough food in the house. One thing saddened Tulimak: he did not have a son - who would bring rich booty to the house when he grew old?
Tulimak had two daughters. The girls grew up smart and hard-working, but young men from other villages did not visit them.
Every summer Tulimak went to the tundra to hunt deer. The daughters rowed, and he himself steered the boat and shouted angrily: the boat is moving very slowly!
Time passed, Tulimak grew old, and now the daughters hunted deer, drove them into a ravine, and there, below, Tulimak lay in wait for them with a bow and arrows. And the girls were so quick on their feet that sparks fell from their hair as they rushed over the rocks.
Tulimak hunted a lot of deer, and his daughters dried the meat in the sun. But the father was always dissatisfied and drove them after new game:
– We need fresh meat! We need fresh meat!
One evening, father and mother went to bed, and the sisters remained sitting by the fire. The eldest take it and say:
“It’s a pity that my father chose housing far from people.” We would get married, we would have our own tents!
- Oh, it’s really a pity! – the youngest agreed.
Tulimak heard everything and became very angry.
The next day they return from hunting, and Tulimak is angrier than ever.
As soon as they landed on the shore, he told his daughters:
- Go get some water!
The girls each took a bucket, jumped ashore and went to the lake, and the lake lay behind the hill.
As soon as the sisters disappeared from sight, Tulimak ordered his wife to shovel away. The mother of her daughters felt sorry, she cried, but Tulimak did not want to listen to anything.
The daughters returned to the shore and saw that the boat was already far away! Don't shout, they won't hear you!
They sat down on the shore, became sad, and suddenly they saw an ice floe floating past.
- Here is our boat! – the eldest was delighted. - Jump, sister, let's swim to the house!
The sisters stepped onto the ice floe and let's run around it in circles, quickly and quickly. The ice floe began to spin and was carried away by the current, rushing out to sea. Now they are rushing past their father’s house. The sisters see the father repairing the kayak, the mother tanning skins. And the ice floe is carried further and further. The younger sister began to cry, and the older sister consoled her:
- Don't cry, we'll live somehow! And as soon as she said this, a seagull flies with a fish in its beak.
- Kiteki, kiteki! - shouts. - Here's your food!
And she threw the fish right onto the ice floe. The sisters shared the fish - it lasted a long time!
The sisters were hungry again. The younger one began to cry, and the older one consoled her:
- Don't cry, we'll live somehow! And as soon as she said this, a walrus surfaced nearby.
- Wick, wick! - shouts. - Here's your food! And he threw the shells right onto the ice floe. The sisters ate and stored for future use.
A storm soon arose. The waves throw the ice floe from side to side. The younger sister began to cry, and the older sister consoled her:
– Don’t be afraid, we’ll get to the shore soon!
The ice floe floated and floated, and then land appeared ahead.
“We’ll go ashore,” said the eldest, “Just close your eyes.” You'll open it when we're on land!
So they did. The sisters opened their eyes - and now they were already on solid ground, but there was no ice, just a speck of foam in the waves.
The sisters are walking along the shore and see a pile of walrus tusks lying there.
Younger sister says:
- Let's stay here! We'll sell the tusks. But the elder one answers:
- Let's go further and find out who lives here. The sisters walked for a long time and finally came to the hut. They looked out the window and saw: two men sitting, each preparing food for themselves, but it was so awkward that the sisters couldn’t stand it and laughed.
“Someone is laughing at us,” said one. “Let’s go out and see if anyone wants to attack us?”
They went outside and saw two sisters, very scared. The men took pity on them, let them into the hut, and they themselves grumbled:
- How skinny!
The sisters did not know that they had cannibal brothers in front of them, and they decided to take the girls as wives - let them run the household, and when they get better and get fatter, they can eat them.
The cannibals have healed well: the lamps are no longer smoked, the clothes are mended, the hair is combed - after all, the sisters were skilled housewives at home.
One day the younger one says to the older one:
“It’s a strange thing: every night my husband pokes his finger in my side and wakes me up!”
“He’s checking to see if you’ve gained weight.” After all, they are cannibals!
And that's right! The sisters are watching, and human bones are lying in the corners of the hut. The younger one got scared and cried:
- Let’s run, otherwise they’ll eat us too!
“Don’t rush,” answered the eldest. - Let's wait until my son is born, and until then we have nothing to fear!
Soon the older sister gave birth to a boy. And then the youngest heard her husband whisper to his brother:
“Your son was born, but I didn’t.” Let's eat my wife! Let's invite our neighbors over on the full moon and have a feast!
