Andre Martin - Yotkhee

When you’re busy, time flies quickly. Before anyone could notice, it grew dark, and the tired travelers finally sat down around the campfires to have their dinner.

Edeine finished her dinner quickly, picked up her puppy, and went over to Yotkhee’s campfire. She sat down on a big log next to him and asked:

«Tell me, Yotkhee, why do stars come out only at night?»

«During the day you can’t see even the light of the fire at a distance!» the boy answered with a smile.

«Then why are they so small?»

«They are very far away so they seem small.»

«How do you know they are far away?»

«My grandfather told me,» Yotkhee stirred the coals in the fire with a twig.

«Yotkhee, what is there beyond the horizon?»

«New horizons,» the boy smiled again.

«Who came up with all this?» the girl persisted, looking slyly into Yotkhee’s eyes.

«The Great Creator.» All at once the boy grew grave and looked into Edeine’s eyes searchingly, trying to see if she was making fun.

«But why?»

«As a gift to us,» Yotkhee smiled again.

The children looked into each other’s eyes, and it was clear that the girl had endless questions to ask, but as she asked them, the boy grew more and more puzzled because it seemed to him that the answers were plain and obvious, even unnecessary.

Edeine’s eyes twinkled, and Yotkhee knew that she had just made up a new story or a new song. He was right. Edeine thrust the puppy into his hands, jumped up, lifted her hands high towards the starry sky, and started singing, dancing a little as she sang:

The world of stars is wide,

Up there it lies,

The light of stars is bright,

It lights our eyes.

The endless starry sea,

It stirs my heart,

How did it come to be?

How did it start?

I’m lifting up my eyes,

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Khadko – a male name.

Ngano (Nenets) – a flat-bottom boat.

Khan (Nen.) – a sledge.

Muksun (Nen.) – a type of whitefish.

Khorei – a long pole for guiding a team of reindeer.

Vydu’tana (Nen.) – the chief shaman of the highest rank and of the Upper World, according to Nenets beliefs.

Tadebya (Nen.) – a shaman.

Nyaravei (Nen.) – a white stag.

Padvy (Nen.) – piebald reindeer.

Khalei (Nen.) – an arctic seagull.

Malitsa (Nen.) – an outer hooded garment for winter made of buckskin.

Kisy (Nen.) – tall winter boots widely popular among the peoples of the Upper North (the Nenets, the Khanty, and the Mansi). They are made of hides taken off deer legs (called «kamus’) and have thick multiple-layer soles.

Ngherm (Nen.) – a god of the Northern lands.

Yamal Iri (Nen.) – Grandfather Frost (Ded Moroz).

Irike (Nen.) – grandfather, grandpa. The Nenets believe it is impolite to address older people by name.

Khasava (Nen.) – an adult man.

Padko (Nen.) – a small embroidered bag for a girl.

Yotkhee – «The Keeper of Wisdom,» vydu’tana’s other name. The Nenets do not call each other by real names, it is prohibited.

Big Stones (Nen.) – mountains. Ngarka Peh (Nen.) – a large rock. This is what the Nenets used to call mountains.

Num – the Great Creator, the high god of the Nenets people.

According to Nenets legends, the Master of the sacred seven-trunk birch-tree, Khebidya Kho Erv, lives in the hollow of that tree. Once in every several thousand years, he comes out from the hollow, lifts up the birch-tree, and big waters come from under its roots, covering the land. With this water Khebidya Kho Erv washes away all sickness from the earth.

Nenets families sometimes promise their children to each other in marriage when they are still quite young. Once the betrothed come of age, they get married.

Ilibembertya (Nen.) – the spirit of light, the spirit of the East.

Nga (Nen.) – the spirit of darkness, the spirit of the West.

Ngherm (Nen.) – the spirit of cold, the spirit of the North.

According to the Nenets tradition, Nga is Num’s brother-in-law since he is married to Num’s sister