A Nenets Singable Story (lahanakko), collected by M. A. Castren (fieldwork 1842–1849, pub. 1940)

This is the fourteenth of nineteen songs in Castren's Nenets collection. The editor Lehtisalo classified it, along with Song 6, as a lahanakko — a story composed in verse form and meant to be sung, distinct from the heroic songs (sjudbabts'), the narrative with shaman motif (tadieibtso), and the shorter lyric genres. Castren recorded it at Kolva in the autumn of 1843, during his first Siberian expedition.

The narrative follows a familiar pattern of the Nenets bride-quest: the youngest of seven brothers sets out alone, without a matchmaker, to demand the daughter of a foreign ruler — here called the Schmutziger Kaiser (Dirty Emperor), a figure from the contact zone between tundra Samoyeds and Russian imperial frontier posts. Along the way he encounters two Ostyak (Khanty) men — one ordinary, one with shoulders like tree-roots — and enlists them as allies. At the Emperor's court the bride-price includes an impossible test: lift the great stone. The hero lifts it with one hand, uses it as a weapon to destroy the city, takes the Emperor's daughter, and acquires a second bride — the strong Ostyak's sister — through alliance rather than conquest. The casualness of the violence, the doubling of wives, and the laconic dialogue are characteristic of the tundra epic voice.

The source is M. A. Castren's fieldwork transcription, published posthumously by T. Lehtisalo as Samojedische Volksdichtung (SUST LXXXIII, Helsinki, 1940). Translation chain: Nenets (oral, 1840s) to Castren's phonetic field notation to German prose translation (Lehtisalo, 1940) to English (NTAC, 2026). The English is independently derived from the reconstructed German text. No prior English translation of this song exists.

Seven Bellenden are they.

The Youngest of the Bellenden
said so:
"To the Dirty Emperor
without matchmaker —
a wife for myself I go to fetch,
the Emperor's daughter."

"No bad thing will come."

Six Bellenden,
they said so:
"If once the land
falls into war —
then what
can you help?"

The Youngest of the Bellenden
said so:
"A wife for myself I go to fetch."

"No bad thing will come."

Six Bellenden,
they said so:
"If once the land
falls into war,
on your back — your house —
who will carry it?"

After he had said these words,
a long sled he took.
Then
he began to wander.

While he wandered so,
at the back end of his skis
the snow whirled.

As he looked —
in the direction before him
a city came into sight.
Something this side of the city
is a single great tent.
To this tent
again he begins to trot.

At the tent —
he arrived,
opened the door wide,
with his sled
he came in.

In the great tent
are only two men,
a single woman.
Ostyaks they were.

The younger Ostyak's
both shoulders
are like the roots
of a fallen tree.
The elder Ostyak —
such an ordinary man he was.

The elder Ostyak
said so:
"Youngest of the Bellenden,
where did you go?"

The Youngest of the Bellenden
said so:
"Younger Ostyak,
come with us!"
"To the Dirty Emperor —
a wife for myself I fetch,
the Emperor's daughter."

The elder Ostyak
said so:
"Her bride-price is great —
surely you cannot."

The Youngest of the Bellenden
said so:
"Let it be great —
become the matchmaker!"

To the elder Ostyak
a cloth suit he gave.
The Youngest of the Bellenden
said so:
"Her bride-price may be great:
come with me!"

The elder Ostyak
said so:
"Her bride-price is great."

Then they went.
At the Emperor's house
they arrived.

The elder Ostyak
went into the house.

The Dirty Emperor
said so:
"What have you come to fetch?"

"I came courting."

The Dirty Emperor
said so:
"Her bride-price —
a hundred black foxes,
ten more ten beaver,
ten more ten sable.
Besides the great bride-prices —
the great stone —
lift it!

If you lift the great stone,
he gives his daughter.
If you do not lift it,
he cuts off your head."

The elder Ostyak
said to the Youngest of the Bellenden:
"The stone — can you turn it?
A hundred black foxes,
ten beaver, ten sable —
those are small.
But the great stone —
see —
the young men at the Emperor's court
next to the great stone
cannot move it."

The Youngest of the Bellenden
said so:
"Her bride-price may be great:
let it be ten more ten sable,
let it be ten more ten beaver,
let it be as it may!"

The elder Ostyak
said so:
"Youngest of the Bellenden,
look at it!"

From this place
to the Emperor's house
again he went on foot.
The Emperor said so:
"The great stone — lift it!

A cry howls,
a wailing whimpers.
If you lift the great stone
he gives his daughter.
If you do not —
he cuts off your head."

The Youngest of the Bellenden
under the great stone
his hand he slid,
with his one flat hand
suddenly he seized it,
held it as a staff.

He said so:
"This great stone —
where shall I bring it?"

Then —
the Emperor
and all in the city
he struck down.

The Emperor's daughter's
house remained.
Behind the city
like a burning birch-knot
he threw it.
Behind the city
he let it fall.

