It is said that one day Kanan-Siue was lying in a hammock, resting from the day's labors. The gods get tired too. And he, who created life, improved and perfected something every day: he leveled the banks of rivers, or trimmed leaves from trees. And he was tired.
And now, tired, he slept in the dark, because there was no light then.
Then his mother-in-law came to visit him. She tripped over the shell of the Otoni turtle, fell and was badly hurt. And then she began to scold Kanan-Siue:
- You, Kanan-Siue, created everything, created rivers, valleys, the banks of Bei Rokan, scarlet wings of the arare, trees, fish and animals... And you, who created all this, forgot to create light? I am already old and walk unsteadily. I fall and hurt myself. Kanan-Siue, you must make light...
To avoid new quarrels and reproaches, Kanan-Siue got up very early the next day and went to look for light. He walked for a long time and came to a valley where all the animals were eating and drinking river water. Kanan-Siue turned into a tapir, inserted a tube made of embauba wood into his mouth to breathe silently, lay down and pretended to be dead.
Mosquitoes flew in and asked:
- Tapir, are you dead?
And since the tapir did not answer, they decided:
- Let's eat it, shall we?
“No,” said the mosquito leader, “let’s wait until the flies arrive.”
Flies arrived... One of them asked:
- Tapir, are you dead? And others decided:
- Let's eat it, shall we?
- No, let's wait for the uruba. The urubu arrived.
- Tapir, are you dead?
- Let's eat it, shall we?
“No,” said one of them, “let’s wait until the Urubu king arrives.”
The Urubu king has arrived. He sank to the ground, looked at Kanan-Siue, who had turned into a tapir, and said:
- Yes, he died, let's eat him.
King Urubu approached and sat down on Kanan-Siue's stomach. And he was just waiting for this. He grabbed the king uruba, whose body was covered not with feathers, like other birds, but with black hair, like people from the Karazha tribe, and began to strangle him.
“I’ll kill you if you don’t give me the light right now,” Kanan-Siue said.
“I have no light, Kanan-Siue.” No! Don't kill me! - the Urubu-king begged.
-Give me the light, or I will kill you!
King Urubu felt that he was dying. Then he parted the hair on his chest and released the morning star Taina-Kan. The morning star flew quickly, quickly, searching the sky.
Kanan-Siue drew his bow. The arrow rang and pierced Taina-Kan's leg, pinning the morning star to the night arch. But Kanan-Siue was not satisfied.
- This is not the light I need. It's too small.
“I have no other,” groaned the Urubu King.
- Yes, yes. Either you give it to me, or I will squeeze your neck even more.
The Urubu king sighed in despair and, parting the shiny hair on his chest, released the moon Rendo, which rushed to look for the sky.
Kanan-Siue aimed his bow and the arrow flew. And the moon was nailed to the sky, like the star before. But even here Kanan-Siue was not satisfied.
- I want a different light. The biggest one. These two lights will remain for the night. And I need light for the day...
And he again squeezed the Urubu-king's neck. He groaned again:
- I don’t have it, Kanan-Siue...
But as he said this, he had already opened his chest...
And then the sun Tshu, dazzling and beautiful, jumped out of the hair on his chest and began to rise to bottomless heights.
Kanan-Siue drew his bow, and the arrow nailed the sun to the walls of the day.
And it's still there. Since then, life has been full of light.
The bodies of the Indians became bronze. Ripe fruits were filled with gold, and the flowers sparkled with bright colors. The water in the rivers sparkled under the rays of the sun. Kanan-Siue's mother-in-law never complained again. Never.
This is how light appeared in the world...
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru