My sister and brother lived alone. My brother was little. The sister made a bow, arrows, and a spear. I taught and taught - my brother holds the spear tightly and shoots accurately with a bow. The boy learned everything, his sister was already letting him go into the taiga.
So they lived and lived - the brother became a boy. I hunted and caught fish. The sister had to clean the house, go pick berries, cook something tasty, and feed her brother.
My brother has become a young man. One day he brought firewood and got ready to go hunting, so he took a spear. He walked and walked through the taiga and came to a bear's house. I came to the bear's house and looked in - there were two large cast-iron boilers on the fire. Hot water is in the boilers, steam is flowing. Then he went outside, picked some grass, sat on the grass, and began to look at the sea.
Two seal seals will emerge - they will dive, they will emerge - they will dive, they swam to the shore, they crawled out onto the shore, with their flipper tails back and forth, their heads up and down - two girls stood up. They held hands, cedar-cedar with fish skin bags - and straight to the house. They went up to the bear's house, went in, undressed and washed.
The young man slowly went down to the shore, took their scales and hid them. He returned stealthily to the house, covered himself with an armful of grass and began to examine them. He liked one girl and hid her clothes. The other quickly got dressed, ran out to the shore, and looked - there were no scales.
- Hey, young man! You took the scales and hid them?!
I returned the scaled clothes to those I didn’t like – they floated away. One remained, staring at the young man, tears dripping from her eyes - she didn’t wipe them, tears dripping from her round eyes - she didn’t wipe them away.
Our young man to her:
“If you marry me, I’ll let you go.” The girl agreed - he returned her scales. Having embraced, they fell and rolled. The sun goes behind the mountain - they go to bed, the sun disappears behind the clouds - they go to bed. At the very edge of the shore - they will go to bed. Now he will let her go: we agreed - she will swim away and return to him.
Here he is: “I’ll let her go, I’ll quickly go to my sister, bring firewood, run here,” he thinks.
That's what he thought.
He ran home, entered - his sister:
– Where have you been for so long?! Many days have passed, the firewood has run out, there is no yukola.
The sister says, and the young man thinks: I’ll quickly bring firewood and go to the sea.
He rushed to get firewood.
As soon as the younger brother disappeared around the bend, this sister grabbed her brother’s prison in the storage shed. She braided her hair like a man into one braid. She came to that place and hid. She hid and saw - she would emerge and dive, she would emerge and dive - a seal swims up, beautiful black spots on her back.
She let the seal come to the shore and took two leaps to the water. She waved - and with the sound of a car, the spear pierced the body of the sealed seal.
Oh, oh, oh! Pulls, pulls, pulls!
If the larga catches you, the woman will go waist-deep into the water. This one will gather her strength - she will come ashore, she will pull the seal to the floor of the carcass.
They pulled and pulled and the belt broke right at the pin.
The belt broke, that female spotted seal swam away from the shore and stuck her head out of the water:
- Marry your brother yourself! - said. So she said and sailed off to sea.
The elder sister, of course, hurry to the shore, run home. She ran home, searched and searched, found a rusty spear, stuck it in the shaft, and tied the belt. She let go of one braid and began braiding two like a woman.
Her brother returned:
- What is this, my dress is wet, covered in blood? Is there a different spear on the shaft?
- Ah, the dogs were barking. The bear came, removed the prison from the storage shed, got injured all over, and broke the belt. It was raining, so I hung up your dress.
The sister says so - the brother thought about it. He quickly ran to the bear's house. I ran there and saw blood stains on the sand. Traces of blood on the sand, on the pebbles. He got up from there and sat down on a snag. Sitting. How long did he sit like that, two little seals were swimming along the shore. They swim along the shore, draw level with him, and hear:
“Our elder sister told the groom to cut out a flounder bowl from wood, and cook mine in it so that he could plan it inau.” Right?!
- Shut up! What a chatterbox! - another grumbles. The young man listened. He let the seals come ashore, let them become girls, and caught them.
– What did you say?! The youngest told everything.
The young man went to the taiga. I felled a larch tree, cut out a flounder bowl, cooked mine in it, and came to the girls.
– I’ll go on the journey with you!
“Go to the taiga, find a ritual tree, make a loon bowl, take the bowl to the sea, sit in it - we will take you with us,” the girls answered.
He found a ritual tree, cut down a loon bowl, took it out to the sea, sat down - the seals took the bowl. Then this loon bowl:
Mine is a Nivkh holiday dish.
Hey, ooh! Loon!
Ooh! Loon!
We have a long way to go!
We have a very long way to swim!
Hey, ooh! Loon!
We have a very long way to swim!
Ooh! Loon! – began to sing.
So they swam. They swam and swam, the young man woke up, looked around - there were no fellow travelers. A high rock sticks out into the sea. On the rock, at the very top of its head, two bad women are sitting, ralkkr women:
- Here! Here! - they wave to him. These women have long hair.
One:
- Come to me! Other:
- Come to me!
They both scream, that’s what these women call them.
The young man swims further. It floats past these women. Then they untwisted their long hair and threw it - the young man hung. It’s like hanging from a bearded seal’s belt, dangling. They picked him up. One approached, then another. Let's tickle the poor thing. They tickle him, they tickle him, they want him to die of laughter, or what?
The young man became exhausted and said:
- Women! Women! Why are you making me laugh? Listen, I'll tell you a fairy tale!
Then those women:
- Let's listen, listen! They stopped tickling, sat down and listened. The young man began to sing:
Hey oh, oh-yo-oh!
Earth, Water, Sky!
Don't you see, I'm in trouble!
Hey oh, oh-yo-oh!
Earth, Water, Sky!
Intercede!
Hey oh, oh-yo-oh!
Raise the upper thunder, Raise the lower thunder, Let them collide with each other - They will light a big lightning!
Yo-yo-oh, yo-yo-oh!
The young man sings: Low thunder rises from the south, High thunder rises from the north.
- Why are you singing - clouds are rising here and there? What is this?
“Probably because you tickled me and made me laugh.”
He sings even more loudly:
Hey oh, oh-yo-oh! Thunders, my thunders! Hit each other! Walking across the sky, giving birth to a great lightning, Protect me! Earth, Water, Sky! Yo-yo-oh, yo-yo-oh!
Then the Upper Thunder struck the sitting female beast on one side. Low thunder from the other side struck the sitting female beast.
The young man went down to the sea, sat on a sea lion, and swam. His ancestors stood up for him and put him on a sea lion. He rode on a sea lion, rode, and raised his head - his grandfather, his ancestor, was carrying him. I recognized him by the halo, by the light halo above his head.
So I drove and drove - the island appeared ahead. Then he hears: Grandfather will take you to the island, there on the shore, a thick talnik lies. If you launch this sailboat into the water, it will take you further.
The young man thought: Has it become too small for the sea lion, or have I done something wrong?
A sea lion dropped him off on the island. As was said, there was a thick old talnik lying on the island. I floated this tree. Sat on it. Let's go.
Then the talnik:
Blow-blow, blow-blow! Talnik, I am an ancient talnik, Tuy-yu-blow, blow-u-blow, Helper for a good Nivkh! – began to sing.
So the young man rode. I drove and drove and landed on some shore.
I landed on the shore - there are three roads: straight here, straight there. He doesn’t know where to go. I thought about it when I arrived in a foreign land. Having arrived in a foreign land, he looks around and doesn’t know where to go.
One slave - kkorkh-kkorkh - walks along the shore, knocking with wooden shackles.
“If you follow that road, you will come,” he shows.
The young man listened to him, stripped this slave, and dressed himself in rags. Let's go. He goes, kkorh-kkorh knocks.
So he walked and walked and saw two wolves on the road.
One:
- Try hard! Other:
- Try hard!
They grabbed each other's lips, pulling, pulling. A young man approached them, hit himself on the back of the head - he turned into a water flea. He turned into a water flea and jumped over the wolves. He walked away, slapped himself on the side, and became himself.
I moved on. He walked and walked and saw two bears on the road.
One:
- Try hard! Other:
- Try hard!
They grabbed each other's lips, pulling, pulling. A young man approached them, hit himself on the back of the head - he turned into a water flea. He turned into a water flea and jumped over the bears. He walked away, slapped himself on the side, became himself, and walked away. Then he came to a large village. At one house, women prepare food and bustle around the fireplace. I went there. Two seal girls recognized him:
- The groom has arrived! The groom has arrived! The groom must be hidden! - they started chattering and fussing.
They fed us quickly. They hid it. And when it began to get dark, they took him away. They were brought to a house where there were slave servants.
– What kind of slave is so bright?! - the slaves are amazed. One approached him:
- Let's go together. I'll take you there.
This slave recognized him. I recognized him and went together. We arrived at the elder's house. There, slave servants each lead one shaman. Their things are carried into the house. The Upper Earth shaman and the Lower Earth shaman also came. The larga girl will be treated by shamans and the black power of the prison will be driven out.
One shaman sings:
Teo-deo, teo-deo!
Teo-deo, teo-deo!
A mighty man, a brave man, Master of the prison! Evil prison owner!
Teo-deo, teo-deo!
The shaman brought things, the Shaman holds the dress!
Teo-deo, teo-deo!
Here the shaman can almost see. The other sings - the other feels our friend even more vividly. The water shaman began to sing:
Teo-deo, teo-deo!
Teo-deo, teo-deo!
A mighty man, a brave man, an evil master!
Teo-deo, teo-deo, Passed our barriers, Teo-deo, teo-deo, Came to this house.
It is among us.
Teo-deo, teo-deo, He came, he wants to sing, Teo-deo, teo-deo!
Grab him, he's in the house!
Teo-deo, teo-deo, The evil master of the prison has arrived! Slave servant!
Exhausted, the Water shaman falls onto the bunk. The warriors rush to the slave servants. Then the young man himself:
– Which one is it?! Which one is it?!
To one, to another. He pushed everyone away and jumped out:
- I will sing! I will sing!
He grabbed the tambourine and jumped out into the middle.
He sang and sang, approached the larga girl, and tore the spear out of her body. He pulled out the prison and fed it to the dying woman with sacred food.
The young man sang again, sang like a great shaman sings:
Teo-deo, teo-deo!
Teo-deo, teo-deo!
Mighty man, brave man, Teo-deo, teo-deo!
He rushed to this house to his beloved!
Teo-deo, teo-deo!
From hill to hill, Through the weeds, through the marshy marshes, Forgetting about fatigue and hunger, He walked to his beloved!
Teo-deo, teo-deo!
He swam across the menacing sea and rushed to this house! To my beloved!
Mighty man! Brave man!
There are no barriers for him!
Teo-deo! Teo-deo! – I fed her some more sacred food – it came to life.
The girl came to life - the young man took her as his wife and took her home. They made a multi-row boat. The gifts were placed in this big boat. We tied up our luggage and were on our way.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru