Yryn-ai-tojon
Yryn-ai-tojon East AsiaLiteral meaning: ‘white creator lord’. According to the Yakuts, who dwell along the Lena River in Siberia, Yryn-ai-tojon was the supreme being, whose tethering-post was the pillar of the world, a gigantic tree. From the top of a mighty hill, in the ‘navel’ of the world, the cosmic tree towered upwards, its branches overreaching the seven floors of heaven, while beneath the earth its roots reached down into the subterranean abysses, where they formed the pillars of the houses of the earth spirits. The bark of the tree never cracked, nor did its luxuriant leaves ever wilt.
At the beginning Yryn-ai-tojon was moving above the primordial ocean when he noticed a bladder floating on the waters. In reply to his inquiry, the bladder announced it was the spirit of evil, the inhabitant of the ground hidden under the water. Then said Yryn-ai-tojon: ‘If there really is earth beneath the ocean, hasten and bring me a piece of it.’...
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