Traditional Stories
Fish-Egg Face
Brothers - there were a lot of them! The youngest drowned, leaving a small son with his [the drowned man's] mother. The other brothers didn't love the grandmother and grandson, who lived in an earth hut. The grandson went looking for food. But whenever he got something, his uncles took it away.
Grandmother said, "Don't go anywhere, I'm worried about you." But all the same he went out. Once he found a dead seal and put it in a meat hole. But the uncle smelled it and took it away. And they went hungry again.
The boy grew up and started going everywhere in the tundra. One day while he was walking he saw three mounds of earth. One had a little grass, the second even less, and the third was completely bare. From these first two mounds a head was formed. And from the third, a yaranga. He went into the yaranga that was formed by the mound, and he saw a lot of clothes hanging there, and a sleeping room ready. Everything needed for living. And a herd was pastured around the yaranga.
He went back to his grandmother and said, "Grandmother, let's go home."
"What home?" she said, and began crying. She didn't believe him. He took her up on his shoulders and took her to the yaranga and put her down by the sleeping room.
Only then did she speak. "Whose house is this?"
"Ours," he said. "Come, I'm going to find a bride now. Some rich people live over in the next village. Rub my face with fish eggs so it looks like a beard, and I'll put on old clothes."
They went to the first yaranga in the village. They greeted the people. "Who are you? Why have you come?" asked those people.
They answered, "We're looking for a bride."
The women there said, "No, won't take a man like you."
They went to the next yaranga. A man, woman, and two daughters lived there. The father asked his daughters, "Who will take this man for a husband?" and the youngest answered, "I will."
"First my grandmother and I will go back to my yaranga," said the boy. There he washed his face and put on good clothes. His grandmothers changed clothes, and they went back to the father's yaranga.
They went past the first yaranga, and the girls came out. When they saw how good he looked they said, "He proposed to me first!"
But he said, "I don't want to marry you."
They went to the other yaranga. There he was accepted.
That's all!
