Chapter 1: The birth
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It was late 1918, when the harsh cold weather was striking Alaska, Nome especially. People would mostly spend inside on the warm. Dogs on the other occasion, especially huskies, would go either to the boiler room or stay outside.

There was one gray husky, who had blue eyes that would sometimes do some unusual things. He would sometimes go outside Nome, to see great white wolf watching at him. Once he would come to the wolf, he would be satisfied.

'Hello there.' the gray husky said.

'Hi.' the white wolf replied.

'I can see you on the occasions outside the town, and you seem beautiful to me despite not being the same kind as I am.' husky said, trying not to be rude at all.

'I know,' wolf said, 'It doesn't matter how do you look, all it matters is how good in your heart are.'

Husky smiled at that one and said: 'My name is Beringo. What's your name?'

Wolf replied: 'I'm Aniu.'

'Wonderful name,' Beringo said 'it must mean something.'

'Yes, indeed. It means 'snow' on Inuit language.' Aniu said.

Beringo said: 'Say, Aniu... would you like to come with me tonight on the hill above the town.'

Aniu said: 'Yes, that'd be nice of you.'

Later that night, Aniu was on the hill above Nome, as she was awaiting Beringo to come. Soon enough, he came with the lantern in his mouth.

Aniu asked: 'You are going to show me something romantic, aren't you?'

Beringo, who put the lantern on the certain spot, climbed a little bit higher and said: 'As you may have known, I am.'

Aniu smiled at him, while he was moving some shards with his paw carefully, trying not to hurt himself. He told her: 'Come closer.'

Aniu came closer to Beringo, who looked at her, and said: 'To the north...'

Then he moved out of the way, thus allowing the beam of light shine through the shards, illuminating the lights. Northern lights. They both looked in astonishment. She said: 'You certainly can handle this.' 'Yes, I can.'

Beringo asked her one last question: 'Say, Aniu, we don't know each other for too long, but would you like...?' Before he could finish, she turned to him and said: 'Yes, Beringo, I would. But let's watch the lights for some more.' And so they continued watching the Northern Lights.

After a several days, Aniu domesticated herself in the abandoned boat outside Nome. Nobody except Beringo would go there. They certainly knew what was going on: Aniu was expecting pups.

Eight weeks later, in January 1919, Beringo was on his usual trip to the abandoned boat because of Aniu. Once he entered, he heard Aniu saying: 'Beringo? Is that you?' He affirmated. 'You have to see this.' Beringo's heart began to pounce faster due to an excitement. He ran to the safe part of the boat and saw something wonderful: Aniu was lying there, while nursing four pups.

Beringo came closer to her and he said: 'They're beautiful.' 'Indeed they are.' she said. Two pups were white as Aniu, but they resembled more like a dog. Two pups were resembling Beringo; one of them was also resembling dog, while the other one was resembling both dog and wolf.

'Do they have names?' Beringo asked.

'Yes.' she affirmated, 'The white female is Juneau, and the white male is Eyak. The gray one that looks just like you is Aurora.' Then she looked at the wolfdog pup. 'And this one is Balto.'

'Nice, nice...' Beringo said, 'but I see that Balto looks a little different than his siblings.'

'Indeed,' Aniu said, 'he looks like a wolfdog. But I can also see that he may be the unique one. Like he has some... gift... that his siblings don't have.'

'Guess we might never know what gift he has, but I'm glad to see we have our own family.' Beringo said.

'Yes, it is good.' Aniu said.

Chapter 2: The pup-hood
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After a several weeks, Aniu and Beringo would play with their pups. Juneau, Eyak and Aurora grew close to their father, while Balto grew close to his mother. Even though Beringo loved Balto, he was concerned about his behavior due to wolf-dog blood in his veins.

While his siblings were playing with his father, Balto asked his mother: 'Mom, how come I be different than my siblings?'

Aniu said: 'It's because your siblings resemble dog only, and you resemble both dog and wolf. And as you see, I am wolf.'

Balto asked: 'If my dad is dog and you're wolf, does that mean that...?' '...you're wolf-dog? Yes.'

