Wayamba the turtle was the wife of Gu-gur-gaga, the mockingbird. When the time came for Wayamba to lay her eggs, they quarreled. She was going to, like her family, dig a hole in the sand near the river and lay her eggs in it. But Gu-gur-gaga objected that the river could overflow and carry away the eggs. The eggs must be placed in a hollow tree.
- How do I get into the hollow? - said Wayamba. “And if I climb up there, where will I get the sand to cover the eggs?” How then will the Yi sun warm the sand so that the cubs hatch?
- But how was I and my mother born before me? - objected Gug-gur-gaga. “My wife must act as our mothers did.”
“I am Wayamba, and I need to do as Wayamba do.” Doesn't a child get his mother's name? My children will be Wayambas, like me. I will go to my family.
The turtle went to the river where its family lived and disappeared under the water. Gu-gur-gaga followed her to the shore, then returned and sent the dove Wonga and his wife, the brown dove Du-mer, for Wayamba to return the turtle.
But Wayamba replied:
- No, I won't come back. If he wants, then let him come himself.
Wonga and Du-mer returned and conveyed this to Gug-gur-gaga, and he went to his wife. But on the bank of the river he saw Wayamba’s mother and turned back, because the law of the tribe did not allow talking with his mother-in-law. He sent Wong to talk to her.
Wayamba's mother said:
“Tell him that my daughter won’t come back.” He forced her to break the laws of her family, and she would not leave her people.
Wong's dove flew to tell Gu-gur-gaga about this. As soon as he began to talk, a black snake, Uyu-bu-lui, Wayamba’s old lover, crawled out of the grass. Angry at the dove, which wanted to return his beloved to the husband she left behind, Uyu-bu-lui decided to kill Wonga. When the snake was about to rush at him and strangle him, Gugur-gaga saw it.
Like lightning, he rushed towards Uyu-bu-lui. Grabbing it, he rose high into the air and from there threw the snake to the ground. She broke her back and died. Then Gu-gur-gaga said, turning to the dead enemy:
“Twice you tried to hurt me, and twice you failed.” The first time you wanted to marry Wayamba, promised to me, and now you are planning to kill my faithful messenger, sneaking up behind him like a coward. Instead, you lie dead and will never be able to harm me again. So I will always take revenge on your treacherous family, and my people will forever hate you. It's nice to see your enemy dead.
Gu-gur-gaga laughed long and loudly until the entire shore echoed his piercing cry: “Gu-gur-gaga! Gu-gur-gaga!
This laughter amazed Wayamba - after all, her husband was always so solemn. He laughed only when announcing the sunrise.
She climbed out of the water on the opposite bank and quickly walked away. Hearing peals of strange loud laughter, she thought that her husband had gone crazy and would kill her if he caught her. The laughter was heard so close that she thought it was following her. She was afraid to look back and hurried forward.
Gu-gur-gaga, instead of pursuing Wayamba, devoured his enemy and again swore that as long as his clan lived, he would wage war against the clan of Uyu-bu-lui, killing and destroying it.
While the feast continued, Wayamba went far from the old camp. Finally, she got too tired, stopped on a beautiful sandy beach and decided to set up a camp here. She dug a hole, put the eggs in it and carefully covered them. Suddenly she heard a sound. Looking up, she saw a bird with dark plumage, a red head and neck. The bird looked at her and, noticing that Wayamba raised her head, asked:
- Why are you covering your eggs?
- So that the sand and sun will bring out the cubs.
- Aren’t you going to sit on them yourself?
- Of course not! Why should I do this? The eggs will keep warm and the babies will hatch in time, just like me. If I sit on them, I might crush them. Who will bring me food? I will die and so will they.
The red-headed bird, who turned out to be a Woggun bush turkey, returned to her husband and told him what she had seen. She would like to try this method - it is easier than sitting on eggs week after week.
Her husband said that there should be no rush to change customs, because each tribe acts in its own way. Perhaps Wayamba is only laughing at her. They must wait and see if the babies hatch. But even in this case, he will not allow his wife to build a nest near the river, where a sudden flood could carry it away. They must stick to the bush.
In the end, they saw that everything Wayamba said was true: small, strong and healthy Wayambas hatched.
Then the Vogguns decided to try to hatch chickens without sitting on the eggs. They were unable to dig a hole for them and therefore scraped up a heap of debris from the earth, sand, leaves and twigs. Then Woggun began laying eggs every other day until there were fifteen eggs in the pile, lying side by side, with their sharp ends down. They placed rotting leaves and debris on top of the eggs and covered it all with leaves and twigs. After this, the parents began to anxiously await the results.
As time passed, the mother's anxiety increased. Didn't she kill all her children just to free herself? She scurried around the large pile, stuck her head inside to feel if it was warm there, and quickly pulled her head out, glad that the nest was warm. Then she began to fear that the nest was too hot. Anxiously, she scraped away the soil and leaves, thinking there were too many of them. Suddenly she stopped and listened. Isn't that the voice of a chicken? She listened again. Yes, that's right. She called her husband. He walked over and, when she told him what she had heard, cleared away the pile. To their joy, beautiful chicks jumped out, independent and strong, with more developed legs and wings than their previous chicks.
Proud of the success of her plan and wanting to quickly tell everyone the good news, Voggun's mother ran to tell her family about it.
The next year, almost all the Wogguna mothers laid their eggs in one nest - a big pile. Eventually the whole family began to do this and therefore received the name Hill Builders.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru