Myths about the world creation from an egg of Baltic-Finnish peoples in comparison with cosmogonomic myths of Mary and Udmurts

Almost a common place of ethnographic science has become the position that the cosmogonic myth of a duck that lays an egg (eggs) on the bosom of primary waters, the so-called myth of the creation of the world from an egg (MT), is traced mainly on the material of Baltic-Finnish folk songs (runes). As for the Finno-Ugric peoples of the Ural-Volga region, this motif, according to researchers, is present only in the Mordvins and Komi. Moreover, as V.V. Napolskikh notes, the Mordovian myth is a marginal version of MT, since it does not speak about the birth of the world from an egg, but about the birth of goddesses. Also, the Mordovian myth reveals proximity to the Estonian runes, since in both cases it tells about the world tree (bush) on which the bird builds a nest. As for the Komi myth, it is a hybrid of the myth of creation from an egg and the myth of a diving bird (MNP) extracting earth from under water ^{[14, pp. 30-31]}.

In this regard, the classic lines of the first rune "Kalevala" are often cited: here a pretty duck is flying, / The air is waving with wings, / Looking for a place for a nest… / But she can't find a place... / Where she could build a nest… / Duck, that pretty bird... / Saw a knee in the blue waves / of the Mother of water. / Took it for a bump… / She knelt down / And cooks a bay for herself, / Lays Golden eggs: / Six golden eggs, / And the seventh is made of iron ^{[10, pp. 39-40]}. V.V. Napolskikh rightly believes that thanks to the epic of E. Lennroth, the plot about the creation of the world from an egg laid by a duck has long deserved the attention of researchers. However, scientists, focusing on the Baltic-Finnish variants, denied the connection of this myth with the myth of the diving bird ^{[14, pp. 29-30]}.

The Sami and Karelo-Finnish variants of MTYA are recognized by V.V. Napolskikh as the most archaic. Their content in the most general terms is as follows: a duck (goose) flies over the waters of the ancient ocean, finds a place for nesting (a blade of grass, a knee of primordial essence), lays several eggs from which the earth, sky, luminaries, as well as animals arise ^{[14, pp. 28-27]}.

Further, quite convincingly, the scientist develops the idea that the MT among the Baltic-Finnish peoples, as well as, apparently, among the Mordvins and Komi, is not of Proto-Ural origin, unlike the "normal" variants of MNP, but goes back, ultimately, to the Balto-Slavic, and there to the Pelasgian (pre-Greek) source ^{[14, pp. 31-36]}. At the same time, V.V. Napolskikh admits that it is impossible to completely exclude the presence of MT among the Proto-Uralians, but still inclines to the importance of the idea that this myth cannot be considered not only proto-Ural, but even Proto-Finno-Ugric ^{[14, pp. 36-37]}.

In my opinion, it is worth paying attention to the Izhora myth. At first glance, it seems that it is not much different from Estonian. A swallow lays eggs on a hummock among the primary waters. The wind blows the eggs into the water. The bird is looking for them, but rakes chunks of ice out of the sea. The latter turn into heavenly bodies ^{[14, p. 29]}. The motif with pieces of ice participating in the creation of the world is not found among other Finno-Ugric peoples. Nevertheless, it seems to me, given the Mari, Bashkir and Nganasan cosmogonic plots about the original snow and ice (these plots will be discussed below), it could have arisen among the ancestors of Izhora a very long time ago, even before the Baltic-Finnish peoples advanced to the west, perhaps in the era of the Proto-Finno-Ugric, or even the proto-Ural community.

In my opinion, the discovery of the motives of MT in Mari and Udmurts makes it possible to clarify some already established points of view on the nature of the Proto-Finno-Ugric cosmogonic ideas, expanding the area of the myth of the creation of the world from an egg.

Since in the traditional Mari and Udmurt versions of the MNP, the image of a female duck as such is absent (in the Mari version, Keremet has the appearance of a drake, while Humo appears in an anthropomorphic appearance; in the Udmurt text, instead of a waterfowl, Shaitan-water and cancer appear) ^{[5, pp. 327-328]}, V.V. Napolskikh pays special attention to attention to the veneration of ducks in Mari and Udmurts. In both peoples, duck and goose are sacrificial birds ^{[14, pp. 65-66]}. It is especially significant that the Udmurts, for example, stabbed a duck as a sacrifice to the gods on the river bank. At the same time, the bird, still alive, could be shown to the Shundy-Mums, the goddess of the sun, asking to take the duck into their own hands ^{[14, p. 66]}. In the Mari fairy tale, a duck tries to steal a ball of thread that belonged to the swan sisters keche-ava-dyr-vlakan (daughters of the goddess of the sun) ^{[13, p. 185]}.

All the more curious, in the light of all the above, it will be to try to discover the relics of MTYA among the Udmurts (and not just echoes in the rituals).

It is obvious that the Mari people knew a myth similar to the Mordovian ballad about Ina Narmon. This can be judged, for example, by the ancient folk song "I asked my father for an axe with a tin blade ...". The song tells how an oak tree with six branches grew at the end of a grassy strip. A cuckoo flew to it and built a nest in which it hatched three chicks from three eggs ^{[18, pp. 83-84]}. It seems that the song speaks exclusively about the cuckoo, symbolizing the image of a widow. But Yu.A. Kaliev quotes such an ancient Eastern Mari song: "My heavenly Father is a cuckoo, / My mother is a cuckoo's wing" ^{[8, pp. 119-120]}. In the first stanza, the expression Yumyn kuko occurs, which means, literally, a Heavenly cuckoo or even a Yumo cuckoo. This image is similar to various astral images in the Mari mythology of yumyn kayyk, y?ks? kayyk (heavenly bird, heavenly swan) ^{[8, pp. 119-120]}.   

At the same time, according to V.A. Aktsorin, in the orphan song of the mountain mari "Left behind the Volga" there is a motif of a mother duck that lays seven eggs: "The father planted a goose on seven eggs, / Out of seven goslings he left one behind the Volga. / — Swim from shore to shore and shout! — they said. / The mother planted a duck on seven eggs. / Of the seven ducklings, she left one behind the Volga. / — Swim from shore to shore and shout! — they said...". The goose here symbolizes the masculine principle (like the Ob-Ugric Ekva-Pyrishch), and the duck is maternal (like Ilmatar, the mother of air and water). The researcher notes that the image of a duck replacing the image of a woman is common in the folk poetry of Mordvins, Udmurts, Khanty, Mansi, Komi ^{[17, p. 15]}; ^{[17, p. 190-191]}.

Sometimes a duck lays not seven, but twelve eggs: "Lyryk-laryk, the duck / Laid twelve eggs. / And laid, and hatched, / Brought out twelve chicks" ^{[18, p. 279]}. In my opinion, it is no less significant that one, namely the seventh gosling and duckling remain separated from the rest of the chicks. If six goslings and ducklings give rise to the rest of the world, then the seventh turns out to be a special creation. Perhaps we can even talk about the youngest son of God, fighting for seniority as the Ob-Ugric Ekva-Pyrishch, Bashkir Shulgen, Mari Yin. It seems that the numbers 3, 6, 7, 12 are not random here. In Mordovian mythology, an Angel lays three eggs, from which three goddesses are born ^{[19, p. 292]}. The heavenly god Nishke heads the pantheon consisting of seven gods [19. p. 301]. The Ob-Ugric Numitorum had seven sons ^{[19, p. 371]}. According to Ibn Fadlan's "Note" (X century), the South Ural Ugrians (Majgars, Bashgirds) worshipped twelve gods ^{[21, p. 32]}. In the Mari cosmogonic myth, the mother duck Yumyn Ava flies to Earth seven times from her starry nest Ludo pyzhash, until the seventh time she decides to stay near the created Earth ^{[7, pp. 117-118]}. On the sixth day, the Eastern Mari, during the celebration of the k?c?, offered sacrifices to the goddess of heaven, Kugo Kava ^{[31, s. 187]}.

Identifying a duck with a woman is not something specifically Finno-Ugric. It cannot be said that something like this is not typical for Russian folk songs. For example: "Oh, by the sea, by the sea, / By the blue, by the Khvalynsky, / The duck was floating, / The gray mulberry was floating, / Wherever the drake came from, / Wherever the sparkle came from" ^{[26, p. 30]}. At the same time, there are no motives for building a nest, laying eggs, and breeding chicks. However, the falcon in the Russian tradition is more often compared with a man, the groom (cf. the fairy tale "The feather of the Finist is clear of the falcon"). In the Mari fairy tale, once a goose decides to marry a duck. But she, as it seems to the goose, turns out to be a bad hostess, demanding that the goose make their bed himself. The goose chases away the duck. Since then, ducks build their nests themselves, they themselves cover the bed with down ^{[13, p. 346]}.

Thus, Marie's duck is, first of all, a female. Drakes are Yumo and Yin (Keremet), hatched from eggs laid by Yumin-Ava, a mother duck. This myth in the records of Yu.A. Kaliev (1980s) and M.I. Ivanov (2017-2019) was analyzed in sufficient detail by me in a number of articles and monographs ^{[9, pp. 172-173]}. He discovers at the same time the proximity of the Mordovian and Komi variants, while in a later recording by M. And Ivanov from the residents of Mari-El contains unique details concerning the arrival of the goddess Yumyn-Avage, the foremother of the duck (Ludo Ava) from the constellation of the Duck Nest (Ludo pyzhash). In both variants (East Aryan and Meadow Aryan) The MNP earth is created jointly by Yumo and Yin, while both creators have an ornithopodobny appearance. The creation of the sun, moon, wind, stars, in a certain sense, is attributed to the mother duck ^{[8, pp. 123-124]}.

Speaking about the cosmogonic myth of Mari with the participation of Yumo and Yin (Keremet), it is impossible to ignore the question of the time and geography of its existence. Based on the analysis of the ethnographic literature and the information I received from the informant, it can almost be stated with certainty that as opposed to each other or even more related characters, Humo and Keremet are now practically unknown to Eastern Mari. The Keremets of the latter are mainly local tribal deities, spirits or deified founders of villages ^[20]. As for the myth of the ancestress duck presented by Yu.A. Kaliev (I could not find the original entry in the Mari language, there is only a scientific transfer of the content of the myth in the Mari language in the article of the specified author in the journal "Onchyko"), it is currently not recorded. In general, it seems that the duck and goose are not recognized as full-fledged mythological characters (and not just sacrificial birds) of the Mari Mishkinsky district (Bashkiria) ^[20]; ^{[29, p. 159]}. Moreover, the same geese, as offerings to the gods, were not valued very highly in the past. According to local historian A.A. Izilyaev, his grandmother claimed that geese were used en masse as victims in the 1930s. Firstly, it was not so burdensome for the peasant economy, which was experiencing difficult times. Secondly, it assumed the preservation of a certain confidentiality of the "pagan" cult during the active struggle against religion ^[20].

Moreover, the bearers of the tradition are convinced that the plot about Yumo and Yin was constructed by Yu.A. Kaliev ^[20]. At the same time, it is indicated that the establishment of the image of a duck on a pole (in the village of Churaevo, Bashkiria), a dummy of the world egg (in Sultan-Keremet, the village of Bolshesukhoyazovo, Bashkiria) was the initiative of representatives of the local intelligentsia, and is not a continuation or revival of some ancient tradition ^[20].

The myths "Humo and Keremet" ("Humo da Keremet"), "Diseases and sins of man" ("Aydemyn cherzhe den yazykshe") cited in the brochure "Journey to the Eastern Mari" ^{[22, pp. 31-34]}, "How the world was created" ("T?nya yytaltmizhe nergen") ^{[22, p. 45-46]} the texts of myths seem to find parallels not only with the plot recorded in the XIX century about the confrontation between Yumo and Keremet, but also, for example, with the Izhora rune about the creation of luminaries from pieces of ice caught by a swallow from the original sea: "Once Mlande-Kava - the wife of the supreme god Kugo—Yumo, — she laid three eggs: copper, iron and ice..." ("Ala-kunam Mlande Ava — Kugu Yumyn vatizhe kum munim: v?rgene, kurtн da yi muncha...") ^{[22, p. 45]}. Although the above text may be some kind of late literary interpretation, it still seems that it is not improbable for the Proto-Uralians to assume the presence of such an initial as ice. It is known that the ancestral homeland of the latter was distinguished by rather harsh climatic conditions, long and frosty winters. This is reflected in the language data with an abundance of names for typical taiga coniferous trees ^{[28, p. 146]}. Judging by the common name for mountain ash, the Proto-Finno-Ugric peoples also initially settled mainly north of latitude 57° ^{[28, p. 147]}. Of course, the possibility of borrowing the myth of the originally cold land by the Ural peoples from the aborigines of Siberia cannot be completely denied. But it is equally hasty, I believe, based on the above examples, to turn it off from the composition of Proto-Ural and even Proto-Finno-Ugric cosmogonic plots.

Nevertheless, the records of the myth by M.I. Ivanov on the territory of the Republic of Mari El convince that the MT with the participation of Yumo and Yin Mari was known and is not a figment of fantasy and, moreover, falsification. With regard to Mari Bashkiria, it is worth recalling a very profound remark by V.Ya. Propp that the most archaic variants are much rarer ^{[9, p. 121]} and, obviously, disappear faster. Perhaps in some villages, old-timers still remember at least fragments of the myth of waterfowl creating the world.

However, the mythological songs about the cuckoo and the swan recorded by the same Yu.A. Kaliev do not cause rejection among the bearers of the tradition and are recognized as authentic folklore material. Moreover, during a conversation with local historian A.A. Izilyaev, we managed to find out the following. In the village of Verkhnesukhoyazovo, it was customary to put high (up to five meters) poles with cuckoos on the graves. The cuckoo figures themselves were turned out separately, representing images of soaring birds with slightly spread wings. Also, similar images were found on the graves of cemeteries of the villages of Bolshesukhoyazovo, Sosnovka, Churaevo, Tynbaevo, Starokulchubaevo Mishkinsky district (including materials by R.R. Sadikov) ^{[24, p. 61]}.  According to A.A. Izilyaev, he asked his grandfather, born in 1939, about the reason for the special attitude to the cuckoo among the Mari people of Bashkiria. To this, the researcher received the following answer. The cuckoo lays one egg in someone else's nest. Our world is also alien. The informant, continuing this logic, considers it possible to say that the meaning of the ancient myth could be that the cuckoo brought an egg from the heavenly world to the earthly world. While the egg ripens at the bottom, the soul after death rushes up to another world ^[20].

As A.A. Izilyaev notes, at the moment the image of a cuckoo in the cemetery of the village of Bolshesukhoyazovo is no longer found. At the beginning of the 2000s, the informant still saw images of cuckoos in some cemeteries (for example, in the village of Churaevo). But the cuckoo poles have already begun to disappear since the mid-1950s ^[20].

It seems to me that the recorded material is quite sufficient to talk about the preservation of the Eastern Mari (by the way, also practically in a single version) of the prosaic MT with the participation of the cuckoo. Obviously, he was close to the already mentioned ancient folk song "I asked my father for an axe with a tin blade..." and the Mordovian ballad about Ina Narmon.

In any case, the bearers of the tradition, who remember the stories of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers, as well as the elderly and elderly people born in the 1930s or 1940s, are still alive, the possibility of discovering, recording and introducing into scientific circulation rare versions of the cosmogonic myths of the Mari and Udmurts remains.

Often in Mari songs, the primacy is given to the goose, as a more significant, pure bird: "With a long neck, the white goose ... / Likes to swim in big water. / A duck with a blue neck ... / Likes to swim in a puddle" ^{[17, pp. 374-375]}. Sometimes a cuckoo is a "father" (acha), and a swan is a "mother" (ava): "Our father is a cuckoo, mother is a swan. / We are the chicks of the cuckoo and the swan" ^{[11, p. 65]}. In M. Bolshakov's fable "Combo den Ludo", a gray duck laughs at a white goose fishing. At the same time, the duck itself turns out to be stained with dried mud ^{[3, p. 108]}. 

The following, very important detail has also been preserved in the Mari songs: a swan, a goose, a duck build a nest on the top of a grass growing in the middle of the water (river). At the same time, the name of the reservoir is often concretized, providing a variety of local variants of the myth: "In the middle of the Ashit River / Water grass has grown. / On top of that grass / The swan, having arrived, built a nest. / The goose, having arrived, laid an egg, / The duck, having arrived, brought out chicks" ^{[18, p. 82]}. At the same time, it may be emphasized that the goose prefers running water (yogysho vd) while the duck prefers standing water (shinchyshe vd): "The cackling goose / Loves running water; / Quacking duck / Loves standing water. / Wings of a duck over water..." ^{[19, p. 140]}.

Thus, here, in my opinion, one can trace the motif of the heavenly river (Yumyn e?er), which in the Mari astral picture of the world was identified with the Milky Way ^{[12, pp. 19-26]}. The ancient Siberian myth about birds flying south with the onset of cold weather is indicated by the legend of Kayyk combo korno ("The Road of Wild Geese") at mari, Linnun rata at Finns, Vir maceeni ki at erzi, Lud zazeg sures at Udmurts ^{[19, p. 8]}. It was widespread among almost all Finno-Ugric and neighboring peoples.

In connection with the above, the custom of Mamadysh Udmurts mentioned by V.V. Napolsky is of great interest to tame, feed two swans, and then release them alive to Vyatka. It was believed that if the birds swam downstream, it would not be good. Up the river means that the prayers of the worshippers will reach the gods ^{[14, p. 76]}. It seems that the meaning of this rite is directly opposite to the Siberian ideas about the country of the mistress of birds located in the south, in the upper reaches of the world river. Since the Vyatka and Kama flow from north to south, it turns out that the blessed lands are moving in the opposite direction to the north. However, the Udmurts' curse of being sent down the water, in my opinion, convinces the opposite. Since the curse is the equivalent of the Russian "so that you die", it perfectly corresponds with the Ob-Ugric and Ket beliefs ^{[14, p. 76]}. Thus, the ancient mythological meaning of the rite at some point came into conflict with the changed geography of the ethnic group's habitat, but could not change under the influence of real geography, preserving the mythical geography.

Based on his own field materials, R.R. Sadikov notes such an interesting detail that in the village of Mayadyk (Bashkiria) the old women of Mari in the past collected the fluff of waterfowl for a pillow, which was placed in a coffin under the head of the deceased ^{[24, p. 60]}.  

Close to the Mordovian-Mari versions of the MT are those Mari songs, where we are talking about how birds, such as cuckoos, flock to the top of a birch tree that has grown under a mountain: "Under a huge mountain / We put a cage on high pillars. / In front of that cage / A tall birch tree has grown. / On the birch tree, on the top, / Twelve cuckoos flew together ..." ^{[19, pp. 107-108]}.

According to A.V. Aktsorin, in later epochs, as folk-poetic symbols or comparisons of a woman, there are images of the fairy-tale bird Efi: "With the voice of the fairy-tale Efi, / With her poppy blush ...", as well as a swift, a dove, a nightingale, a starling, a swallow. It is also not superfluous to notice the similarity in the description of the appearance of the mountain-Aryan Efi with the description of the appearance of the Mordovian goddess Kastargo, one of the daughters of the heavenly god Nishke. The face of the latter is compared to a beautiful apple ^{[19, p. 301]}. The evolutionary path of the metaphor-symbol of the image of a man is also traced: goose — owl — silver cuckoo — white partridge — starling — lark, etc. ^{[17, p. 16]}; ^{[17, p. 376-377]}. It should also be noted here that the "maiden beauty" of the Russians and the apai of the Udmurts act as peculiar symbols. In wedding or round-dance songs, they are replaced by images of various birds: swans, ducks/ducks among the Russians, a baby pigeon (dydykpi), a lonely crane (pal turi), a fantastically beautiful peacock bird (tutygysh) among the Udmurts ^{[6, p. 201]}. Judging by the description of the maiden's beauty (Udmurt kurnik), given by T.G. Vladykina with reference to G.E. Vereshchagin, it could have the form of a structure of twenty rods entwined with multicolored ribbons and scraps ^{[6, p. 200]}. In my opinion, it resembles a nest.

Sometimes in one Mari song we are talking about goose, duck and ... ermine: "A goose flies through the village, / A duck swims across the river, / A road goes through the Kokshaga, / An ermine runs across the road..." ^{[18, p. 237]}. Perhaps there is a later "decoration" here and the ermine really has nothing to do with the ancient cosmogony (but the image of a duck floating on the river and the road across the river, I think, are not accidental). Nevertheless, I will point out the Nenets myth cited by V.V. Napolsky in his summary: "the loon dived and after seven days brought the earth. Ermine ordered her to sleep. She fell asleep, and when she woke up she saw the finished land" ^{[14, p. 146]}. The researcher rightly considers the image of the ermine to be unique in this context ^{[14, p. 146]}. The participation of animals in cosmogonic plots is more typical of the myths of North American Indians.

Along with the cuckoo, a wagtail is mentioned in some songs: "The cuckoo laid an egg, / Did not have time to hatch a chick. / Although the wagtail hatched. / Still a cuckoo" ^{[17, pp. 182-183]}. According to Mari signs, avenging the destruction of the nest, the wagtail could damage the cabbage ^{[9, p. 85]}. The wagtail was a totem of the Moose phratry of the Ob Ugrians and bore the characteristic name of the howl "soul-bearing bird" ^{[9, p. 117]}; ^{[9, p. 49]}. According to the cosmogonic myth of the Ainu, the creator of Pace Kamui directs the wagtail down. The wagtail flies over the water until it accelerates it to the sides with flaps of its wings and thus creates the first land ^{[9, p. 128]}.

Another Mari song is about a duck who "loves rafts": "The duck quacks lart-lart, / Loves rafts of hemp sheaves, / Has ruffled the sheaves of good people..." ^{[18, pp. 454-455]}. This option does not seem to have anything to do with MT. Nevertheless, he discovers interesting parallels with the Bashkir MNP, in which the interlocking nests of ducks form a world island. This plot also forms parallels with the Nivkh cosmogonic myth ^{[9, pp. 164-165]}.

Udmurt versions of songs demonstrate the popularity of the mythologeme duck (goose) with ducklings. Also, within the same song, a different number of chicks can be indicated: "Seven were laid by a goose yes, / Eight goslings hatched" ^{[23, p. 103]}. "Trani yes, trani yes, there is a wedding, there is a heifer, / My duck has only laid six [eggs] yes, / Six have only laid yes, will [chicks] hatch out of them, no..." ^{[6, p. 140]}. "There is also a motif of laying eggs on a certain elevated place: "On the top of a high yes high mountain / The lake duck hatches chicks, ay. / The children will grow up, yes, they will fly away forever, / The mother will remain in tears, ay" ^{[16, p. 169]}. Or to the aquatic vegetation: "Where does the wild goose hatch chicks? / On the bank of the river in sedge. / Wild duck where does the chicks hatch? On the site of a lowered pond in sedge" ^{[6, p. 135]}. The swaying of the duck on the water imitates the Udmurt dance, during which the performers, boys and girls, sing: "Geese swim, ducks swim, / They like deep waters, they like ...". According to T.G. Vladykina, here we can talk about the image of a duck as a generative feminine principle ^{[6, p. 139]}. It is characteristic that the slaughter of a duck during prayers to Kyldysin always preceded the slaughter of a bull ^{[6, p. 162]}. At the same time, the Udmurts are characterized by the separation of white and black ducks. In this connection, we can recall the mythologized stories about the creation of the world by the light god Ulgen and the lord of the Lower World Erlik in the form of black geese, about the connection of the goose and swan with the Upper world of light gods among various Turkic-Mongolian peoples of Siberia ^{[6, p. 138]}. If the first correlates with the sky, Shunda-Muma, the goddess of the sun, then the second with the element of the forest ^{[6, p. 98]}. As T.G. Vladykina notes, the image of the creators of geese who ate the worms that tore up the world mountain is found in Udmurt jokes ^{[6, pp. 126-128]}.  

In general, the Udmurt variants are somewhat more descriptive. Clouds in them can be compared with the birds themselves: "Dark, dark clouds / Float, float over the Kama River / Cranes arriving in spring, / Geese flying away in autumn" ^{[27, p. 68]}. Goose floats with the current, / Shores are like big cities ..." ^{[27, p. 81]}. "Oh, the water is flowing, the water is flowing yes, / With twelve ducklings, the duck is swimming. / She hides her chicks with her wings, / Fearing a fox cub" ^{[23, p. 49]}. In the Mari plots, clouds are considered to be the nests of celestial geese, and the crane is not found at all ^{[9, pp. 180-181]}. In Udmurt songs, as in Mari, the name of the reservoir can be specified: "A wild duck brought out, oh, her ducklings / Along [the river] It's too late to swim" ^{[23, p. 241]}. In the Udmurt fairy tale, a duck helps the hero to cross the water surrounding him from all sides ^{[6, p. 12]}.

In East Slavic songs, it is expected that such a variety of motifs with the participation of waterfowl and in general any other birds (except the lark, cuckoo and falcon) is not observed. In the Carpathian Christmas carol, we are talking about doves who get crushed sand and blue (golden) stone from the seabed. Earth, water and grass arise from sand; sky, sun, moon, lightning and stars arise from stone ^{[4, p. 356]}. In the Russian folk song already cited above, there is only a simple comparison of a woman with a duck. Images of birds in Bashkir folk songs are not uncommon. Most often there is an image of a bird-hunter (falcon) ^{[1, p. 212]}, chasing a victim (duck, snipe) ^{[1, 185-186]}, the personification of speed, freedom (golden eagle, hawk) ^{[1, p. 217, 262]}. One of the Bashkir songs, it seems to me, may unexpectedly contain a possible motive for the demiurge bird to extract a stone from the bottom of the sea, as in the Carpathian Christmas carol: "A duck dives into the water / To reach the stone..." ^{[1, p. 219]}. It is reasonable to recall in this connection the assumption of V.V. Napolskikh that the MNP, at least its individual variants, could have come to the Slavs directly from the Avar Turks in the VII century ^{[14, p. 112]}.

The above examples, in my opinion, exclude the possibility of the Mari and Udmurts borrowing plots from the Slavs and Turks, which can be interpreted as fragments of MT.

Finnish researcher M. Kuusi considered the eagle (eagle) in the rune about laying eggs on the knee of Vainamainen to be the original image of the Kalevala myth. V.V. Napolskikh does not agree with him, believing the mythologems of waterfowl — ducks and geese — to be more ancient ^{[14, p. 30]}. In this regard, the following song of the meadow mari is of interest: "The Black Kite sings ... / The Yushut River sings. / In the middle of the Yushut River / Burning grass has grown. / Among the burning grass / The goose laid an egg, / Among the burning grass / The swan brought out the chicks" ^{[18, p. 179]}. The fact that the buzzard-vulture is opposed to the goose deserves attention here. The image of a burning, poisonous grass is also curious. Perhaps the last motif reflected the astral images of Mari mythology. In this regard, it is interesting to note the Mari name of the constellation of Capricorn — Tulvui (lit. "torch, firebrand"). Marie was also known for the bright star Antares in the constellation of Scorpio — Tul shadyr (lit. "Fire Star") ^{[12, pp. 18-26]}.  

The image of the eagle-creator, apparently, was characteristic of the Magyar (South Ural) mythology of the early Middle Ages. The Hungarian silver disk from the burial of the IX century depicts an eagle holding a blade of grass in its beak and two ducks in its paws. The duck on the right is sitting quietly, the duck on the left has raised its head ^{[14, p. 142]}; ^{[19, p. 430]}. This plot can be deciphered if we turn to the North American myth of the Yokuts (California Indians). From a nest in a tree, in the middle of the primordial sea, the eagle sent two ducks for the land. None of them survived. But under the nails (!) the latter has a little earth left. The eagle created the land from it ^{[14, pp. 157-158]}. It is also important that the eagle in Hungarian mythology is identified with the legendary turul bird, which, having impregnated the sleeping Emesa ^{[30, p. 94]}, actually becomes a totemic symbol of the Arpad dynasty.

The original astral images of the Mari cosmogonic myth of the MTYA type, which find parallels in the Baltic-Finnish plots, also include: the constellation of Taurus — Kuku (mar. "cuckoo"); the constellation of Lyra or Orion — Pyzle vondo (lit. "Rowan bush"); Pleiades — Er sh?dyr, Ludo pyzhash sh?dyr (mar. "Star Lake", "Duck nest") ^{[12, pp. 18-26]}.

