There lived an old raven shaman in Chukotka, he had an old stupid wife - a seagull. The raven told the seagull:
- Go, bring the seal!
And the seagull brought a duck.
- No, don't! I need a seal, but you brought a duck.
Again the seagull followed the seal and on the way forgot why the raven had sent it, and brought all the ducks that lived in the tundra.
- Nerpa, seal! - the raven shouted. The seagull brought the seal.
Raven said to the seal:
- I want to get married, get a girl for me!
The seal went to the yaranga, where there were five girls. She approached the yaranga, sat down on the sledge and began to trim her nails. One of the girls saw her and said to her father:
“Father, there’s a seal sitting on the street cutting his nails with a knife.”
“I’ve come to match my daughters,” the old man thought and said to his daughter:
- Call her here!
The old man asks:
- Why did you come?
“The raven sent me for a girl who wants to marry him.”
- Do you hear, daughters?
- Yes, father, we hear, but that won’t happen!
The seal went to where there were four girls. She came, sat down to rest, the girls saw her and told their father.
“Call her here,” says the father.
- Why did you come?
- The raven sent me for a girl!
- Do you hear, daughters?
“We hear father, but let’s not go, his legs are short!”
The seal went further, to where there were three girls. She saw her alone and said to her father:
“There’s a seal sitting on a sledge, trimming its nails.
- Call her here.
The seal came to the yaranga. The old man asks:
- Why did you come?
“The raven sent me for the girl.”
- Do you hear, my daughters?
“Yes, we hear, father, but it won’t happen, he’s old and blind.”
The seal went to where the two girls were. I saw her alone and told my father.
- Call her here! - says the father.
The seal comes, the old man asks:
- Why did you come?
- The raven sent me for a girl!
- Do you hear, daughters?
- Yes, we hear, this won’t happen, he’s weak and decrepit!
Night came, the seal was tired, could not go further and fell asleep in the yaranga. When the grease pit began to go out, one of the girls crept up with a knife, cut the seal's skin, and the other began to wrap the fat from the seal's back onto a splinter... The seal left the yaranga.
The raven got angry at the seal and ordered it to go further into the tundra, to an old man who had only one daughter, and before entering the yaranga, let him bring firewood from a nearby hill, and then woo the girl.
The seal barely crawled to that yaranga. The girl saw her and told her father. They called the seal into the yaranga, gave it tea and meat, and the old man asked:
-Where are you going?
“The raven sent me to woo your daughter.”
- Do you hear, daughter?
“I hear you, father, but I’d rather marry a matchmaker than an old raven.”
As soon as the girl said that she agreed to be the seal’s wife, the seal’s skin fell to her waist, and a man appeared in front of the old man and the girl.
“Okay,” says the old man, “if you want to become my daughter’s husband, bring my entire herd here.” None of my shepherds could do this yet.
The fellow crawled into the tundra to drive the deer. The girl gave him a dry deer skin, ordered him to put the leader on the horns, sit on him and drive the herd to the yaranga.
The sun had not yet risen from behind the hills when the young man had already driven the deer to the yaranga.
“Now bring me a sledge full of firewood from behind that mountain,” says the father.
The fellow crawled with the sled into the hills, barely moving his flippers.
And the girl again taught the young man: “Behind the hill there is a human head with burning eyes, as soon as it pounces on you, throw a handful of earth at it, and be careful not to miss!” Well done guy brought a lot of dry firewood. At night, the young man accidentally touched the girl with his seal tail, and she conceived a child.
In the morning the old man said to the groom:
- Go home, take my daughter and half the reindeer!
...And meanwhile the seagull and the raven almost died of hunger. They were happy when they saw a seal with a girl and a herd of deer.
- Hurry, hurry, let me eat! - the raven shouted to the seal.
Well done, the seal went and killed the fattest deer. The girl cooked a lot of meat and treated everything to the raven, and the raven ate and praised the young man for marrying such a beautiful girl to him.
A raven and a seagull fell on the meat and died by morning.
As soon as the shaman was gone, the seal completely became human. Then the girl said to him:
- Let's live well!
And they lived together. They had a large herd of deer and many children.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru