Summary “Piebald Dog Running the Edge of the Sea” Aitmanov
The story takes place on the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk during the Great Fish-woman, the progenitor of the human race. Mythological motives are organically woven into the general outline of the plot, so a simple story about the fate of human beings turns into a parable. The history describes the life of a small, almost exotic Nivkhi people that lives on the island of Sakhalin.
Sea and land are two elements that are in perpetual warfare. But it was not always so. Once upon a time there was nothing on the earth except water. Life originated in ancient times from a duck named Louvre, which made a nest of its feathers. So there was a land.
The morning was approaching. The eleven-year-old boy Kirisku was for the first time to enter the open sea. This is an important event that will determine whether to be a hunter or not. The boy is seen off by his mother and, in order to ward off the evil spirits of the Kinry, deliberately does not say out loud about the impending voyage.
All adults understand that this swimming is specially designed for Kirisk. They kindly joke at the boy, checking his courage and willingness to become a hunter. Finally, they swim to the first island, on which the rookery is located, the seal is their prey. Kirisk for the first time shoots a gun and misses. He is distressed, but his adults do not reproach him. “From the first shot, no one becomes a hunter,” the boy relies on Mylgun.
Shooting a common seal of one seal, hunters quickly gutted carcass. They have to perform a rite – to eat the raw liver of the animal. Then Kirisk will become a real hunter. After the liver you want to drink. But the Authority warns the boy that it is necessary to save fresh water, because they have yet to go to another island and return
On the way to the second island of hunters suddenly storms overtake. They manage to survive and keep the boat on the waves, but after the crash, everything around is shrouded in fog. Nobody knows where to swim, the boat carries away the current in an unknown direction. Man is powerless in the fight with the elements.
For many days they are drifting in an unknown direction. The seal had to be thrown off the sea. There is only a little dried jukola and a keg with water, which is rapidly drained. The distribution of water is a responsible business that the old Organ does. It is necessary to stretch the drink for many days, each gets the smallest. As an elder, the Authority decides not to drink at all, and soon decides to a more desperate act – to rush into the sea. To save a boy is the main task, because he is the future of the family. Gradually, after the Organ go Mylgun and Emrayin. Kirisk is in the boat half dead, weakened, he does not have the strength even to finish the last drops from the keg. In the very last moment before his eyes appears Piebald Dog, which means that he reached home. The life force in him overcame the elements.
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