Comment
Recorded from Grigorij Shalugin (1923-?) in 1987. There is contradictory evidence about the wooden statue erected on the Popovka. Modern Yukaghirs believe that it was taken away by some expedition from Moscow, St.Petersburg or Magadan at the end of the 19th century. According to some data, in the beginning of the 20th century the Yukaghirs blamed Voldemar Jochelson for stealing the statue and believed this caused the disappearance of the Yukaghir clans from the Popovka. There are also other accounts of why the statue was erected. Nikolaj Spiridonov has reported that it was prepared as a ransom to the mythical evil old woman Kozherge, who personified illness, after the devastating epidemics of smallpox and measles which destroyed almost three quarters of the Kolyma Yukaghirs in the second half of the 19th century. See also Text
28.
Translation
(23-1) In the days of the ancient people there was a shaman named Staryj.
(23-2) He had a master at the time when the ancient people roamed on Popovka.
(23-3) They say it was a miraculous place.
(23-4) One man saw a girl sitting and singing on the top of a tree.
(23-5) He took an arrow and shot her.
(23-6) When he shot, fire poured out of her.
(23-7) He lost his mind then.
(23-8) He was speaking to someone and looking for something. But that shaman Staryj, who had a master, immediately understood what had happened.
(23-9) When he saw it, they lifted him up and carried him there. They brought him, and the shaman started shamanizing.
(23-10) He shamanized and said: "Apparently you shot the devil girl."
(23-11) First the shaman treated that girl, the lake devil, then his master came and treated that man.
(23-12) Then he said that one should erect a special stick by the foot of the hill Shamanixa.
(23-13) He erected a wooden statue.
(23-14) It is now in Leningrad.
Glosses