Five tales recorded in Kazan and Vne-Gumja, 1885

The Udmurt animal tales belong to the great Eurasian fable tradition — the cycle of tricksters, fools, and talking beasts that stretches from Aesop to the Russian skazka and beyond. But these Udmurt versions carry their own texture: the hare lives in a "black house" of fiber, the fox's refrain is a scatological war-cry, the chain of strength ends at the cat because the storyteller genuinely cannot think of anything stronger, and the mosquito's conversation with the bumblebee is a nursery-scare told to children at dusk.

These five tales were recorded by the Hungarian linguist Bernát Munkácsi during fieldwork in 1885. Tales I, III, and IV were told by Nikolaj Ivanov in Kazan between April and June; Tale II was told by Kresztyina Afanaszjevna in the village of Vne-Gumja (Novyj Senteg) in the Sarapul district on June 21st; Tale V was told by Nikolaj Ivanov in August. They were published in Munkácsi's Votják népköltészeti hagyományok (Udmurt Folk Poetry Traditions, Budapest, 1887) as Section VII — Állatmesék (Animal Tales), pp. 118–132.

No English translation of these tales has previously been published. They are the Udmurt bestiary: a small, precise collection where animals speak, trick, mourn, and are tricked in turn, and where the natural order of predation serves as the frame for wit, cruelty, and justice.

I. Why the Hare's Ear-Tips are Black and Why His Tail is Short

In ancient times there lived a hare. That hare had very many small children. With those children the hare lived in a great black house. Every day the hare went to the forest to look for food. When she went out, the hare used to leave her children with this warning: "While I am gone, do not open the door to anyone, and do not make a sound!"

When she returned home with food, speaking in her small voice, she would tell her children to open the door: "Open up, open up, my children! I have come, your mother. I have brought you sweet foods: milk, and leaves, and hemp-seed." When she said this, her children would open the door at once.

One time the wolf overheard the hare's command to open. The next day, after the hare went out to look for food, the wolf came to the hare-house and began to call in a great loud voice: "Open up, open up, my children! I have come, your mother. I have brought you sweet foods!"

The hare-children said: "Your voice is loud — our mother's voice is small" — and did not open the door.

After the wolf left, the hare herself returned. Hearing her small voice, the hare-children opened the door and told their mother: "After you left, someone came to the door, commanding us in a loud voice to open. We did not listen to him."

"Oh my clever children, oh my clever children!" praised the hare. "Except for me, do not open to anyone — that is certain!"

Sleeping in her house, in the morning the hare went out again to look for food. Before leaving, the hare firmly warned her children: "Do not open the door to anyone until I return. If you open it, the bear and the wolf will eat you."

The wolf heard the hare's every word. When the hare commanded them to open, he was hiding behind the door. After the hare left, the wolf came to the door and began to speak in the hare's small voice: "Open up, open up, my children! I have come, your mother. I have brought sweet foods: milk, and green leaves, and hemp-seed."

"This one speaks in a small voice — it is our mother!" said the hare-children, and opened the door.

The wolf went in and began to eat the scattered hare-children. Only one young hare could escape: he leaped from the bed-shelf through the black window. The wolf could only nip off his tail; the rest he ate clean.

That escaped young hare — when he went out through the small black window — his ear-tips became sooty and turned black.

From that time the hare's ear-tips are black and his tail is nipped off. That is why he has a short tail.

Recorded in Kazan from Nikolaj Ivanov, April 30, 1885.

II. The Hare and the Fox

In ancient times the hare and the fox both built houses. The hare built one of fiber; the fox, one of ice. When spring came, the fox's house began to melt and flow apart. Flowing, flowing — it was completely ruined.

"What shall I do now!" thought the fox, and went to the hare. "Let me in, just to your doorstep — I am freezing to death already!"

"Why shouldn't I let you in?" said the hare. "If your intentions are good, come in."

So the hare let the fox sit by the door. Sitting by the door, the fox began to beg again: "Hare, my friend, have pity on me — just a little, let me come to your stove!"

"Come, come, my fox!" said the hare. "Warm yourself!"

The fox went to the stove, and begged once more: "Oh my hare, my friend, I cannot warm up here — please, let me climb up on your stove!"

"Climb up, climb up!" said the good-natured hare.

