It wasn't that long ago. There are still old people who remember this. True, there are few such old people left.
Belda had twins in her family: Udoga and Chubak. It is known that when twins are born, it is very good. Here Udoga and Chubak live. Children are like children, they are small in stature, but they have surpassed the old people in intelligence. Five winters have only passed, and Udoga and Chubak have already gone hunting. And they succeeded in everything. Both the forest and water people loved the twins, helped the brothers in everything, and sent good luck in every matter.
Somehow a bad year happened: there were few animals, the fish were not doing well. The old people began to say that the place needed to be changed, that in this place the devils had scared away the animals and fish.
Udog listened to the old men and said:
- Why is the place bad?
He pulled the string of his small bow, looked around, and sent his arrow into the taiga. The straw flew away. I don’t know how long she flew, then she returned, and Udoge herself lay down in the quiver, in her old place. And the birds flew after the arrow: ducks, geese, quails, and lay down at Udoga’s feet. The old people looked - all the birds were wounded in the left eye. They looked at each other: “If this happens every time, the village will not be left without meat!”
Here Chubak says to the old people:
- What's so bad about this place?
He threw the nets into the water with one hand. The nets sank.
“Well,” the old people think, “the water devil dragged him away!”
We waited a little. Suddenly the river began to boil,
sang and foamed with bubbles. Then Chubak put his hand into the water, grabbed the nets and pulled them out. Chubak pulled out as many fish as there were knots in the nets. The old men looked at each other: “Eh, if this happens every time, the village will not be left without fish!” Chubak asks the women here:
— Last year, on which side did the chum salmon have more caviar?
“On the left,” they answer Chubak.
“So, this year the fish are moving under the left bank,” says Chubak. - You need to take note. You were fishing on the right bank, and it seemed to you that there were no fish, that the fish had left.
Then Udoga says:
- Birds and animals go after fish. It was necessary to hunt on the other side.
The old people began to ask the twins for advice on everything. And everything went well.
Only soon trouble struck again! We came from a foreign shore to the Manchu Noyon chief. He came with soldiers and guns. He demands tribute from Belda - from each person a sable, an otter and a fox!
The Beldys were sad. No one has ever been paid tribute, but here comes the power! There are twice as many soldiers alone as there are all Beldas.
The old men went to the twins. They ask for advice. Udoga and Chubak looked at each other. Udoga says:
- Don’t pay tribute, we are not Manchu people
- we are the people of the Amur land and water! Let's go with my brother to that noyon...
The women in the village started crying:
- How can you! - they shout. - That Manchu Noyon is a thin man! He will kill our twins
- it will kill your happiness!
No matter how much the women screamed, Udoga and Chubak went to that noyon. The noyon is sitting in a large sampan - a painted boat. He sits on a wide platform. A silk tent sways above the noyon. The elder is standing around. At the scaffold the executioner sharpens a crooked sword. Noyon right-
He put his hand on the pillow. The nails on his hands are long, very long, reaching to the floor, bent, twisted, each one is inserted into a silver case. Five slave girls are cleaning the nails of the noyon. A fat scribe sits with a large book at the feet of the noyon.
Noyon saw twins and said:
- What do the Nanai guys want here? The scribe looked and bowed to the ground in front of the noyon:
“These children came running to say, noble noyon, that the Nanai old people will come now and bring the tribute that you ordered to take from them.”
Noyon became even more self-important. He lifted his nose up. He looks at the blue sky so as not to look at the Nanai old people, so as not to spoil his eyes. He waited and waited... His neck hurt, but still there were no Nanai old men.
Chubak says here:
- Old people will not come, noble noyon! Bel-dy did not pay tribute to anyone. They caught fish in their own rivers and breathed their own air. It's funny for them to pay tribute. If they pay, they will laugh. So, so as not to offend you, they didn’t come at all. And we are small, we don’t understand anything... They brought you gifts, noyon.
Udog poured out a handful of Amur soil from his pouch:
- Accept, noyon, a handful of our land, if yours is not enough for you!
Chubak took the owl's eyes out of the plague:
- Accept, noyon, and my gift - the eye of an owl. Then at night you will be able to see that brave people live on the Amur.
Udog pulled out a feather from the tail of an eagle with a red beak:
- Accept, Noyon, the wish that you live as many years as an eagle lives, and that everyone fears you, like an eagle. Only on the Amur there will be no fear of you!
Chubak poured a handful of ash out of the chumashka:
“Let all your enemies turn to ashes, noyon!”
Let all evil thoughts against the Amur people be covered with ash!
Noyon was surprised at how the little Nanais spoke. I was scared: if children are like that, then what kind of warriors and men are the Nanai people! Noyon didn’t show it, he hid his fear. He shouted at the twins:
- Tomorrow I will send my soldiers to Beldy! I will consign all the dead to fire, and make the living dead!
Udoga bowed to him:
“Your will, noble noyon, but tomorrow you won’t have any luck.” Better today do what you said.
Noyon did not listen. Waited out the night. Got ready to go on a hike. Then it began to rain so much that the banks disappeared from sight and all the roads were washed away. The Noyon soldiers went and almost drowned in the mud. The gunpowder in their guns was damp. The soldiers returned.
“The sun was setting into a cloud yesterday,” says Udoga, “towards a downpour.” The sign is true!
The bad weather has passed. The sky was dotted with stars. Noyon says:
- Tomorrow I will sail to the villages of Beldy. I will destroy everyone! I will make all the living dead, I will turn all houses to ashes!
“Your will, noble noyon,” says Chubak, “but you won’t have any luck tomorrow.” Do what you said today.
Noyon waited out the night. In the morning he ordered all sampans to raise the sails and sail to Beldy.
A black cloud with a white crown came from the sunset - and such a storm arose that the noyon had never seen such a storm in his life! Cupid splashed. The waves rose to the sky, the clouds descended to the ground. The wind blew once and tore all the sails on the sampans. The wind blew a second time - all the oars and masts were broken. The sampans were barely left intact. It’s fortunate that the wind didn’t blow a third time.
Chubak says:
- Yesterday the stars twinkled strongly: it was a sign of a storm. Noyon sits angry. Covered himself with a robe, no
doesn’t want to look at anyone, doesn’t let anyone near him -
et. I broke all my nails out of anger. He scattered all his girls. He beat his scribe with a stick.
The twins approached him. They say:
- We have told you so far, noble noyon. Now you tell us. You saw that we know our land and it’s not in vain that we collect our tribute from it: we take fish, furs, and poultry. How do you want to collect tribute from a land you don’t know?
Noyon turned pale and thought: “How can I cope with a people whose even boys are so smart!”
I went back to my side of Manchu Noyon.
This was not so long ago. There are still old people who remember those twins. Or maybe they heard about those twins from their fathers... Who knows!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru