Once there was a young girl. Her name was Tyya. She was going for a walk on the tundra when she saw some antlers on the ground. She picked them up and thought that she would like carve them to make dolls for children. As she walked, it began to get foggy. Tyya became lost.
Etosack, a young hunter, found Tyya and invited her to stay with him and his brothers. Tyya stayed there at their camp and during the night, they danced and they sang. When they sang, Tyya joined in with the brothers. They were all exhausted from dancing all over the place.
In the morning Etosack and his brothers went to hunt for food to eat. When Etosack and his brothers went, they told Tyya to not let anybody in the tipi. Tyya took a sharp knife and a piece of antler. When she was done, she had made a doll and a dress made out of animal skin. All of a sudden something said, “Let me in!”
“I can’t! This is Etosack and his brothers’ tipi. If I let you in, I will get in trouble,” said Tyya. ‘If you don’t let me in, bad things will happen,” the voice said. So Tyya let in the person, who was an evil shaman. Tyya gave the woman a drink and the evil shaman told her to lie down. She took a brush and started combing Tyya’s hair. Then she started to sing. Tyya slept and when she woke up, she felt herself being transformed into a white caribou!
When Etosack and his brothers returned, they didn’t see Tyya in the tipi. “How could she leave?” Etosack said. “I had fallen in love with Tyya.” At night Etosack had a dream of his dead grandmother. She told him that Tyya had been transformed into a white caribou. “Do what I tell you.” his grandmother said.
In the morning Etosack did what his grandmother said. He took a feather, a piece of bone and sinew from a caribou, a stone, and the doll Tyya had made. “Take these things and throw them on her. She will transform back into a girl.” his grandmother had said. So Etosack took these things and when he found the white caribou, he threw these things on her back and she transformed back into the girl Tyya. After that, Tyya and Etosack lived happily together. That is also why people don’t hunt white caribou because they are sacred.