Indigenous Nivkhy, from Sakhalin Island, tell the legend that Sakhalin is a beast. The beasts head is Miftyon (the head of the earth) which lies in the north, it’s legs in the south. The forest is its fur, and the people are like lice in its fur. It happens that it begins to move. Maybe it is tired of lying or maybe there are too many people on Sakhalin who are pouring all kinds of dirt on it that, like a dog, it must shake off.

The first people settled on Sakhalin in the Paleolithic era. Since then, the cultures and peoples that populated and developed the island have changed. Not many of them lingered for a long time, and some completely disappeared. Russian peasants who arrived on Sakhalin to colonize it faced a harsh climate and harsh social and economic conditions. They left the island after 20 years.

My parents moved to Sakhalin in 1985. I was born here, as well as my son. Living on Sakhalin it is not difficult to notice that people on the island have similar problems as those who lived here hundreds of years ago. «Sakhalin, a land of rich resources and favourable prospects» attracts and rejects people. Studying the history of the development of the island, I have begun to find more and more connections between the legend of the ancient people. Consequently, I have begun to believe that Sakhalin the living creature, a beast. The beast that they are trying to tame