In the Deewana Shah Valley, a hunter, after some hard climbing and searching for game, spotted an albino Ibex, but as he raised his flintlock to fire, the ibex disappeared, and in its place stood an old man with a white beard.
He was tempted four times to pull the trigger but hesitated each time, with this frail figure standing in front of him. Finally, youth overwhelmed him, and he fired. The old man disappeared, and upon investigating the spot where he had stood, he found a patch of blood.
But there was no sign of the ibex anywhere. Exhausted, he returned home, and that night, he felt a sharp pain in his left eye and sensed that his neck was paralyzed. He remained disabled for weeks until a saintly traveller arrived from Nuristan and gave him an amulet to cure his ailment. The amulet cured his paralysis, but his left eye has remained crooked to this day.
He then told some strange tales about wild mountain sheep and goats. He believed worms grow at the base of their horns, and when the wind carries a person's scent toward the animals, the worms become restless, which in turn alerts the animals to danger, causing them to dart away in flight.
He also believed that supernatural animals live at the bottom of the largest lake in the mountains. The beasts sometimes make loud rumbling sounds, especially in winter when the surface of the lake is frozen.
To be safe, people do not pass through the valley alone, only in groups. He told us that ibex herds were shepherded by deozaat and the peri's alternately each year. In those years when they were guided by fairies, it was difficult to shoot them, but the following year, the hunt was easier because, being evil, demons were incapable of shepherding the animals properly.
It is also said that hunting hornless wild sheep and goats would result in great distress for the family.
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