There lived a lonely man named Naiso. One day he started hammering stakes for a fishing net. He hammers stakes on his shore, and at this time someone shouts: “Yatachipoa, yatachipoa!” Then Naiso sees that the frog has brought out her frogs. Naiso took off his net. Then he began to hammer in stakes further up the river. They started shouting again: “Yatachipoa, yatachipoa, yatachipoa!” Again the frog brought out the frogs. Naiso took down the net and went to drive stakes to the opposite bank. Now he sat down at his net.
— Male chum salmon, tertenten-tertenten,
Come this way!
Female chum salmon, tertenten-tertenten,
Go on the other side!
Naiso caught a male chum salmon.
Female chum salmon, tertenten-tertenten,
Come this way!
Male chum salmon, tertenten-tertenten,
Go on the other side!
Naiso caught a female chum salmon and a male chum salmon. I hung yukola for myself on some racks, and hung yukola for dogs on another. There was one barn of dried and removed yukola for people and another barn of yukola for dogs.
One day a bear comes to Naiso.
- Naiso, give me something to eat!
“Okay,” says Naiso, “I’ll find you something to eat.” Naiso took a large basket and went into the barn. His barn is completely empty. The bear ate all the yukola. Naiso returned to the house. Bear says:
-Did you bring me food?
“No,” says Naiso, “my barn is empty.”
“Well, if that’s the case, go make some hay to lay down for when I kill you.”
Naiso cried, took the scythe and went to mow. He's mowing hay and sees a fox come.
- Naiso, why are you cross-eyed and crying?
“The bear sent me to mow hay to lay it down when he kills me,” Naiso answers.
“Why are you afraid of the beast that people kill?” says the fox. - Go home now, make little men out of this hay and place them on the window. Then, when the bear asks, say that a crowd of people is coming towards you. The bear will ask where to hide, and you say: “Over there, in the corner, they say, hide.” Then I will come and shout: “Naiso, here are the tracks of my beast!” And then you say: “Why would a beast come to a person, which people kill?” Then I'll say: "What's there in the corner?" You will answer: “Coal, coal!” And I’ll say: “Take an ax and hit it. If it’s coal, you’ll hear a crunch, if it’s meat, you’ll hear a knock.”
Then Naiso went home. He went in and started making little men out of hay. The bear asks:
- Naiso, what are you doing? Naiso put the little men on the window and said:
- Bear, a crowd of people is coming towards you.
- Naiso, where can I hide?
- Hide in the corner over there.
The bear went to the corner and lay down there. Then the fox came:
- Naiso, here are the tracks of my beast!
- Why does a beast come to a person that people kill?
- What is it in that corner?
- Coal, coal!
- Take the ax and strike. If there is coal, you will hear a crunch, if there is meat, you will hear a knock.
Naiso took an ax, walked up and struck. He cut the bear and killed him. Then the fox and Naiso began to eat and feast. They eat, they eat... The fox came up with:
- Hey, Naiso, do you have a cradle?
“There is a cradle,” Naiso answered and brought the cradle.
-Each of us can be tied up in it and fed like a small child. “When you lie down, I will feed you, and when I lie down, you will feed me,” said the fox.
Then Naiso put the fox down, tied him up and began putting food in her mouth. Then the fox got out and tied Naiso in the cradle. It’s as if she’s about to put food in Naiso’s mouth, but she just brings it up and eats it herself. She didn’t give him anything, ate everything herself and ran away.
Naiso lies and cries. At this time the mouse came.
“Hey, mouse,” says Naiso. - I'm still alive. When I die, then come and eat me. “No,” the mouse answers, “I’m not the mouse that eats people.” I want to help you out.
“Okay, mouse,” says Naiso, “help me out.”
The mouse chewed through and removed all his ties. Then Naiso got up, looked in the bedding, found a piece of meat and gave it to the mouse.
Then Naiso began to get ready to go hunting. He loaded the groats and birch bark chumashki onto the sledge and went alone. He walked and walked and saw some fox coming.
-Where are you going, Naiso?
“I’m going hunting,” Naiso answers.
- Brother, take me instead of the dog.
- Can you do it?
- It’s okay, I can do it.
Then Naiso harnessed the fox. She didn't carry very well. He goes and looks to see if there are any cracks in the ice. It goes and goes... I found a crack. She stamped her foot so that the ice rang. Lisa screamed:
- Oh-oh! My leg!
“Hey, fox,” asked Naiso, “what did you do?” “I broke my leg,” says the fox. “Put me on the sled.”
Naiso put it on the sled.
- Oh-oh! It hurts a lot! Put me between the chumashkas. Naiso put it between the Chumashkas. Lisa says:
- Now it’s okay, it doesn’t hurt. So Naiso goes. In the evening we stopped for the night. The fox got off the sled. He walks with a limp. Naiso says:
- Well, how is your leg?
“Nothing,” answered the fox, “my leg felt better.” Naiso began to make a hut. The fox says to him:
- Brother, give me the knife. I'll go cut the herbs for the bedding.
He gave her a knife. The fox, limping, went up the hill. Naiso has already made a hut, but there is no fox.
- Ay-ay! How long did she take! - Then he followed in her footsteps. I only found a knife, and the fox ran away. Naiso took the knife and went back. I approached the sledge, and the chumashkas were empty. Something is knocking in one of them. I looked - it was a fox tooth that had broken off and fallen there.
Naiso spent the night there, got up in the morning and went. It's coming, it's coming. Met a bear. He put it in his bosom. Met a squirrel. He hid it in his bosom. A ferret, a fox, a hare - he put them all in his bosom. It's coming, it's coming. I reached some big house. There are a lot of animals performing shamanic rituals there.
Here's one bear saying:
-After all, this Naiso is probably a good performer. Naiso was given a shamanic belt and a tambourine. Naiso began to perform rituals. “Boom-boom!” the fox got out. "Boom boom!" — the ferret got out. “Boom-boom!” - squirrels and hares appeared. Bears appeared. All the animals in the house began to perform rituals.
Nayso comes and sees: under the shelf there is a fox with a broken tooth. Naiso threw the tambourine and went to the fox.
- Oh, it's you, fox! You deceived me!
He took her by the neck and squeezed. Fox says:
“Brother, okay, I’ll go ask the old man Ka’s daughter for your wife.”
- Go if you can. But wherever you go, I will find you by your broken tooth!
Then the fox set off. She walks and walks... She reached the village of old man Ka. Stopped in front of his door
An old woman came out from there. He looks, the fox has turned into a huge beast, a terrifying beast. Lisa says:
- Oooh! Old woman, give me your daughter! The old woman fell from fear. She screamed:
- Old man, old man! There is a terrible beast here, a big beast. He demands: “Give me your daughter!”
An old man came out, looked and was also scared. And the fox says:
- Old man! Give up your daughter!
The old man entered the house, made his daughter get dressed, took her outside and put her on a fox. The fox ran. Runs, runs. Came running to Naiso:
- Well, Naiso, I brought you a wife.
Then Naiso took his wife home and began to live there again.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru