The Chukchi Bible by Yuri Rytkheu Read Free Book Online

Mlakoran about the Sacred Order, about the strange and unusual human sacrifice required?
    If Mlakoran did not believe him, he would have the right to test the shaman. In the past, this had sometimes meant inhuman torture . . . If the shaman managed to withstand it, the Sacred Order must be satisfied.
    Spotting the first nutlike little clumps of deer droppings, Keleu deduced that the herders’ camp must be nearby.
    Mlakoran greeted Keleu warily, asking him for news from Uelen. When he heard about the continuing deaths, his face darkened.
    â€œWe haven’t any old people anymore,” Keleu told him dourly.
    â€œHow is Keu’s health?” asked Mlakoran.
    â€œHe’s recovering,” answered Keleu.
    He didn’t know quite how to come to the main point, to tell Mlakoran about the terrible Order from Above.
    â€œWe’ll load your sled with deer meat,” Mlakoran promised him. “You will bring back as much meat as you can carry.”
    Mlakoran’s little girl was playing with walrus tusks on the fur-lined polog’s floor, raising a smiling face toward the visitor from time to time.
Keleu looked at her, and with a growing horror wondered how it would be possible for her to kill her father, still such a strong man. Tul’ma served the food and did not intrude on the men’s conversation, despite having become proficient in Luoravetlan speech by now.
    â€œThere is a bad piece of news,” Keleu finally managed to get out. He fell silent for a moment, marshaling his strength. “There is an Order from Above, to save the people of Uelen. It pertains to you.”
    â€œI’m ready to do my all to help the people,” was Mlakoran’s answer. “If you need me to, I’ll drive the deer closer to the village, to the edge of the lagoon, so people can take meat.”
    â€œMy father and I divined for a long time, asking the Gods. But they were immovable, and I can still hear their voices, even here in the tundra.”
    â€œWe are prepared to make any sacrifice to save the people,” Mlakoran repeated.
    â€œThey want a human sacrifice,” Keleu said quietly.
    Mlakoran had thought that this custom was a thing of the long ago, never to return. Nowadays, a living creature was still killed to placate the spirits – a dog, a deer . . . But a human sacrifice?
    â€œThey take human sacrifices from us every day as it is,” Mlakoran grumbled. “You said yourself that the Hill of Hearts’ Peace is already crowded with dead.”
    â€œBut the Higher Powers are demanding a special sacrifice,” Keleu said with difficulty. “They want a specific person.”
    â€œWell, then, who is it?” Mlakoran asked impatiently.
    â€œYou!” Keleu blurted out, and cringed, expecting a blow.
    But there was none.
    When he raised his head, Mlakoran was not there.

    He was standing outside the yaranga and looking at the distant mountains, radiant with the glow of spring. His face was a mask of deepest sorrow.
    An Order from Above was never rescinded. Neither Keu nor Keleu could turn their back on one. Mlakoran heard the young shaman’s footsteps and asked, without turning:
    â€œDid you ask many times?”
    â€œYes. We chanted and danced, asking and asking, for many days. It took all our strength, but the order was always the same – you must fall by your young daughter’s hand.”
    â€œBut she’s still a small, weak child . . .”
    â€œThey,” Keleu flicked his eyes upward, “insist on exactly that.”
    â€œYou know that I can put you and your father to the test?”
    â€œWe are ready,” answered Keleu.
    If both of the shamans were prepared to be tested, the matter was serious indeed. On the other hand, Mlakoran knew that the two of them, Inspired from Above though they were, did not approve of his behavior, especially his kinship with the Kaaramkyn and the fact that he had become a deer