ABSTRACT
Long before Siberia’s forests echoed with the ringing swords of Mongols, Tatars, Cossacks, Reds and Whites and the cries of their victims, the land was terrorized by vicious flying serpents, gigantic snarling canines, invisible evil spirits called shalmos, and multi-headed beasts called mangathais-according to the myths of the Buryat Mongols. These creatures fought constantly for territory and for power over the Marat, the people who inhabited the world that preceded our world. Boundaries between the natural and supernatural blurred in the old world where even mortal Marat transformed into supernatural wolves, ravens and swans. Buryat myths spin a relentless and confusing web of sacrifice, politicking, deceit and betrayal, punctuated by vicious atrocities traded by forces of both good and evil. Siblings turned against siblings and, motivated by selfpreservation, thirst for power or revenge, men even cut deals with mangathais, who were usually busy boiling, impaling or disemboweling people.
