Page 76 - Animals of the Sakhalin Region in myths and legends

In one village there lived a girl with her brothers. Men went to get married to
her from all around the world, but she refused everyone and did not want to get
married. But then one day she got pregnant while swimming. No-one could explain
how it happened.
A boy was born and he cried constantly. Whoever tried to calm him down, he never
stopped crying. His mother eventually carried him out into the street, and later the
crying ceased. She saw her son eating seal fat, but looking around, she did not see
anyone. Later, the child started crying again and did not let anyone sleep all night.

Then the older brother told her to take the boy out again and follow him. So she did,
after waiting all day.
Then a man appeared and announced that he was her husband, and this child was
their son. He came to take them with him. The girl doubted, but he convinced her that
she could still return. It turned out that her husband is the son of a sea ruler. They
approached the water and began to descend. To prevent his wife from suffocating, the

man ordered her to take hold of his belt and close her eyes.
The son grew up. He really wanted to try archery. His mother said that his uncles
had a lot of arrows on the ground. Then the husband told his wife to go up to dry with
the arrows. The next day, the girl packed up and hit the road.
Early in the morning, at high tide, the hunters saw a sea otter swimming and went
after him in a boat. They fired arrows again and again, but the sea otter swam out
again. Nobody ever hit the mark. The sea otter swam into the ocean and came ashore.
One of the hunters continued the pursuit and walked around the beach. He saw the

girl and immediately recognized his sister. He felt ashamed that he had shot her.
Together they went home, and there the sea wife told how and where she now lives.
Later, returning back, she gave her brother the skins of the sea otter and said that
tomorrow a gift awaited him, and then dived under the water. The next day, a huge
whale was washed ashore. He was butchered and the whole village was fed.

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