A Tundra Nenets myth about the creation of life and death.

At the beginning, only two brothers lived on earth. One day, they found a hole in the earth and entered it. There they met the old man of the earth. He decided to give a wife to one brother and send it back to earth to create life. The other brother was turned into a monster. When people on earth are sick, it comes to take their warm soul.

Recording: The audio recording was made in Päivölä (Finland) in 2014 by Irina Nikolaeva. The text was first recorded by Kazimir Labanauskas and published in Labanauskas (1995: 31-34).

Image credit: Photograph taken in Nelmin Nos in 2003 by Irina Nikolaeva.