When Mergen takes pity on a stranded deer, a tiny ant in danger of being crushed, and a beached sturgeon - saving all of their lives - the skilled Nanai hunter finds his compassion rewarded as his new friends help him to win the beautiful maiden he desires. This tale of a huntsman who spares three animals, and is in turn assisted by those animals in three impossible tasks, is one that appears in many cultures. The role of the ant in helping to sort out the grain, and the fish's assistance in regaining the lost ring, are particularly well-known.

I enjoyed reading Mergen and His Friends, and found the colorful, folk-motif illustrations to be incredibly vivid and beautiful. I did wonder however, whether this picture book was true - in either narrative or visual design - to the Nanai tradition. Printed by a Moscow publisher, it is entirely possible that it is characterized by the same sort of paternalistic misinterpretation that plagues many Euro-American retellings of Native American stories. Unfortunately, I do not know enough about the indigenous cultures of Siberia to hazard a guess. Clearly, I need to learn more about the Nanai. ( )