Seven origin myths recorded in Vuzs-Dzsumja and Kazan, 1885

The Udmurt (Votyak) are a Finno-Ugric people of the Kama River basin, between the Ural Mountains and the middle Volga — one of the least-known nations of eastern Europe. Their pre-Christian religion centered on Inmar, the sky god who made the world, and Sajtan (the adversary), whose interference explains the world's imperfections. The myths collected here belong to the oldest stratum of Uralic cosmology: the earth-diver creation myth, in which the earth is built from sand brought up from the primordial sea, is attested across a vast territory from the Urals to Siberia and into North America, and represents one of humanity's most ancient stories.

These seven myths were recorded by the Hungarian linguist Bernát Munkácsi during fieldwork in the Malmis district of the Vyatka governorate in 1885. Myths I, II, and V were told by grandfather Lavrenkej in Vuzs-Dzsumja village on June 24th, with Nikolaj Ivanov as editor and co-narrator. The remaining myths were recorded from Nikolaj Ivanov directly in Kazan in late August. They were published in Munkácsi's Votják népköltészeti hagyományok (Udmurt Folk Poetry Traditions, Budapest, 1887) as Section III — Kosmogoniai mondatöredékek (Cosmogonic myth-fragments), presented bilingually in Udmurt phonetic transcription and Hungarian translation.

No English translation of these myths has previously been published. They form the Udmurt answer to Genesis: a creation narrative that begins with water and ends with the present state of human suffering, mixed grain harvests, and bee-sweetened honey — all explained as consequences of a divine-adversarial game played at the world's beginning. The flood myth is particularly striking: Sajtan subverts the Udmurt Noah not through supernatural power but through beer, which he teaches Noj's wife to brew for the first time. The origin of beer and the origin of human mortality are thus braided together in a single myth.

I. The Creation of the World

In this world's place at the beginning there was nothing at all; only water surrounded everything. Inmar floated on this water in a great boat. Floating thus, one time Inmar thought: How shall I create a world here? — and he called Sajtan.

When Sajtan arrived, Inmar commanded him: "Go down into this water, and whatever you find at the bottom, bring it up in your mouth."

Sajtan began to sink to the water's bottom according to Inmar's word. Sinking and sinking, he could reach the bottom no way at all. A very long time passed; then he met a crab.

"Where are you going?" asked the crab.

"I am sinking to the water's bottom; from there, whatever I find, I'll bring up in my mouth," said Sajtan to the crab.

"What were you thinking?" said the crab. "I have lived in this water twelve years already, and I have never seen the bottom."

"Come, let me sink anyway!" said Sajtan, and sank again.

After very, very long sinking, Sajtan reached the bottom with great difficulty, took sand in his mouth, and rose up. Coming to Inmar, Inmar commanded him to spit the sand out of his mouth: "Don't leave a single grain in your mouth!"

Sajtan hearing Inmar's command thought: Why won't this Inmar let me keep even one grain of sand in my mouth? — and did not fully spit it out.

Then the sand spat onto the water grew and grew and became earth. And the sand kept in his mouth also began to grow. Inmar, seeing Sajtan's swollen cheeks, spoke:

"Why did you not obey me? I told you to throw it all out, not leaving a single grain!"

And he commanded Sajtan to spit the earth out of his mouth.

If Sajtan had not spat out that earth from his mouth, all the world's land would be flat. From that spitting out, ravines and valleys and great mountains arose on the earth.

II. The Flood and the Origin of Beer

In ancient times Inmar had a beloved man named Noj. This Noj, saying "A great water will flood the world," began to build a very great boat. He went to this work every day for three years.

Sajtan, noticing that Noj went out from his village each day, once questioned Noj's wife: "Where does your husband go?"

"I myself don't know," said Noj's wife. "He goes somewhere; I asked, but he doesn't say."

"If he won't say, then we'll make him say," said Sajtan to Noj's wife, and showed her hops. "You — put these hops in your keg and cook it with water and flour. That brew will become beer. If Noj drinks that beer, he'll tell you where he goes."

Noj's wife, following Sajtan's instruction, brewed beer and got her husband drunk. Drunk, Noj told his wife: "I go to build a boat."

Noj's wife told Sajtan her husband's words. Then Sajtan completely destroyed the boat Noj had built. Noj began to build a new boat. After building it for two years, a great water began to cover the whole earth.

Noj, seeing this, entered his boat according to Inmar's command and called his wife also — but his wife would not come in.

"Come on!" said Noj, enraged. "Come in, devil, come in!"

Sajtan hearing these words said: He called me! — and came in after the wife.

While they were sailing, once Sajtan commanded the mouse to gnaw a hole in Noj's boat. After it was holed, water began to enter the boat. But there was a lion on that boat. The lion released a snake from one nostril and a cat from the other. That cat and that snake destroyed the mouse, and so Sajtan could do nothing to Noj.

III. The Sin of Man

Why man must suffer his whole life long and finally die — the elders teach thus.

After creation, Inmar spoke to man: "Look — I place you in the middle of a field and allow every kind of beast and winged creature to draw your blood. If you do not give yourself to them, letting them do nothing against you: you will live very, very well, you will never die, you will not need to seek food or drink or clothing. But if they manage to draw your blood: you will live only a while and then die; your whole life you will live with great suffering; without sweat-of-blood labor you will find neither food nor drink nor clothing for yourself; your whole existence will be for this."

Then man could not even stand still. Whatever terrifying, haystack-large wild beasts were in the world, all came roaring toward him, shaking the earth. Whatever birds with wings like windmill-sails were in the world, all swooped down on him. But man would not give himself to them in any way.

Finally even the sparrow came to him.

"Ha!" laughed the man. "Those like Inmar could not defeat me — will one like a louse defeat me? Come here, come, I won't drive you away!"

The man hadn't finished his words, and the sparrow with a single twitter — saying only jil'l'irik — nipped the soft top of man's head with its beak and drew blood.

Because man thus gave himself to the sparrow, man dies according to Inmar's word, and lives his whole life long working only for food and drink and clothing.

IV. The Sin of Woman

In ancient times the sky was low like a sleeping-shelf in a house; tall people could touch it with their hands. Once a woman took her child's diaper and threw it up onto the sky to dry.

"This human, carrying his head so high, doesn't even know what to do — he even defiles my dwelling place," said Inmar, and in his anger lifted the sky very high.

At that time man's grain grew richly without any labor — the whole grain stalk and every ear was purely grain. Because of this grain-abundance, man did not know the grain's worth. After Inmar lifted the sky, he also took away the grain from man.

"Oh my Inmar, great Inmar!" the man begged, seeing this. "At least leave its tip, its ear — otherwise I will die!"

"Let it be as you wish," said Inmar, taking pity on man.

From that time on, man's grain grows only at the tip of the stalk, in the ear.

V. The Disappearance of Giants and the Appearance of Small Humans

In ancient times, other people lived in this world — very large ones. Once such a large man, walking in the forest, saw a man of our kind, small, who had climbed a tree to set up a beehive.

"This will certainly be a woodpecker," thought the large man, and catching the small man, put him in his little pouch and brought him home.

"Hey, mother!" he said arriving home. "I found a woodpecker chick, but for some reason it comes out larger than a woodpecker chick."

"Oh, son, son — this is no woodpecker chick, this is a human!" said his mother, seeing the man of our kind. "After this, such humans will spread through the whole world; we ourselves will perish to the last one."

Saying thus, the mother commanded her son to put the small man back in his place.

The small man thereafter went to Mat'vej's field. Living there, he set bird snares and rabbit and marten traps in the forest. With those snares and traps, the birds and wild animals he caught he used as food. Once, a person of his own kind fell into his snare — horse, cart, and all. The snare's owner, seeing the person caught, at first grew very frightened; he did not dare come near his own snare.

"Come, come — free me from your snare!" said the caught person.

The snare's owner came and freed him. Then they began to talk.

"What is your name?" asked the freed person.

"Szájtag," answered the other. "And what is yours?"

"Dzsumja," said the one who had been caught. This Dzsumja was a woman.

