In those days when the people of the Karazha tribe did not yet know how to plow the land, and did not know how to grow maize kururuka, pineapple, or cassava, but ate only forest fruits, various game and fish, there lived two sisters in the same family: the eldest was called Imaero, and the younger was Denake. One late evening, looking at the starry sky, Imaero fell in love with the large star Taina-Kan. The star shone with such a gentle golden light that the girl could not resist and said:
- Father, what a beautiful star!.. How I would like to take it out and play with it.
The father laughed at his daughter’s strange whim and said that Taina-Kan is very high - no one can reach it. Yet he added:
“Unless, having heard your words, Taina-Kan himself will come to you, daughter.”
And so, late at night, when everyone was already asleep, the girl felt that someone came up and lay down next to her. She got scared and asked:
- Who are you and what do you want from me?
- I am Taina-Kan, the evening star; I heard you calling me and came to you. Will you marry me?
Imaero lit a fire in the hearth and woke up her family.
So what? Taina-Kan turned out to be an old, old old man: his face was all wrinkled, and his hair and beard were white as cotton.
Seeing him in the glow of the flame, Imaero said:
“I don’t want you to be my husband: you are old and ugly, but I want a handsome, strong young man.”
Taina-Kan became sad and cried.
Then Denake, who had a kind and tender heart, took pity on the poor old man and decided to console him. And she said to her father:
- Father, I will marry this man.
And they got married to the great joy of the quiet old man.
After the marriage, Taina-Kan said to Denaka:
- Wife, I have to work to support you; I will clear this land and sow good seeds on it, such as the Karazha tribe has never seen before.
And he went to the large river Bera-Kan (as the Araguaia river was then called), and, turning to it, uttered some words, and entered the river, and stood up, spreading his legs so that the waters of the river passed between them. The river flowed, and, bending towards the water, the old man plunged his hands into the waves from time to time and picked up handfuls of good seeds floating downstream. So the river gave him two measures of Kururuk maize, armfuls of cassava and other useful grains, which the Karazha tribe still grows.
Coming home from the river, Taina-Kan said to Denaka:
“I’ll go cut down the forest to clear the land for crops.” But don't come and look at my work; stay at home and prepare food, so that when I come tired, with tired hands, you can satisfy my hunger and restore my strength.
Taina-Kan left. But he did not return for so long that Denake, afraid that her husband had fallen somewhere from fatigue, and afraid of falling asleep without waiting for him, decided to break the ban and secretly went to look for him.
Oh, what unexpected joy!..
Instead of a frail old man, she saw in a freshly cleared clearing a beautiful young man, tall, stately and strong. His body was all painted, and he wore such decorations as the people of the Karazha tribe did not know at that time and which every young man of this tribe still wears now. Denake couldn't help herself: overjoyed, she ran up to him and hugged him tightly. Then she took him home, happy to show her husband to his family as he really was.
It was then that the elder sister Imaero envied the younger one and also wished for this young man and said to him:
“You are my husband, because you came to me, and not to Denaka.”
But Taina-Kan answered her:
“Denake turned out to be so kind that she took pity on the poor old man and accepted him, while you despised him. I don't want you; one Denake is my friend.
Imaero screamed with envy and anger, fell to the ground and disappeared. At the place where she fell, everyone saw only “uru-tau” - a black bird that since then every night has uttered a cry so piercing and sad that it makes a random traveler who hears her voice tremble.
So the people of the Karazha tribe learned from the evening star Taina-Kan to grow maize, pineapple, cassava and other fruits and grains that they had not known before.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru