My ancestors ate fruits and honey, and when there was not enough of both, they suffered from hunger. One gray-haired old man, named Nyara, took pity on them and one day ordered his sons-in-law and sons to cut down the bamboo thickets and trees. When everything was done, he asked the children to lead him to the scorched arable land; Having arrived there, Nyara sank to the ground and ordered his sons-in-law and sons: “Now bring the long vines.”
When the vines were in front of the old man, he said: “Now throw the vines around my neck, tighten them tightly and drag my body along the ground, first in one direction, then in the other, until I die. Then bury me in the middle of the arable land and go to your village. Three days and three nights will pass, and when you return here, you will see that the earth has sprouted, and if you sow the arable land every year with the seeds of plants that have grown on it, you will not know what hunger is.”
Here the elder’s relatives, of course, burst into tears, saying that they would never do this.
However, Nyara told them:
“What I command to be done is for your own good. And if you do not follow my order, you will live in eternal poverty, and many of you will die of hunger. Besides, I’m very old and tired of life.” Then, without ceasing to moan and sob, they did what the elder ordered them and went into the forest to eat wild berries. Three days and three nights passed, and when they returned to the arable land, they found that it was all covered with plants with sharp leaves called maize, beans and strawberries. And when their seeds were ripe, Nyara’s relatives called their relatives and friends and shared the seeds with everyone.
That’s why it became our custom to spend three or four days after sowing in the forest, eating berries and hunting. Maize is grown on our land - white people did not bring it to us, no. And we call it nyara, in memory of an old man with that name, who, having sacrificed himself, gave life to this grain.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru