Once upon a time a Buddhist monk set out on a journey to a distant settlement. The road was long and the weather smoggy. As he had been travelling longer than it usually took to get there, the monk began to think that he must have got lost in the smog. Finally, he arrived at a camp full of people that he did not recognize. On his horse, the lama looked through the window of a house to see women playing on the dombra instrument. Soon the women came out of the house running and greeting him, ‘Dear brother, is it you that has arrived?’ They took away his horse for him, invited him in, and offered him a cup of kumis. ‘What settlement is this?’ asked the monk. ‘Makhs makh bard, it is called’, was the reply. After a drink, as soon as the monk began reciting prayers the people around turned into shulmus-spirits and scattered in all directions. Only the head of a ground squirrel and a shoe heel was left lying on the floor.