"Will you be my wife?" asked Szájtag of Dzsumja.

"I will, surely — but listen to my word," said Dzsumja. "Strike the earth firmly with your axe three times, then lie down to sleep."

"Good," said Szájtag. He struck the earth three times with his axe, lay down, and fell into very deep sleep. During his sleep, a house-site formed on the earth, clothing and shoes appeared for man; everything that man needs in the world, all appeared. Then Szájtag and his wife Dzsumja began to live very well, and had many children.

Then Szájtag thought: I will make this land around the Lyug River mine — and surrounded the whole region along the Lyug riverbank with a fortress. That fortress later collapsed, crumbled, and was destroyed; only here and there its remains are still visible.

From that time our people began to spread through the world. The large people, even in Szájtag's own lifetime, perished to the last one — as their mother had foretold.

VI. The Man in the Moon

Have you ever seen, on a clear winter night, the person in the moon standing with a water-carrying pole? About this the elders speak thus.

In ancient times a girl's mother died, and her father took a new wife. From this stepmother the poor girl suffered greatly. Once — between the festival of the ice-forming and the umiéton festival (that is, around Christmas and Epiphany) — the stepmother sent that girl early in the morning, in the cold, to the lake to fetch water.

Going along the road, thinking and thinking, the girl began to weep greatly.

"Rather than suffering thus," she said, "let my head be lost."

Saying this, she went to the lake and jumped into the ice-hole. But the water would not receive her in any way.

"Oh, my bright white moon above!" the poor girl prayed in her anguish. "Do you see this my suffering? Even the water will not take me!"

"I see," said the moon — and silently lifted that girl up together with her water-carrying pole.

From that time on, that girl with her pole is seen in the moon.

VII. Why Only the Bee Has Much Honey

Why only the bee has much honey, the wild bee little, and the wasp none at all — according to the saying of the elders, it is written thus in Inmar's book.

Once Inmar wished to know and see those living on this earth. For this purpose he descended from his heaven and went everywhere. Reaching the wild bee, he asked it for honey, to test its understanding. At that time the wild bee had very much honey, but thinking This Inmar will certainly take my honey — it said: "There is none, except what I need to entice my children."

Inmar, angered by the wild bee's lie, cursed it: "Throughout your whole lifetime and your whole generation — may you have no more honey than enough to entice your children."

From that time on, the wild bee's honey is usually very little.

From the wild bee, Inmar came to the wasp. "Do you have honey?" asked Inmar.

The wasp, thinking the same as the wild bee, said: "My honey is not even a teardrop in size; I only have dry wax."

"If there is none, let there be none — throughout your whole generation, may you have nothing but that one dry wax!"

And Inmar cursed it also.

From there Inmar went to the honey bee. The bee at that time had less honey than anyone else. But when Inmar asked it, it said: "There is — there is much, thanks to Inmar! The whole world's people throughout their whole generation could not finish it."

"Very good!" said Inmar, blessing it. "May it be so: may the whole world's people eat your honey throughout their whole generation and not finish it; may it be the sweetest food among sweet foods!"

From that time on, the bee's honey is the most of all, and the sweetest.

Colophon

Seven cosmogonic myths from Section III (Kosmogoniai mondatöredékek — Cosmogonic Myth-Fragments) of Bernát Munkácsi, Votják népköltészeti hagyományok (Udmurt Folk Poetry Traditions), Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1887. The collection presents each text first in Udmurt phonetic transcription and then in Hungarian translation. Source accessed via archive.org (identifier: votjknpklt00munk).

Collector's note (Munkácsi, p. 59): "I recorded myths I, II, and V from Vuzs-Dzsumja village on June 24, 1885, from grandfather Lavrenkej, edited by Nikolaj Ivanov. The remaining myths are from Nikolaj Ivanov himself in Kazan in the last days of August."

These are the first known English translations of these myths. Together they form the Udmurt cosmogonic cycle: the earth-diver creation (I), the flood and the origin of beer (II), the origin of human mortality (III), the origin of the limited grain harvest (IV), the disappearance of the giants (V), the origin of the moon-image (VI), and the differentiated honey production of bees and wasps (VII). The myths are a complete Udmurt Genesis — etiological, theologically precise, and alive with narrative wit.