The younger sister got scared and ran to the older one, and she said:
- The full moon is still far away. Bring me some snow from the place where your husband stood in the cold.
The younger one brought snow, and the older one threw it into the pot, and it melted.
-What are you doing? – asked the younger sister’s husband.
– I’m preparing an infusion of fat. Add it to your food and you will never freeze.
The cannibal did so and went hunting. And by evening I got sick. They called a sorcerer from a nearby village, he spoke, spoke to the spirits, and then muttered:
“It’s the sisters’ fault, they’re the ones who conjured the disease!”
The sisters heard, grabbed the child and ran away. It's good that their father taught them to run fast! The cannibal brothers soon fell behind.
By evening the sisters were tired and decided to rest. As soon as they sat down, they heard the chase making noise. The sisters rushed to the rock, squeezed into the crevice, the eldest said:
– Lick the edge of the crack, let it close!
And she began to lick on the other side.
They had just finished this when the cannibal brothers appeared. The rock had completely closed, leaving only a small crack. The sisters hear one cannibal say to another:
“I thought I saw them!”
- Apparently, it was just my imagination!
“I told you I should have eaten them!” The brothers gave chase again. As soon as they disappeared from sight, the older sister told the younger one:
- Blow on the rock!
They both began to blow and the crack opened. The sisters got out, went to the seashore, and there was water all around! And the boat is gone!
– Close your eyes and jump on a speck of foam! - shouted the older sister.
It’s better to drown than to end up with cannibals,” the youngest decided and jumped.
And when she opened her eyes, it turned out that she was standing on an ice floe, and the current was carrying the ice floe into the sea.
The older sister pulled the string out of her son’s cradle and spread it in a circle in front of her. As soon as she did this, the cannibal brothers appeared on the shore. They began to throw arrows at the sisters, but the cord did not let them go. They began to throw harpoons, but they also fell at the feet of the sisters.
“They will be useful to us,” said the elder sister and picked up the arrows and harpoons.
The ice floe washed out to sea, and the sisters wanted to eat.
“It’s better to starve than to disappear,” says the eldest.
And then a walrus surfaced in front of them.
- Wick, wick! – he said and stared at the sisters.
The older sister grabbed a harpoon, threatened the walrus, and he threw a pile of edible shells onto the ice floe.
The next day the sisters were hungry again. They see a seagull flying with a fish in its claws, circling over the ice floe.
- Kiteki, kiteki! - shouts.
The elder sister grabbed the arrow and threatened the seagull - she threw the fish onto the ice floe.
The sisters laughed and ate the fish. They went to bed, and the next morning the ice floe had already floated up to their home. The sisters jumped out onto the shore and ran to their father and mother.
Old Tulimak came out to them. He was afraid that his daughters would blame him. But they entered the house as if nothing had happened and gave the child to the mother. The grandmother immediately began to play with her grandson.
- You've been missing for a long time! - said Tulimak.
They lived for a year in peace and harmony, and then the younger sister remembered the walrus tusks that lay on the shore in the land where they had visited. And she remembered them so often that Tulimak decided to go for the tusks.
In the spring, Tulimak ordered his wife and daughters to put a new skin on the boat.
Seven large seals attacked her. Tulimak did not tell anyone what he was planning, he only ordered him to take more food with him.
They all got into the boat and rowed into the sea. When the shore disappeared, Tulimak ordered to remove the oars, everyone to lie down on the bottom of the boat and close their eyes.
So they did. Immediately the boat rushed forward and rushed through the waves.
The younger sister got tired of lying with her eyes closed, so she opened her left eye. And then the boat stopped abruptly, Tulimak almost fell overboard, and the girl hurried to close her eye. Again the boat rushed forward.
“We must have hit an ice floe,” Tulimak said. - It’s good that the boat has a double bottom!
Soon the ground appeared ahead, and Tulimak ordered his wife and daughters to open their eyes.
The sisters saw a familiar shore. The boat landed and everyone went out onto land. They collected the tusks and filled the boat to the top.
- This poor boat takes a lot of cargo! - said Tulimak. - Lie down on the bottom and close your eyes tightly!
They did so, and immediately the boat rushed forward. The women lay there for a long time, still not daring to open their eyes, and finally Tulimak ordered them to get up.
They were at home.
Tulimak sold the tusks to hunters and whalers, immediately became rich and married his daughters to great hunters.
The elder sister's son grew up and became the main one among them. His descendants live to this day. Only their character is very hot-tempered. They say it’s all because their great-great-grandfather was a cannibal.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru