It was a long time ago. The one who told me this tale heard it from his grandfather, and he, in turn, also heard it from his grandfather.
In a hollow between sharp rocks and high mountains, near the Uda River, lived a nomadic Tofalar hunter. His name was Kuulamai.
Kuulamai had a bow and arrows and kept them in a wooden sac, which he carried on his back.
[Kobyr – quiver. ]
The hunter had a wife, Maymayak. They lived together for a long time, but there were no children, and they did not take in anyone else to raise them.
Mungo and Khalyai lived in the Kuulamaya camp. Mungo went hunting with Kuulamai, brought game, hunted sable. And Khalyai looked after the deer, sewed covers for tents from the skins of wapiti and elk, and during the migration, together with Maymayak, she loaded the deer and led the caravan.
Kuulamai often grieved that he had no children. One day he turned to the shaman:
- Tell me, deeply revered Meerkpan, why don’t I have children? During rituals you see a lot, you visit the upper, middle and lower worlds. Ask Burhan for a child for me. I'll give him deer as a sacrifice...
Meerkpan put on his cloak with many strands, embroidered with deer hair and bird feathers, put on a headdress with feathers from a black goose, took a tambourine, a mallet and began to perform shamanism. He beat Meerkpan with a mallet for a long time, jumped around the fire, and then fell, exhausted. And when the shaman caught his breath, he began to say to Ku-ulamay:
- Find the wing of a young eagle. From this wing I will make an eeren, then you will have children.
[Eeren – shamanic belt. ]
Kuulamai knew two rocks where eagles lived. There were caves on the steep side of these cliffs. Kuulamai says to Mungo:
“Today we will take long straps, climb onto the rock from the sloping side, and then you will lower me into the cave to the eagles.”
They took the belts and left. We climbed the rock. Kuulamai tied himself tightly with the straps and ordered Mungo to lower him little by little. So, clinging to the sharp ledges of the rock, the hunter made his way to the cave where there was an eagle’s nest.
As soon as the straps were loosened, Mungo felt that Kuulamai had reached the place. Then Mungo threw down the belts, and he himself went down the cliff and went to the camp.
For a long time he wanted to destroy Kuulamai, take his reindeer and marry Maymayak - he was already in agreement with her, but still could not make up his mind. Now he hoped that Kuulamai would die in a cave without food and water.
Mungo came to the camp and said that Kuulamai had fallen into a cave and crashed.
Soon Maymayak married Mungo, but she completely forgot her husband and did not want to remember him. Only Khalyay did not believe Mungo’s words and felt in her heart that something was wrong.
Summer has come. The heat bothered both the deer and the people. Mungo migrated to the mountains, where it is always cool in the summer.
Kuulamai at that time lived in a cave with an eagle and three little eaglets. At first the eagle wanted to throw him down, because she knew why this man came here, but she looked into his eyes and changed her mind. She brought musk deer, hares, and wood grouse. Kuulamai tore them into pieces and divided them into equal parts. When it rained, he would put his palms under the rock, collect the drops and drink them. And in extreme heat, when the rock was dry, he licked the sweat that appeared on the eaglets’ noses. The eagle brought drops of river water in her beak, but there were few of them, and Kuulamai was always thirsty.
Autumn has already arrived. It became cold. The deer could not get moss from under the deep snow. Mungo migrated down to his former camp.
But Kuulamai was still alive and hoped to somehow get out of the deep cave. The eaglets grew up before his eyes. They had already learned to fly and brought food to humans themselves.
One morning Kuulamai took the straps, tied himself tightly to the eaglets and jumped down. At first he fell like a stone, but then the eaglets flapped their wings and pulled him up. The eaglets of Kuulamai were placed in a clearing where deer were grazing at that time. The hunter untied the belts from his friends, thanked them and said goodbye to them. He looked around and recognized his deer.
But the deer were frightened by the bearded, skinny man and the eagles circling above them and ran to the camp. The girl Khalyai saw the animals and went to steal them, which is why they got scared and ran to the tents.
Suddenly a whistle sounded. Khalyai shuddered in surprise and looked to the side. A man, thin as a stick, stood under the rock and waved his hand at her. It was Kuulamai.
And then Khalyay learned about Mungo’s cunning and deceit, about how and where Kuulamai lived. She agreed to help him.
The next day Mungo planned to migrate to Emdek. When they were loading the deer, Khalyai left a khesh - a quiver with arrows and a bow under a spreading cedar. Mungo set off.
[Emdek (Medek) is the name of the mountain.]
As soon as the nomads left for a new place, Kuulamai approached the camp. Under the cedar he found a quiver, an onion, fresh cakes baked in ash, a piece of meat and a cup of reindeer milk. Kuulamai ate, drank and took up his bow. I tried to tighten the bowstring, but it was loose. I dried it in the sun, and the string became stronger.
He walked behind the nomads and thought: “Whoever decides to fight with me will lose his head.” Early in the morning, when Mungo and Maymayak were still sleeping, Kuulamai entered their tent.
“Well, Mungo,” he says, “the time has come to pay.” You must die!
Mungo jumped down, grabbed his bow and arrows, but did not have time to shoot. Kuulamai's arrow got ahead of him - it entered under his shoulder blade. Maymayak jumped to her feet and shouted:
- Don't kill me! Sorry! I didn’t know anything... Kuulamai shot. Maymayak fell.
Then Kuulamai and Khalyai began to live together. They had many children. They all became good hunters and formed the Konzok-Tar clan - the Olokhoi clan (now the Bolkhoevs).
And the old Tofalars still call Mount Medek Maymayak Kyshkyrgan, which means “Screaming Maymayak.” People called the hill, the top of Madek, Hesh-tikh badik (Quiver height).
This is our fairy tale.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru