The Blueberry is a Nenets
fairy tale.
Lynzermya is a tiny girl, shorter than a dwarf birch. One day, she kills a squirrel that is so large it looms over her tent, and skins it. Just afterwards, two strange men of normal height randomly stop by, and, after Lynzermya cooks the squirrel's meat for them, they decide that she is very good at keeping house and that she would make an ideal wife for one of them. She doesn't want to marry a stranger and tries to convince them they don't have anything to carry her in. Since they don't give up, she suggests they carry her in a small box.
The men put her in the box and leave. While they're on their way, Lynzermya manages to crawl out of the box and jump down. Her clothing catches on a branch, and she hides behind the leaves, crying her heart out since she doesn't know how to come back home. She cries for so long she turns completely blue and tiny – that is, a blueberry.
That's why it's so hard to pick blueberries – they always hide from people.
Not to be confused with Blueberry, a comic series by Jean-Michel Charlier.
The fairytale provides examples of:
- The Dividual: The two men basically function as a single character, as neither of them seems to be in any way different from the other.
- Downer Ending: Poor Lynzermya never returns home and turns into a berry.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: The men offer to marry Lynzermya despite having just met her, and immediately set off to bring her to their home.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Apparently, the men have no trouble with the fact that Lynzermya is so small they have to avoid squashing her with their fingers.
- "Just So" Story: How blueberries came to be.
- Marriage of Convenience: The men want Lynzermya to marry one of them because she’s so good with housework.
- Sacred Hospitality: Even though Lynzermya doesn't know the men and doesn't like them, she greets them and gives them food.
- Supreme Chef: The squirrel meat prepared by Lynzermya is what leads to the men offering marriage to her on the spot.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Lynzermya's main fear is that if she marries one of the strangers, she will have to move to some faraway land. She escapes the marriage, but still is forced to stay away from home.
