Chuvash people have the following myth about the origin of it:
“At first, when people didn’t plough and didn’t sow, and didn’t even know about grain, God showed a man rye with ears full of grain from roots to top, and asked him:
- Do you need this?
The man answered:
- No I don’t. I can live without it.
After these words the ears of rye, beginning from roots diminished approximately on an elbow. The god asked again:
-Do you need this?
The man answered:
-No.
The ears of rye diminished again on an elbow. And when the God asked the man for the third time whether he needed it, a dog having heard all this, barked: humm! Thus the ear of rye was saved, otherwise it would also disappear.” (Shchen Alpushch).
That’s why one shouldn’t hurt a dog, since it saved rye for people. One should keep it at home.

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