In the old days, three brothers lived on the Amur. The oldest and middle brother went hunting every day, and the youngest stayed at home, prepared food, processed skins, and butchered meat. Both his brothers and he had no free time. When the brothers went far into the taiga for sable, the younger brother spent the night alone in a hut. One day two brothers went hunting early in the morning. They hunted all day, but could not get anything. They walked like this for several days. One day the brothers returned early, before sunset. Quickly taking off their skis, one after another they entered the house, looking somewhat frightened and alarmed. The older brother says to the younger:
- Neku, quickly prepare everything that is required to pray to the owner of the taiga and animals! For some reason, we have been hunting for several days now, but we cannot get anything. Apparently he was angry with us; we had done something wrong to him. Previously, neither a cleaver nor a seasoned deer could dodge us, but now we cannot even get their cubs.
[Neku (Ulch) – an affectionate address to a younger brother. ]
The younger brother prepared everything that was required in such a case, and they began to ask for good luck in the hunt from the owner of the taiga, from the owner of fire, and from others who might meet them on the way.
Then the two brothers went fishing again. The younger one stays at home to cook food.
The brothers follow the tracks of the animals, where they will place crossbows, where they will stretch out the net-sleeve, where they will hang the snare. We were tired and only returned home late in the evening.
The next morning we went to inspect our traps. Not even a mouse was caught in any of them, all the crossbows were lowered, the mesh mittens were crumpled, the snares were mixed up. The brothers think to themselves: It’s probably the younger brother’s fault. He doesn’t go hunting himself, he doesn’t want to pray out of happiness, he just bothers us.
They returned home and began beating their younger brother. They beat him and say:
“It’s your bad spirit that bothers us, doesn’t give us happiness, scares the animals.” Makes us poor and unhappy. Here you go, here you go, lazybones!
The younger brother began to cry and said to them:
- Oh, my brothers, brothers! Didn’t I work with you, didn’t I feed you, didn’t process the skins? And you are fighting! You don’t know how to hunt yourself, but you take your anger and failure out on me.
Let's better go fishing tomorrow, and you sit at home!
But the brothers don’t want to listen.
Finally they got tired of beating him. They went to bed and immediately started snoring.
The next morning, again, the two older brothers, just before dawn, went to check their crossbows, and the younger one went into the forest to get firewood. He walks away and swallows his tears out of frustration.
He felled the tree, began to clear it of branches with an ax, and cut it for firewood. Tired, I sat down on a stump to catch my breath. He sits and hears: either it seems to him or it’s really the copper pendants jingling. He looked around and saw: a beauty in a robe with melodious pendants was sitting behind him, looking at him. The young man got scared, began to back away and fell off the stump. The girl laughed and said to him:
- Ha-ha-ha! Well done, weren't you scared of me? Am I so ugly or do I look like a witch?
But the fellow can’t even utter a word, he just shakes his head and says something:
- Me-ze, no-e!
But he can’t say anything more out of fear. The girl laughs and says to him:
- You, my long-awaited young man, do not be afraid of me! I won’t do anything bad to you, I can bring you happiness. Come to me, you stand like a tree!
She took him by the hands and led him along. They approached a large cedar tree. She bent down. She picked up hands full of snow and began to wash the young man’s face with it. As soon as he touches his face, the young man’s soul becomes lighter. And then she says to him:
“Well, I washed away almost all your tears, took away all your grief.” Tell your brothers: Don't you dare beat me anymore. I’d rather go hunting myself, then we’ll see who’s the hunter and who’s the cook? Just say so, don’t be afraid, and I’ll help you, I like you, well done!
And with these words the beauty disappeared, without even leaving her traces. And her voice remained ringing in the young man’s ears.
He goes home with firewood, and the words still ring in his ears: I like you, well done!
The younger brother came home, prepared food and began to wait for the brothers.
In the evening the brothers came, angry, hungry, tired. The older brother swung at the younger brother, but was unable to hit due to fatigue. But the middle brother can’t even raise his hand.
They rested, ate, and then began beating their younger brother again. They beat and say:
“It’s your fault, you’re scaring away all the animals, it’s your fault that happiness is passing us by!”
They got tired of beating and went back to sleep.
Early in the morning, before the sun had yet appeared, the younger brother got up, prepared breakfast, woke up the brothers and said to them:
- Well, my brothers! You beat me for a long time, but now you won’t do it anymore. I will hunt myself, in another place where you do not hunt. You go in your direction, and I in mine, in the evening we’ll see which of us is a hunter and which is a lazy one!
He went skiing into the taiga, where he had chopped wood yesterday, and didn’t even look at his brothers. And the brothers did not have time to utter a word. But there was nothing to be done, and soon they went into the taiga.