The designation of the Pleiades as a Duck Nest is also characteristic of Russians, Veps, Komi-Zyryans, Khakas, tundra Nenets, Mansi, Khanty. The Mordvins call the Pleiades Ozonian regiment, the Udmurts — Chosh kar kizili ("Star of the duck nest") ^[2].

Although the Udmurt myth recorded by B. Munkachi (1887) did not preserve the image of an ornithopod-like diver, such a deeply archaic pre-Ural (pre-Ural) motif as a mention of the unsuccessful predecessor of the earther survived in it ^{[14, p. 89]}. When Shaitan, at the behest of Inmar, dives into the waters of the primordial sea to get land for creation, he cannot reach the bottom in any way. But here he meets cancer. Upon learning that Shaitan is trying to get land, cancer is very surprised, stating that he has been living "here for twelve years, but he has not seen the bottom yet" (my italics. — I.A.). However, Shaitan shows perseverance and sinks further under the water until he safely reaches the desired goal ^{[5, p. 328]} V.V. Napolskikh successfully compares this Udmurt myth with the Buryat myth of the Angir duck. Cancer is called "scissorfish" there. But at the same time, cancer says that the whole century lives under water. There is no exact indication of a period of twelve years ^{[15, pp. 26-27]}.

 In the 1930s, researchers managed to record the cosmogonic myth of Inmar and Shaitan among the Udmurts among the southern Udmurts in the Alnash district of the UASSR ^{[24, pp. 139-140]}. It does not contain details about the meeting with Shaitan cancer. R.R. Sadikov considers the above-mentioned myth to be a rather late version of an older legend about the creation of the world by a waterfowl, most likely a duck. The researcher also draws parallels between the cosmogonic myths of the Udmurts, Komi, and Mari ^{[24, pp. 140-141]}. Perhaps, in the past, the Udmurts had myths about the actual ancestor-duck. So, in my opinion, the phrase that the Udmurts uttered immediately before naming is of interest: "we have a branch-we have a w" (lit.: "we are a walking-walking duck") ^{[24, p. 177]}. R.R. Sadikov believes that she expressed a promise to sacrifice a duck ^{[24, p. 177]}. It seems that there could also be a plot about a certain sacred bird periodically creating a new life. It is not for nothing that in the version of the Mari cosmogonic myth about the mother duck recorded by M.I. Ivanov, Shochyn-Ava returned to earth several times to make sure of the success of the created world.

Above, I have already singled out the Izhora MT in a separate version. First of all, it is unusual in its ending, in which the luminaries are created from pieces of ice extracted from the primary sea.

V.V. Napolskikh considers the motif of frozen land covered with snow and ice from ancient times to be atypical for the Proto-Ural cosmogonic myths. So he notes that the isolated position of the Nganasan myth about how the White Man, in alliance with the Mother of Life, fought with the primeval ice that covered the entire earth at the beginning of time. This motif does not apply to the types of MT and MNP. Therefore, according to V.V. Napolskikh, it could have been borrowed from the native population of Siberia and only later perceived by some Uralic peoples ^{[14, pp. 27-28]}.

Nevertheless, the myth of the originally cold, "inanimate" earth can be found among the Bashkirs-Gainitsev, who, according to R.G. Kuzeev, are considered descendants of the Turkized Finno-Ugric population of the Urals ^{[13, p. 213]}. The ethnogenetic legend of the Gayna family tells how two brothers came to the banks of the Tulva River from snowy countries. At that time, the soil was frozen. And only by defeating the mistress of Tulua, who hid the sun, the brothers made the world fit for human life ^{[1, pp. 115- 117]}; ^{[8, p. 113]}.

Thus, summing up the above, it can be assumed that the myth of creation from an egg was characteristic not only of the Baltic-Finnish peoples, but also of the Mordvins and Komi. As part of the myth of the diving bird, its echoes are found in Marie, or in them, as an integral part of the cuckoo cult. Some motifs of Mari and Udmurt folk songs with the participation of a duck (goose) are more similar to the actual Baltic-Finnish versions. A separate category consists of Mari and Udmurt cosmogonic mythologems about the eagle, cancer, ermine, ice egg, raft nests, which show great similarity not only with the myths of the Finns, Hungarians, but also with the myths of the peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East.