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 myths 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: Kosmogoniai mondatöredékek (Cosmogonic Myth-Fragments)

Udmurt source texts in Munkácsi's phonetic transcription and Hungarian translation, from Votják népköltészeti hagyományok, Budapest, 1887, pp. 49–59. OCR of Munkácsi's phonetic transcription is degraded (special characters partially lost); the Hungarian is well preserved. Both presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

I. Udmurt: Dunnelán kildámez. — Ta dunnelán intijaz niríé-ik ne-no-mir-no vilimtá; ódig vu-giná veé kotirttsa idiim. Inmar ta vu-vilin badjin piéán ujasa vetlám. ogi vetlisa og-pol Inmar «kigi ali mon tatci dunne küditom?» — susa Sajtanáz ot'ám. [... continues in source edition p. 49–50]

I. Hungarian: A világnak keletkezése. — Ennek a világnak a helyén kezdetben semmi sem volt; egyedül csak víz vette körűi a mindenséget. Inmar ezen a vízen egy nagy hajóval hajózva járt. Ekkép járván egyszer Inmar gondolkozott: «hogyan teremtek én most ide világot?» — és előhívta Sajtant. Sajtan megérkezte után Inmar neki ezt parancsolta: «eredj te bele ebbe a vízbe s a fenekéről, a mit találsz, hozd elő a szádban!» Sajtan Inmarnak szava szerint a vízfenékre ereszkedni kezdett. [...] Sajtan mirdán vűlün pideásaz vuám-no tátiś luoáz imaz baétisa Juttkám. [...] Inmar Sajtanleé piktilám bamjossá adjisa «mali ton moétim od kilziéki; ódig gigizú-no kel'titük kusti suám val-ug?» — veram-no Sajtanli imiétiz muzemzá kuétini kosám. ta Sajtanlán imiétiz kustám muzem-ká ej lusal, veé dunne-vilin muzem ioékit lusal. so kustümániz muzem-vilin nukjos-gopjos-no badjin gurejjos-no kildilTajn.

II. Udmurt: Vu-nurtunan surlan kildámez. — Vaékala dirja Inmarlan Noj nimo járaton ad'amijez vilám. Ta Noj «dunneáz badjin vu nurtozt» — susa tuz badjin pii leétini kutkám. [... continues p. 51–52]

II. Hungarian: A vízözön és a sörnek keletkezése. — Hajdani időben Inmar-nak egy Noj nevű kedves embere volt. Ez a Noj így szólván: «a világot nagy víz fogja elárasztani» — egy igen nagy hajót kezdett készíteni. Ezen munkájára ő három évnyi ideig járt minden nap. Sajtan észrevevén, hogy Noj falujából kijárkál, egyszer kérdezősködék Noj feleségétől: «hova jár úgy a te férjed?» «Magam sem tudom, — szólott Nojné, — jár valahová; kérdeztem, de nem mondja meg.» «Ha nem mondja meg, nohát most magunk fogjuk vele megmondatni» — monda Sajtan Nojnénak s komlót mutatott neki. [...] Nojné Sajtan tanítása szerint sört főzvén, férjét lerészegítette. Noj lerészegedvén, megmondta feleségének: «hajót készíteni járok.» [...] Akkor Sajtan a Nojtól készített hajót egészen összetörte. [...] Midőn a hajóban hajózva jártak, egyszer Sajtan az egérnek parancsolja, hogy Nojnak hajóját lyukassza ki. [...] Akkor amaz oroszlán egyik orrlikából kígyót bocsátott ki, a másikból macskát bocsátott ki. Az a macska és kígyó elpusztította az egeret és így Sajtan semmit sem tudott Nojnak csinálni.

III–VII. (Udmurt originals and Hungarian translations at source edition pp. 52–59; see Munkácsi 1887 for complete phonetic transcriptions of myths III–VII.)

Source Colophon

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

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