The younger brother is walking, looking for traces of the animals. He reached the place where he had chopped wood yesterday, and again saw that girl. Only today she was already dressed in a hunter's costume. The girl took from the young man his crossbows, bow and arrows, snares and nooses, netted sleeves, and led him into the hut and said:
– Take these new clothes of a real hunter, I sewed them for you. Tomorrow, place crossbows on all the paths, strengthen the traps, stretch the nooses. And today sleep, gain strength!
As soon as she said so, the young man fell onto the bed and fell into a deep sleep.
In the morning, the young man woke up and did everything as the girl told him. After that he came to the hut, and there dinner was already waiting for him. Another day later I returned to check the traps. Whatever the trap is, it is full of animals, and not simple ones, but the most valuable ones. All day long he carried his booty to the hut. And I processed it for another three days. I hung up the skins and went back to setting up crossbows. He lived like this for nine days and brought in abundant spoils every day. At the end of the ninth day, the girl asks the young man:
- Well, well done, will you go to your brothers or will you stay with me, will you become the luckiest hunter?
The good guy answers her:
“Dear girl, there’s no way I can stay with you.” The older brothers will worry. Tomorrow I’ll go to them, bring the loot, let them rejoice.
The girl asked the next morning:
“Will you come next year in the fall, or should I not wait for you anymore?”
“I’ll definitely come,” said the young man. Then he dragged his hunting sledges, full of harvested furs. He walked like this all day. In the evening, when it got dark, I saw light ahead. He went towards it and saw a house with an unfamiliar woman standing at the door. As soon as he approached her, she told him:
- Well done friend, I was frozen while waiting for you. You've been walking for a long time. I have prepared a place for you to spend the night, a variety of food, and delicious drinks. But first, wash your face with ice water!
The young man washed himself with ice water and turned into a mergen: handsome, strong, stately, a wise hero. He entered the house, ate, drank, lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.
In the morning, Mergen thanked the woman and again pulled the sledge with furs. The woman walked next to him, helped him pull the heavy load, and then said:
- Well, Mergen, I can’t go any further. Take one and be lucky in everything you do!
Mergen went on alone. The sledge goes, like a team of good dogs, pulling. Well done, I decided not to spend the night anywhere else. He walked and walked, but then evening came again. Again a light appeared ahead. The good fellow decided to walk past the house, only to cover the girl standing at the door with snow. And she ran after him. He runs and shouts to him:
- Mergen, stop and spend the night in my house! Stop!
The fellow listened to these words and stopped. He waited for the woman and returned to the house with her. She said that his elder brother, having learned about his success in the hunt, decided to kill him and take his furs. He placed a crossbow in a remote gorge.
“I feel sorry for you, that’s why I stopped you.” I am the sister of the one who loves you, for whom you are the husband.
The next morning the fellow went further. He entered the gorge and saw: from behind a tree, a bear crossbow was looking at his chest. The young man walked around on guard and threw a lump of snow at him, and instantly the arrow hit the lump and pierced through it. The young man said nothing, he just clicked his tongue in amazement and shook his head in indignation. I moved on. The woman who accompanied him whispered in his ear:
“I can’t go further than this copse.” Look, next you will meet your brother-in-law and your sister. Bow to them from me and give them your best three sables. They will let you go and help you on your way. If you go even further, you will come across a barn. This is not a simple barn, but a hiding place of your ancestors. It stores the values of the entire family. Add to them your animals and furs. When you come to your village, don’t go anywhere on the first day! The next day, go to the merchant and sell your furs that will appear in the house by that time!..
That's what the guy did. On his way he met a large village. His older sister and brother-in-law lived there. They met for the first time in their lives. The sister gave a big feast. In gratitude, the brother gave them three of the best black sables. And they gave him the key to the family barn.
After three days of travel, he found this family barn, just like that. No one opened it after the death of the tribal leader - Khalad, the grandfather of the young man. As soon as Mergen inserted the key into the lock, the door opened on its own. He hung up all the furs and went to his native village.
He came to the village and knocked on the fish skin window. The doors opened and his mother and father greeted him. And his two brothers sat in the house and talked about their hunting exploits. Before that, they said that their younger brother died, he was torn to pieces by taiga animals, and not a single bone was left behind.
As soon as they saw their brother alive and unharmed, they began to beat up in shame for the mats on the canoe. They can't get out. The younger brother saw this, laughed and forgave their intrigues and insults.
He approached the fishing table, and there lay all the furs he had obtained.
After that, they all began to live amicably and happily. The next year, the younger brother again went to the taiga, taking his wife and son with him. So everyone lived together. Luck always accompanied them in everything.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru