Mongolia: Erkhii mergen or why the marmot doesn't have a thumb Once upon a time there were seven suns up in the sky and a terrible draught made the soil redden and crack. The rivers dried up, the plants and the trees withered. The people suffered from the heat and the animals were dying. All this seemed to be inevitable. But in one region there lived an handsome archer called Erkhii mergen who shot at what he saw and hit what he had shot at. Many people and animals came to him and begged him: "Please shoot the seven suns in the sky and destroy them." The archer Erkhii mergen was very conceited about his accuracy as an archer and thought himself a brave, strong and proud man. So he took an oath: "If I can't shoot the seven suns with seven arrows, I will cut off my thumbs and no longer be a man. I will no longer drink clear water, eat the dry grass from the last year and continue my life as a marmot living in a dark hole beneath the earth." From the east he shot at the seven suns moving high up in the sky one after another from the east to the west. After he had shot the sixth sun, he aimed carefully at the seventh. But just then a swallow came flying along and concealed the sun. When the arrow got released from Erkhii mergen's bow, it didn't hit the sun but the swallow's tail. That's why the swallow has a forked tail. The last sun was afraid of Erkhii mergen and hurried to hide behind the mountains in the west. Erkhii mergen thought: "The swallow obstructed my view." And so he took his piebald horse and set out to chase the swallow and kill it. His horse swore: "I will chase the swallow from dusk to dusk. If I haven't caught up with the swallow by then, cut off my forelegs and throw them away. Then I will be no longer a horse but live in an uneven and rough place." But no matter how fast the horse ran, the swallow was always just out of reach and boldly flew around their heads. Finally dusk came upon them and the horse hadn't been able to catch up with the swallow. Erkhii mergen got very angry and cut off the two forelegs of his piebald horse. Since then it lives in an uneven and rough place and has become a Mongolian jumping mouse whose frontlegs are short, too. It is told, that the swallow is still mocking riders crying: "Catch me if you can!" when at dusk she is flying in circles around the rider's heads. The proud Erkhii mergen stayed true to his own word and cut off his thumbs. He didn't live as man anymore but become a marmot. He didn't drink pure water anymore, ate the dry grass from the previous year and lived in a hole beneath the earth. Since then, it is told, the marmot has only four fingers at each paw. And early each morning Erkhii mergen forgets that he has become a marmot: he comes out of his hole and waits for the sun to rise wanting to shoot this last sun from the sky. And there is one more thing: There is a piece of meat in a marmot called "man's meat" which no human is allowed to eat because the Mongolian people believe that it is Erkhii mergen's flesh. Tthe only sun remaining in the sky is still afraid of Erkhii mergen and hides behind the mountains in the west. That's why there are day and night.
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1 :
Once upon a time Mary had a little lamb........
2 :
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3 :
once upon a time there was a country filled with stupid people. thats from the good ol' USA
4 :
once upon a time... there was an ugly barnacle. he was so ugly that everyone died. THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5 :
food is poland's second god ;-) lol
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