Page 118 - Animals of the Sakhalin Region in myths and legends

Once upon a time, a wolverine, a bear and a wolf lived together.
They lived together, never quarreled. But once they quarreled for life.
It happened like this.
The wolverine had a sister, a girl. She grew up quickly and became

a beautiful adult woman. The wolf then decided to take this girl as his
wife. He came to the wolverine and said:
— Wolverine, give me your sister as a wife.
— What are you, wolf, are you a match for her? Says the wolverine.
— You, after all, gray, were born from the snow, and we, the wolverines,
black, were born from the earth. No, I don’t agree to give you my sister
as your wife.
They argued for a long time, but they did not agree to anything.

Then the wolf says to the wolverine:
— Well, if you do not agree to give me my sister, let’s go to our elder
brother — the bear — he will judge us, tell us which of us is right.
They came to the bear, the wolf and said:
— Elder brother, we have come to you so that you judge us. Tell me,
which of us is right? I ask the wolverine to marry her sister, but she

does not agree to give it up. So we had a fight.
Then the bear said:
— It’s too bad that you don’t want to become related. For this you
will be punished. From now on, you, wolf, will live alone all the time
and will have no more than three cubs a year. You, Wolverine, for
having regretted giving your sister to the wolf, will have no more than
one cub a year.

Your children will always fall into wooden traps, and you yourself
will perish from it.
The wolf was very sad and wandered home. And the wolverine got
angry and began to scold the bear:
— You, bear, cursed me, — she said, — so I conjure you! You will
now sleep all winter in a hole that you will dig in the ground for

yourself. In winter, people will come to you and kill you.
Indeed, everything happened as the bear and the wolverine had
predicted. The wolf began to have no more than three cubs every year.
The wolverine brings only one cub per year, and they always fall
into the trap and die. The bear sleeps all winter, never getting out of
its den.

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