The Youngest of the Bellenden
said so:
"Younger Ostyak,
this great stone
you have brought.
So long as I am angry —
when I test you!"

The younger Ostyak
said so:
"Youngest of the Bellenden,
if you strike me,
whom do you hold
as your kinsman?
From our land
a wife you took."

The younger Ostyak
said so:
"Youngest of the Bellenden,
come into my tent!
For you I bring a wife!"

At this place —
into his sled
the Emperor's riches
everything he loaded,
the Youngest of the Bellenden.

With the daughter of the Emperor
from this place
to his own tent
he set out to wander.

The younger Ostyak
said so:
"Come to my tent,
I bring a wife for you!"

The younger Ostyak
sent his sister
with her riches.

The Youngest of the Bellenden
from this place
set out again to wander.
At a certain place
he stopped,
put up his tent.

The younger Ostyak's sister
and the Emperor's daughter —
their riches he received.

Then
all was accomplished.
He went home.

Colophon

Song 14 of the Samojedische Volksdichtung (SUST LXXXIII), published by the Finno-Ugrian Society, Helsinki, 1940. Collected by M. A. Castren at Kolva in the autumn of 1843, during his first Siberian expedition. Edited posthumously by T. Lehtisalo from Castren's manuscript notebooks held in the Helsinki University Library (Manuscripta Castreniana, Volumen VIII, pp. 380-387).

Lehtisalo classified this song as a lahanakko — a story in verse form, meant to be sung — along with Song 6. The Dirty Emperor (Schmutziger Kaiser) figure reflects the contact zone between Nenets reindeer-herders and the Russian imperial frontier, where the tundra economy intersected with the Tsar's colonial administration at trading posts and church fairs.

Translation chain: Nenets (oral tradition, 1840s) to Castren's phonetic field transcription to German prose translation (Lehtisalo, 1940) to English (NTAC, 2026). The English was independently derived from the German text as reconstructed from the bilingual PDF extraction. No prior English translation of this song exists.

Translated by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Tulku lineage: Kalma, Life 262.

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Source Text: Nenets Phonetic Transcription (Castren)

Nenets source text in M. A. Castren's phonetic transcription system, from Samojedische Volksdichtung (SUST LXXXIII, 1940), Song 14, pp. 289-295. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

siu laertako.
laertako njudeae
puda tarem mah:
"nall jerw ujan
laertako njudeae
puda tarem mah:
nieduu hotam."
"amgahart sier jangoda."
mat laertako
tjiki wadida
pudon tarem ma
muesomah adanda
"huna jangadkeb
nid haradata

sjunkosavaei
sjunkomdami0e,
tjikanda
jadalj.
muundjuu.

tarem jadabata
meaki meakana
lambita japtsohana
sideri nienet,
niadada zjura.
oleri nieh,
tarem sirpata
habihi ngaeuaha.
niernda njana

njude habija
mar ngadimea,
sideda martseda
mar andaltsjunja
u'ano langamaraha,
oleri meadi'eh.

arkajum habi
tjiki meat
ngannin danja tali'e.
taeri tartse ngaewui.
arkka habija
tjiki meaden
puda darem mah:
taeumahadanda
"laertako njudeae,
njomdj adadae,
hunjan beaunare"?

laertako njudeae
puda tarem mah:
"njude habija,
mall jervoj an;
njana ninduh!"
"nieduu hosajam

tjiekend on gaje,
parongoda njum."
arkka habijah
puda tarem mah:
"ngaeuwa mirtje ngarkka,
had ja 'amgur."
laertako njudeae
puda tarem mah:
"amgam hosijan?"
"ngaeje
ngarkka,
ngaeuwadanji(n)duh!"
"ngaeut asj tom."
arkka habijan
nall jeruja
noi banim mi'i.

laertako njudeae
puda tarem mah:
"aeuwa mirtje ngoka ngaeje:
tjikingauna julideng,
jutasa ngaeje."
aeuwa mirtje juoltsemahadanda
ngatsemboi nienetseae'
arkka habija
pindarpi.

paejae jud
tjiki paejam ju'banand
mar an djahana
tjor ngurkkada
njumdje tata.
jar ngurkkada.
nib njandjil'
tjiki jahad
aeuwamda madangu."

laertako njudeae
paeja ngilmna
ngudamda
singedae.
parangodajam
ngob(n) beanda ninje
puji ngahedanda
sekattada,
palkanga mu'aeda;
tjiki
parangodahana
hunjan ganangu?"

Source Colophon

The Nenets phonetic text above is from M. A. Castren, Samojedische Volksdichtung, edited by T. Lehtisalo, Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia (SUST) LXXXIII, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, 1940. Song 14, pp. 289-295. Recorded at Kolva, autumn 1843. The Nenets text represents oral tradition collected from Nenets speakers and is traditional material with no individual copyright. Made available through Fenno-Ugrica (National Library of Finland) under open access.

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