In ancient times, there lived a large tribe of the Juraks near the coast of the Arctic Ocean. They earned their living by fishing in the Yenisei River and hunting in the Kara Sea. They had their leader - Jurak-Yeru.
One day Jurak-Yeru invited his helper into his yurt and said:
"Spring is coming. Our store of fish and meat began to run low. What shall we do?"
"The ice is very thick - we cannot catch fish, we cannot hunt seals... Master, they say that on the other side of the Yenisei, there is a rich village. And they have a lot of food," - replied the man.
"Yeah, there lives a tribe of Samats. I heard that they have very beautiful girls. It would be nice to go there and take them without a bride price!" - said Jurak-Yeru.
"Let it be as you want. We can gather our people, five hundred men, and go to war. We can easily cross the river on the ice and attack the village at night. We might slaughter all their men and capture all their women," - replied the helper.
"No, no, we must send a man there to notify about the war," - said Jurak-Yeru.
They sent a clever old man. The man crossed the river on a sledge with a deer team, came to the village elder, Koley, and said:
"I was sent by the elder of my tribe, Jurak-Yeru, to tell you that we, the Juraks, are going to come here to fight with you."
"This means that you want to take our food, our girls, our daughters! No, you shall not pass, we can defend ourselves!" - replied the angry Koley.
"I said everything, - be prepared for war," - said the envoy.
...Koley gathered all elders of the neighbouring tribes. He told them what happened and asked them for help.
"We have to gather all the people," - they said. - "The Khantys and Tunguses will help us."
"It is necessary to chop wood and build a fence, so that arrows of our enemies could not get to our women and children," - said Koley.
People gathered quickly from all around. They made a fence-fortress, made a lot of arrows and bows. Then one of the elders said:
"There is a need to find a brave spirit, who would meet Juraks from afar."
But no one responded, nobody wanted to meet the enemy. Then Koley said:
"My son will go."
"Yes, I will go. Just give me a couple of good deer, the fastest deer; such deer, that nobody could catch," - replied the son.
The tribal elders said:
"We have some good deer, but not so light-footed."
Koley said:
"I've got a doe, she probably will fit."
The folks brought her. She was small, with short legs and with belly dragging on the ground.
"Harness her alone?" - asked the son.
"Why alone?" - Koley replied. - "She has a two year old son. He is so powerful, that his mother might walk under his belly. Harness them as a team. Then go ahead and cross the river. There is a Boohucha ridge on the other side of the Yenisei. From that place, you can see far and near. And when you see the Juraks, you should hurry back."
The young man harnessed his deer and rushed to the ridge. This journey was supposed to last for three days, but the brave lad got to the ridge in a half a day. He went on the top of the ridge and lit his pipe. He smoked a pipe, then lit it for the second time, and then for the third. Suddenly he saw: something was blackening in a distance.
"What is it?" - He thought. - "Maybe the snow melted away at that place..."
But it was a troop of the Juraks, that was advancing in his direction. There was a lot of Juraks! They noticed a man on the ridge. Their leader, Jurak-Yeru, shouted:
"Forwards, catch him! Nail him before he leaves!"
However, the son of Koley stood still and smoked his pipe, having lit it for the fourth time.
Jurak-Yeru thought, `Why didn't he run away? Maybe, he got his courage of the devil and he is not afraid of death!'
So the Juraks surrounded the young man, - just a little more and they would take him in the ring. But at that point the guy let his deer to gallop. They flew like the wind and easily escaped off the chase. The Juraks shot at him, but their arrows did not reach him.
Jurak-Yeru said:
"This bastard is a stout heart. If all of them are like him, we go in vain. Maybe it's better to turn back..."
The same evening, the young hero returned home and went to sleep quietly. In the morning his father asked him:
"Well, son, did you see our enemies?"
"Yes, father, I saw them," - said his son. - "They have already passed the ridge and are coming here. They had wanted to take me and already surrounded, but I escaped. My deer team is pretty good!"
"But was the young deer keeping up with his mother?" - asked Koley.
"Sometimes he dropped behind her, but together they pulled very well," - replied the son.
"Well, we must make arrangements. The enemies will come here the day after tomorrow," - said the old man. - "We need to bring people together and tell them everything. We should drive all the deer to another pasture, away from our village."
The next day the Juraks arrived there. Jurak-Yeru with his two assistants came to the yurt of Koley. Koley said to his wife:
"Mother, treat the guests."
The old woman cooked a lot of meat and the guests ate their fill. Then Jurak-Yeru said:
"We all came here. So you must assign a time when we begin the war. We have come from afar, we would rest a day."
"But we did not call you! You have come yourself. I will not let you rest. Tomorrow morning we will begin!" - said Koley.
Early in the morning, the Juraks raised a red flag. Koley also raised a red flag. He told his son:
"It's time to start. Get dressed, go in front of all folks."
His son put on his iron clothes, took his bow and arrows, and went to bat against the enemies. On the other side of the snowfield he was met by the Juraks' fighter, who immediately started up the archery. He shot quickly one arrow after another, one arrow after another! The son of Koley even had no time to shoot, and then he fell down and groaned. But the Juraks' fighter shot and walked ahead, shot and advanced.
The Samats began stepping back, falling to the ground one by one. Their leader, Koley, looked at the snowfield and thought, `What should we do?'
He had a worker, woodcutter, named Sesokue, who was a kind of thin and small bloke. But all day long he had been chopping firewood for his master. His clothes were soaked with resin.
Thus Koley the "General" rushed to him and said:
"Hey, Sesokue, dear friend, they killed the son of your master, they killed my son! Help me out; get ready, get dressed, go to fight! If you win, I'll give you my daughter without a bride price; I'll give you a half of my livestock!"
But Sesokue did not want to fight and began to weep. The folks dressed him in iron clothes against his will. They gave him a bow and arrows. Thus a new hero went to war and started shooting. As he shot one arrow - three or four Juraks would fall down. In such a way he was shooting all day and all night.
The next morning Koley went out of his yurt, looked around the snowfield and became terrified - almost all Juraks' fighter lay dead on the ground! About twenty men were still alive. Their leader, Jurak-Yeru, lowered the red flag and rose the black one. Then he ordered his people to surrender.
But Sesokue the woodcutter had flown into a passion and was not going to stop fighting - he continued to shoot!
Jurak-Yeru shouted to the winners:
"Hey, you there, you should appease him somehow, or he will shoot all the women and children!"
Then Koley told his daughter:
"Little daughter, get dressed quickly, go out and soothe him! He does not remember anything. He is ready now to beat our folks!"
The daughter dressed up as it was a holiday. Having put on all her jewellery, she became so beautiful, that all the men could not remove their eyes from her face! At that time furious Sesokue already turned back - to beat his own people. Koley and his daughter approached him, grabbed his bow, and calmed him down.
"Go to my house! Here is my daughter," - said Koley.
Some time later, the elders gathered in the field and began to list the fighters.
"I have only two hundred men alive," - said Koley.
"And there left only fifteen fighters in my troop," - said Jurak-Yeru.
The Juraks picked up the dead and piled them on the sledges. Then Jurak-Yeru said:
"Master, we were going to capture your women, but you won! What will you take from us?"
"We do not need anything. Take your dead with you. Don't leave them on our land," - replied Koley.
"Eh, how many people were killed in vain! I shall never come to fight. The next year I will come here to visit you, but not to fight. Let us live in peace!" - said Jurak-Yeru.
![The War with the Juraks [Славянский Владимир Владимирович]](/img/s/slawjanskij_wladimir_wladimirowich/thewarwiththejuraks/thewarwiththejuraks-1.jpg)