The fox climbed onto the stove and sprawled out with her whole body. Then the hare went to the forest to find food for his guest. Meanwhile the fox, warming herself on the stove, began to think: "How might I steal this hare's house?" Thinking and thinking: "I've found it — how to drive him out!" she said to herself.

When she noticed the hare returning, she began to shriek in her ugly voice:

Jujj, jujj! With my grinding teeth I grind,
With my long tail I lash,
With my liquid dung I spray!

The poor hare, terrified, did not even know where to hide. Without his feet touching the ground, leaping headfirst from his own house, he fled.

In the forest, walking about in great tears, he met the wolf. "Why are you crying, hare, my friend?" asked the wolf.

"How should I not cry? I have no place even to lay my head!" said the hare.

"How so?" asked the wolf in surprise. The hare told him everything.

"Come, come — I myself will drive her out! Don't cry!" said the wolf in pity.

The hare returned joyfully with the wolf. But when the wolf had barely reached the hare's doorstep, the fox shrieked at him just as before: Jujj, jujj! With my grinding teeth I grind, with my long tail I lash, with my liquid dung I spray!

The wolf leaped away in one bound and fled.

The poor hare began to walk about crying again. Walking and walking, a bear met him. "Why are you crying, hare, my friend?" asked the bear.

"The terrible fox drove me from my house and no one can drive her out. I called the wolf — even he could not."

"Don't worry, little brother hare — I myself will drive her out," said the bear.

"Thank you, thank you, great elder brother!" said the hare joyfully, and led the bear to his house. The bear had hardly stood before the hare's door when the fox, lying on the stove, began to shriek just as she had at the wolf: Jujj, jujj! With my grinding teeth I grind . . .

The bear fell down with a crash and in his trembling could not even jump.

"Oh woe, woe! Now no one can drive her out!" cried the hare, and began to weep even harder.

Weeping and weeping, night fell. The hare, looking for a place to sleep, came to the rooster's shelter. Sleeping there, in the morning the rooster asked him: "Why are you here? Your eyes are swollen from crying — what made you weep?"

"Whether I tell you or not, it will be no use," said the hare.

"Come now, tell me, tell me! Perhaps I will be of more help to you than anyone," said the rooster, and urged the hare to speak.

"Very well then — what will be, will be; what won't, won't — I will tell you." And the hare told the rooster the whole story of his trouble. "The wolf tried to drive her out and could not; the bear could not either. How could a little runt like you drive her out?"

The rooster put on a serious face and answered the hare: "Whether I drive her out or not, who knows? Just show me your house!"

"Very well — what will be, will be; what won't, won't — I'll show you." And the hare led the rooster to the house.

Arriving there, the rooster walked straight in through the door. The fox on the stove began to shriek as before. The rooster shrieked back even louder:

Ko-ko-ri-ko-o-o! Who is here — bring them out to me, put them under me!

The fox, losing her wits with terror, leaped straight through the window and fled.

The hare was beside himself with joy. He took all the oats he had and scattered them before the rooster. The rooster ate those oats until his crop nearly burst.

Recorded in the village of Vne-Gumja (Novyj Senteg) in the Sarapul district, from Kresztyina Afanaszjevna, edited by Nikolaj Ivanov, June 21, 1885.

III. The Fox and the Wolf

In ancient times a fox lived very happily. She had many fox-cubs. For these cubs the fox had collected much food; her store of chickens and geese and ducks was great. Learning of this food, one time a starving wolf came to her to beg for a share. The fox would not give him any.

Then the wolf, angry at the fox, began to spy on when the fox would leave her house. The next day the fox went out. As soon as she left, the wolf went in among the fox-cubs. Going in, the wolf first ate all the fox's stored food. Then he began to eat her cubs. Eating and eating, the wolf could not finish all the fox's cubs. Those that remained he began to slaughter out of sheer spite. Slaughtering and slaughtering, only one fox-cub was left. The wolf began to cut this last one too. Just then — while the wolf was cutting — the fox came home.

Seeing her, the wolf fled from the fox's house in a frenzy. Running out, he knocked the fox off her feet — left her upended on her head. After the wolf fled, the fox saw her slaughtered cubs and wept bitterly.