Balto frowned at that one. Aniu told him: 'Look, Balto. There's something you need to know. It's not how you look, it's how good in your heart are.'

Balto looked up at his mother and said: 'I guess you're right, mom.'

Aniu nuzzled her son smiling and said: 'Alright Balto. Go and play with your siblings.'

Later that night, Balto was sleeping with his sleeping with his siblings under the blanket in the boat. Suddenly, he felt that he was nudged by someone. 

'Balto? Balto, wake up!' Balto woke up and saw his mother nudging him. 'Mom, it's dark!' 'I know it is, I want you to come with me.'

Aniu went to the bow of the boat, while Balto followed her. 'Get up on that box.' She said. When he got up, he looked into the same direction as his mother and saw something beautiful.

There were the Northern Lights, just above the town of Nome, dancing.

'Mom, what is that?' Balto asked. 'These are the Northern Lights, Balto.' Aniu said. 'These are one of the most beautiful wonders of the world and also the way how to get in contact with the spirits.' 

'How to do that?' 'It's simple: Reach for the Lights, you may touch the sky and the spirits will come down to you.' 'Wow.' Balto said as the and Aniu were watching the Lights for a bit longer.

Two weeks later, a terrible snowstorm struck Nome. The group of canines were looking for the shelter as they were outside, away from the boat. 'Balto, keep up!' Aniu shouted. 'I'm trying, mom!' Balto shouted. The visibility was very low. Balto tried to keep up with his family, but he couldn't. Soon enough, they disappeared in the blizzard. 'Mom? Dad? Juneau? Eyak? Aurora? ANYONE?!' Balto yelled. Then he fell on the snowy ground and began whimpering. 

At the sunset, the snowstorm ended, and Balto got up on his feet and went towards the boat. He thought that his family was there.

'Mom? Dad?' No answer. 'ANYONE?!' No answer. Balto, saddened, went to the safe part of the boat and fell down on the ground and began whimpering, again.

The next morning, Balto woke up and heard some tapping in the ship. He instantly got up on his feet and said: 'Mom? Dad? Is that you?' Then the voice said in a Russian accent: 'Is somebody in there?'

Balto didn't recognize the voice and backed up, but the creature got there immediately. Balto was surprised to see the creature: it didn't look like a canine, it looked like a goose.

The goose asked: 'What are you doing here alone, kiddo?' Balto said: 'It's because there was snowstorm outside and I returned to the ship and since then I've been expecting to see if my family would come back, but they haven't returned.'

The goose felt sorry for the pup, said: 'I'm so sorry about that. What's your name?' Balto said: 'My name is Balto. And who are you?' The goose said: 'I'm Boris Goosinov, but you can call me Boris.'

Balto felt that Boris might be close to him and he came closer to Boris. Boris said: 'Don't worry, Balto, I'm going to look after you.'

Chapter 3: New guys
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The months passed, Balto and Boris grew closer to each other and Balto liked the life with the new ''parent''. Balto was now half a year old and he decided to go to Nome for the first time.

He went to Boris and asked him: 'Boris, may I go to the town, please?'

Boris was silent for a moment and then he said: 'Are you sure you want to go to the town?' 'Of course I do! Do you want to come with me?' Balto asked. 'I'd like to but I don't like towns.' Boris replied.

'Alright, I'm going by myself.' Balto said. Boris said: 'Just be careful out there!'

Balto smiled at that, left the boat and started running towards the town of Nome.

The town was the brand new environment for him, houses everywhere, people going with their own business, without noticing Balto, which might be relief to him because he looked like a wolf. He entered the alley where he saw some meat dropped near the box. 'Might as well eat.' Balto said to himself. He helped himself and felt satisfied. Then he continued through the alley.

Then he saw four pups, led by the black Alaskan malamute pup. One of the pups behind, the chow-chow pup noticed Balto first and said to black Alaskan malamute: 'Hey, Steele! I think there's somebody else in the alley!' Steele looked in front of him and noticed Balto himself.

Then he said to Balto: 'What're you doing here?!'. Balto looked at Steele and said: 'Going through the town, that's all.' Steele chuckled at that. 'What's so funny?' Balto asked,