A forest-dwelling man marries a Russian girl and has a son. The son, after warning his wife about his dangerous family, leaves with her and a barrel of alcohol. Each night, he faces violent encounters with his brothers. On the final night, the old forest-demon kills him. The wife takes their children and returns to her father.
Source
Tales of Yukaghir, Lamut, and Russianized Natives of Eastern Siberia
by Waldemar Bogoras
The American Museum of Natural History
Anthropological Papers, Vol. 20, Part 1
New York, 1918
► Themes of the story
Family Dynamics: The tale explores complex relationships within the family, including the son’s interactions with his wife and his dangerous family background.
Conflict with Authority: The son defies his father’s summons, choosing to flee with his wife, which leads to violent confrontations with his brothers and ultimately his father.
Loss and Renewal: Following the husband’s death, the wife returns to her father with their children, signifying an end to one chapter and the beginning of another.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Yukaghir people
Told by John Sukhomyasoff, a Russian creole, the clerk of the church in the village of Nishne-Kolymsk, the Kolyma country, summer of 1896.
There was a forest-being, a hairy man, who lived in the woods and roamed about the country. He married a Russian girl and had a son by her. The boy grew up and in his turn married and had two children. One time he said to his wife, “My father calls me to his place, but I do not wish to go. Let us rather go away from here.” He took a barrel of alcohol (a barrel holding three pails [a Russian “pail” is equal to 2.70 gallons. A barrel of three pails forms one side-pack of the usual load of the pack horse]), and they set off. They went throughout the day, and came to a dense forest. He said to his wife, “This evening my elder brother will come to fetch me; but I shall not go. Probably you will hear a noise and clatter in the night time. Be sure to stay in the tent! Not a single look outside, nor the faintest call!” He drank from the barrel as much as one pail, then he went out. The woman remained in the tent, but could not sleep. At midnight she heard much noise and clatter, but she did not dare to look out.
► Continue reading…
In the morning, however, she went out. All the trees around the house had their bark peeled off and their branches were broken off. Her husband was sleeping on the bare ground, very tired. They moved off. In the evening he said to his wife, “This time my eldest brother will come to fetch me. I shall obey him as little as I did the other one. You must keep in the tent and wait until morning.” He drank another pailful of alcohol and went out. At midnight she heard louder noises than before, shrill whistling, clapping of heavy blows, and the thud of falling branches. In the morning she went out. All the trees had been cut down to the very roots, and her husband was lying on the ground, half dead and senseless. She nursed him and dressed his wounds, until he came, to. The next evening he said, “This time the old one will come; and even if he should murder me, I shall not go with him. Keep this well in mind. If I am killed, do not stay here in the forest; take our children and go away to your own father.” He drank the last pail of alcohol and went out. In the middle of the night, the woman heard noise and clatter ten times worse than the two previous nights. Even the tent was torn from its supports and carried away. They fought the whole night long and then throughout the day, and the whole of the following night. This time it was the woman who lay like dead. After sunrise she came to and looked up. Nearby was a big larch tree, as thick as a man can embrace. The old forest-demon wound his son around the tree as he would a strip of leather. In this position he left him dead and disfigured. The woman took her children and went back to her father.
The end.
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