The Buryat Earth-Diver Creation
The classic Buryat creation myth — an earth-diver story similar to those found across Central Asia. In the beginning, the sky god Sombov looked down upon the primordial waters and saw the water bird Anghir. He commanded the bird to dive to the depths and retrieve material for making the earth. Anghir brought up black earth and red clay. Sombov made the earth from the black soil and humans from the red clay. These first humans were covered in wool. Sombov left a furless dog to guard his creations while he went to heaven for souls. The devil Shiktur (Erlik) approached the shivering dog, promised