"Oh woe, woe! I have no cubs left, I have no food left — how will I survive this winter?"

Weeping so, the fox fell asleep. Rising in the morning, she was desperately hungry. "I will go look for food!" she thought, and left her house. Walking and walking for a long time, she spotted a man driving a horse. That man was carrying a whole basket of fish.

Seeing this, the fox said: "I will go ahead of that man and lie down on the road. He will think me dead and put me in his sleigh — and then I will eat his fish."

So the fox went ahead and lay on the road. The man said: "This fox has died!" — and rejoicing, put her in his sleigh and covered her with matting. Then he drove on.

Meanwhile the fox made a hole in the bottom of the basket. Through that hole she threw all the man's fish out onto the road. When she had thrown out the last of them, she climbed out herself. Then she began collecting fish along the length of the road. She gathered it all into one place and carried it home.

The wolf, noticing the fox had fish, came again and began to beg: "Dear cousin, dear cousin — just give me a little of your fish! I am dying of hunger!"

The fox, still full of rage at the wolf, said: "I will not — I need it for myself!"

The wolf asked again: "At least tell me where you got fish."

The fox said: "I caught it from the stream."

"How did you catch it? Teach me!"

The fox began to teach: "I went to the stream bank and lowered my tail into the ice-hole. I sat like that all night long. By morning very many fish were clinging to my tail; then I pulled my tail out. That is how I caught this fish. If you also want to eat fish, go to the stream and catch them the same way! When the fish cling to your tail, your tail will become heavy. Then sit very still, so the fish do not get frightened. Sitting so, do not lift your tail until morning — and then you will see very many beautiful fish."

The wolf, listening to the fox's instruction, went to the stream bank. Arriving, he lowered his tail into the ice-hole. He sat there all night long. At sunrise, thinking "there must be very many fish on my tail already — that is surely why my tail is so heavy" — he began to pull at his tail. He pulled once, he pulled twice — the tail would not come out. The wolf pulled and pulled at his tail and suffered great torment.

Meanwhile a woman came to the stream to fetch water. Seeing the wolf's tail frozen in the ice-hole, she began to beat the wolf with her water-carrying yoke. Under the beating, his tail snapped off.

The tailless wolf went again to the fox: "Dear cousin, dear cousin — my tail is gone for good. What do I do now?"

"Oh cousin, I feel so sorry for you! You must have held your tail in the water too long — that is why so many fish got on it — and that is why you could not lift your tail. Don't worry — I will teach you how to grow your tail back. You get inside straw; I myself will pile straw over you. When the straw starts crackling, do not move — if you move, your tail will not grow."

So the fox buried the wolf in straw. Having buried him, she covered him entirely with straw. Then she set the straw on fire.

When the straw began to crackle, the wolf rejoiced. "My tail is beginning to grow!" he said, and did not stir from his place. Then the fire took hold of all the straw and burned off the wolf's fur and hide completely.

Hairless and skinless, the wolf went once more to the fox. "You have done me wrong! Now I have no tail, no fur, no hide — what do I do now?"

"Don't worry, don't worry! Come now, follow me — I will take you to the forest. There your fur and hide will grow back, and your tail too. I have a healer there who will cure you."

So the fox led the wolf after her into the forest. Inside the forest the fox dragged the wolf through fir branches and juniper bushes. Dragging him so, she tore his burned skin to shreds. Then they came out onto the road.

The wolf said: "I will eat you! You keep tricking me!"

"When did I ever trick you? If you want to eat me, eat me — but then there will be no one left to help you."

While the fox was speaking, sleigh-bells were heard on the road. The wolf and the fox began to run. The wolf could not run — he collapsed onto the road. The fox said: "Don't think of running! If the driver sees you running, he will kill you. Better play dead and lie on the road!"

The wolf obeyed. When the driver passed by and saw him, he struck off the wolf's head.

Then the fox said joyfully: "How long I have waited to see whether they would cut off your head! Inmar saw your wickedness!"

So the fox repaid her enemy's evil deed.

Recorded in Kazan from Nikolaj Ivanov, May 4, 1885.

IV. Who is the Strong One?

One time a hare was running on smooth ice. Running and running — whomp! — he fell and banged himself very hard. Having banged himself, he said to himself: "Is this ice really so strong?" — and asked the ice: "Ice, are you strong?"

