Many a world there was among the vaults of the heavens. Carefree the Cuckoo was shums with everyone. He'd play with the Light-girls and they'd laugh and have fun. Ülgen's nine daughters were called "Light" because of their heavenly purity and beauty. They were called Akkızlar, for in Altai Turkish, ak, the word for "light" or "shining", also means "paradise" or "heaven".
Then there was the Underworld. That was ruled over by Erlik, who also governed evil spirits, dispatching his With-with-broom, his Giant-mother, and jis Scarlet-wife into the world in his fiendish efforts to carry off human beings.
It was in the context of such beliefs as these that our ancestors struggled and strove to come to terms with and establish a balance between good and evil. The shamans for their part were seers who sought to make the work of establishing that balance easier. But whenever shamans passed through one of the doors that connect this world and the Underworld, there was always the danger of their being ensnared by the Dark-girls, who would deceive the shamans, distract them from their real business, and lure them away. It wasn't that they were so fetching really: but they were exceedingly saucy and flirtatious and any poor shaman who became the victim of their wiles would be put to death by Erlik.
Man, caught between the tides of the Underworld and the skies above, entrusted his destiny to his gods.
