In ancient times, long before the Soviet Union was formed and Sakha was covered in virgin forest, Sakha people lived in large clearings known as “alaas”; hidden worlds lost within the impassable taiga. The family and closest relatives - would live in the centre of the field during winter, inside a warmly constructed “balagan”, moving further away into a lighter “uraha” during the brief warm summer. This kind of mini settlement was called “aga uuha” - directly translated as ‘fathers blood’. When those places would become abandoned, they became “ötökh”; locations to be feared and avoided at all costs. Many supernatural things happened in those kind of places, and one of them starts like this.

Aray Biirde…
It was a cold day as all days were throughout Sakha’s long winter, and it swiftly became dark. One hunter became lost deep in the endless forest; “hurry up”, he said to himself. “I need to find a place to stay, it’s getting dark”. As soon as he thought about it, directly in his path there appeared a light, shining through the dense forest as if it had always been there. The hunter quickly followed the light and soon emerged into an open alaas, completely covered in bright white snow. The light shone brilliantly from the exact centre of the field, illuminating the untouched snow from inside the windows of a warm looking balagan. The hunter felt emotional; “at least I won’t die from cold or be eaten by animals”. Now he is closer to the light, and closer, and closer still; opening the door. [door noise]

Inside, the balagan looked warm and welcoming, and a fire was burning in the traditional oven “ohokh”. The hunter looked around to find the owner;
when he could see nobody, he assumed that those who lived here were outside, and would surely return soon from the cold. The hunter began to wait for the owner of the balagan to return, but he was very hungry and tiredness soon took him. He fell into a deep sleep, where a dream came to him. A voice spoke “wake up, wake up, she is coming to you ...”. He woke, but did not understand what kind of meaning his dream could have held. He understood that there was still nobody else in the balagan and decided to rest until sunrise. This time, as soon as he fell into his deep sleep, he was suddenly jolted awake as he was pulled sharply to the ground. The room was cold and dark now. In this moment a chilling understanding gripped him: it was not a balagan at all — he was sleeping in an ötökh! He could hear the sound of footsteps on snow. The steps were coming closer and closer — he felt frightened, and remembered the words from his dream: “she is coming, she is coming to you!”. He jumped up and ran from that place with all his will. He ran and ran and heard a female voice screaming behind him “you escaped this time, but next time I will take you immediately!”
But who saved him? What do you think?