"Strong!" said the ice.

"If you are strong, why does the sun melt you? The sun is stronger than you — that is why it melts you!" said the hare.

Turning to the sun, the hare asked: "Sun, are you strong?"

"Strong!"

"If you are strong, why does the cloud cover you? The cloud is stronger than you!" — and the hare began to ask the cloud: "Cloud, are you strong?"

"Strong!" said the cloud.

"If you are strong, why do you crash into the mountain? The mountain is stronger than you!" After this the hare asked the mountain: "Mountain, are you strong?"

"Strong!"

"If you are strong, why does the mole dig through you? The mole is stronger than you!"

Then the hare asked the mole: "Mole, are you strong?"

"Strong!"

"If you are strong, why does the cat eat you? The cat is stronger than you!" — and the hare asked the cat: "Cat, are you strong?"

"Strong!" said the cat.

Then the hare could think of nothing more that anyone does to the cat. "The cat is the strongest of all!" he said.

Recorded in Kazan from Nikolaj Ivanov, early June, 1885.

V. The Mosquito's Conversation with the Bumblebee

In ancient times the mosquito and the fly used to speak like humans. The mosquito, going out to look for food, would ask the bumblebee in his thin little voice: "Brother, brother! Where are the cow and the horse?"

"I don't kno-o-o-ow!" the bumblebee would answer in his great deep voice.

That is why, when they want to call the children inside — to frighten them into the house — they say: "Look now, look — listen how the mosquito asks the bumblebee: 'Brother, brother! Where is little Miklós?' — and the bumblebee says to him: 'Here he is!'"

The poor child, throwing down even his toys, runs into the house at once.

Recorded in Kazan from Nikolaj Ivanov, mid-August, 1885.

Colophon

These are the first known English translations of these five Udmurt animal tales. They represent the complete Section VII (Állatmesék) of Munkácsi's 1887 collection: one nursery tale about the wolf and the hare-children (AT type 123), one tale of the hare ousted from his house by the fox and rescued by the rooster (AT type 43), one extended revenge-cycle of the fox and the wolf (combining AT types 1, 2, 3, and 4), one chain-tale of comparative strength, and one ethnographic vignette about how mosquitoes and bumblebees are used to scare children indoors.

Blood Rule declaration: Translated from Udmurt source text (Munkácsi's 1887 phonetic transcription) using his Hungarian prose translation as an interpretive bridge. The derivation is Udmurt → Hungarian (Munkácsi) → English. No published English translation of these tales exists or was consulted. The translation follows the gospel register: plain, direct, warm.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Állatmesék (Animal Tales)

Udmurt source texts in Munkácsi's phonetic transcription, from Votják népköltészeti hagyományok, Budapest, 1887, pp. 118–132. OCR of Munkácsi's phonetic transcription is degraded (special characters partially lost). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

I. Udmurt Text

Mali lud-keclán pel-jiljo siz sedesno mali biziz vak ci?

Vaékala dirja ódig lud-kec ulám. so lud-keclan tuz uno pici uiliz-piez vilám. so pinaljosiniz lud-kec bodrin sod korkan ulam, sión utcani lud-kec kaznoj nunal tól'd vetldm. gurtistiz potikiz lud-kec tagi fogasa kettőz vilám pinaljosiz: «mon koékdm-dirja vutojam ne-no-kinli-no osdz dn-no usjald, dn-no kwarat dt gurtaz sionan bertikíz pici-giná kivaráán verasa, nilizli-piezli ossd ustini kosoz vilám: «ustá, ustá niljosi-pijosi! inon vui, tilad mumidi, mon til'edli ceskit sionjos vaji: jol-no, kwar-no, kenám-no». táji suám-beraz pinaljosiz soki-ik ossdz ustozi vilám. odig-pol lud-kecles oji ustini kosdmzd kion kilzám. kajta nunalaz lud-kec sión utcani koskám-berá kion ludikec-korka-dord liktisa, badjin kicaráán tagi süni kutkám: «ustá, ustá niljosi-pijosi, mon vui, tilad mumidi, mon til'edli ceskit sionjos vaji!». lud-kec-pinaljos «tinad kicaraed badjin, milam mumimilan kicaraez pici» — susa ossdz ustillamtá. kion koskám-berá lud-kec aciz bertám. soles pici kwarazá kilsa, lud-kec-pinaljos ossáz ustiÏlam-no táji susa mumizili veral'l'am: «ton koskám-berá es-dorá olo-kin vetliz, badgin kivaráán osmáz ustini kossá; mi soles om kilziskdn. «Oj vizmo nili-piá, oj vizmo nili-piá!» — susa usjam lud-kec pinaljosiz — «aslim-sana ne-no-kinli dn usjald, bon java!».

gurtaz kelsa, éukna lud-kec nos-ik koskdm sión utcani. koskdmezles azlo lud-kec pinaljosizli jun éogasa: «ne-no-kinli-no dn ustelá ostás mon vutogam; ustidi-ká til'ediz gondir-no, kion-no sioz» — suám. kion, lud-kecles ta ueraskdmza vaúnúzzd-ik huzam; lud-kec ustini kosiki so os-s'erin ratkixa utam, lud-kec koskdm-berd-ik kion os-dord liktisa, lud-kecldn pici kicaraániz táji süni kutkdm: «ustá, ustd niljosi-pijosi, mon vui, til'ad mumidi, ceskit sionjos vaji: jel-no, voz kuar-no, kenám-no». «ta pici kuaradn veraékd; aémáldn murtmif» — susa lud-keé-pinaljos ossdz ustillam. kion pirám, pazaskam lud-kec-pijosiz sini kutkdm. ódig lud-kec-pi-gind peg jinx vuam polai-vilisdn sod uknodti tatása, soles kion bizzd-gind iékaltini vudm; muzonjossd cistozds sidm. so pegzam ludzkeé-piian — sed pici uknoati potikiz — pel'-jiljosiz suaskisa sedes luillam. so-tiris ta-berd lud-kecldn pel'-jiljosiz sedes-no biziz ickaltdmin; sóin so vakéi bizo.

II. Udmurt Text

Lud-kecan-no gicij-án.

Vaékala dirja lud-kecán-no gicijáz bidán korka lestil'lam. lud-kec pirijáz lestám, jicijoáz. tulis vuám-berá gici-korka sunasa, vijani kutkám. vijasa, vijasa kabzá bírám. «kiji karom-nai» — susa gici ludikec-dori minoz. «leé ali» — suoz lud-kecli — «moná kot os-dorad, kinmisa kulko-ug mi!» «Máli um leé, mé um leé, milkided-ká luoz, leé!» — veraloz lud-kec. oji susa, lud-kec gicijáz es-doraz leéziz. os-dorin puksa, gici «lud-kec aroma, ozit kot moná esjo éalla-na; gur-dorad leé!» — susa nos-ik teémirini kutkoz. «lik, lik jirijd!» — suoz lud-kec — «sunki!» jici gur-dord minsa, «á, lud-kecd, uromd, tátin ug sunaéki, bur-kar-ik, lej al'i gur-vilado» — nos-ik kuriékoz. «tub, tub!» — suoz jec malpasa lud-kec. jici gur-vila tubsa, kabániz veljaskoz. so-berd lud-kec kunoezli sión utéani tiié minoz. ta vaksin jici gur-vilin sunasa, «kiji med-ag ta lud-kecles korháza talamá luoz?» — malpani kutkoz. malpasa, malpasa «sedti ini kiji vl'l'ani tdjd!» — suoz as puékaz. lud-kecles bertamzd sodsa, setdm kwardániz tagi keskoz: «uj, uj gijirds pininim gijirto, kuz biéinim sonalto, ki jer sitánim pal'kkalto». kwaner lud-kec kualdktisa, kitci pirni-no ug tod-ni. pidiz jettdk ullan-jirín as korka-doristiz tdtvasa, koskoz.

[Source text continues for Tales III–V at Munkácsi 1887, pp. 124–132. See the original publication for the complete Udmurt phonetic transcriptions of the remaining tales.]

Source Colophon

Source text from Bernát Munkácsi, Votják népköltészeti hagyományok (Udmurt Folk Poetry Traditions). Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1887, pp. 118–132. Public domain (author died 1937; publication 1887). Accessed via archive.org (identifier: votjknpklt00munk). Staged by Source Text Scout, 2026.

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