Tales of the Narts: Ancient Myths and Legends of the Ossetians
512
Tales of the Narts: Ancient Myths and Legends of the Ossetians
512eBook
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Overview
The Nart sagas are to the Caucasus what Greek mythology is to Western civilization. Tales of the Narts presents a wide selection of fascinating tales preserved as a living tradition among the peoples of Ossetia in southern Russia, a region where ethnic identities have been maintained for thousands of years in the face of major cultural upheavals.
A mythical tribe of tall, nomad warriors, the Narts were courageous, bold, and good-hearted. But they were also capable of cruelty, envy, and forceful measures to settle disputes. In this wonderfully vivid and accessible compilation of stories, colorful and exciting heroes, heroines, villains, and monsters pursue their destinies though a series of peculiar exploits, often with the intervention of ancient gods.
The world of the Narts can be as familiar as it is alien, and the tales contain local themes as well as echoes of influence from diverse lands. The ancestors of the Ossetians once roamed freely from eastern Europe to western China, and their myths exhibit striking parallels with ancient Indian, Norse, and Greek myth. The Nart sagas may also have formed a crucial component of the Arthurian cycle.
Tales of the Narts further expands the canon of this precious body of lore and demonstrates the passion and values that shaped the lives of the ancient Ossetians.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781400881123 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Princeton University Press |
| Publication date: | 06/28/2016 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 512 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Tales of the Narts
Ancient Myths and Legends of the Ossetians
By John Colarusso, Tamirlan Salbiev, Walter May
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
Copyright © 2016 Princeton University PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4008-8112-3
CHAPTER 1
PART 1
WARKHAG AND HIS SONS
1 * THE BIRTH OF AKHSHAR AND AKHSHARTAG
Warkhag was in those days among the eldest of the Narts. To him were born two sons, twins. One came at the first cockcrow, the other before the morning star, Bonvarnon, had appeared in the sky, at the second cockcrow. The rays of the risen sun shown into the heart of Warkhag, and he felt how dear to him were these two newborn babes. So that the day of their birth should bring the newcomers happiness, Warkhag prepared a feast, consisting of game caught in the hunt, to regale his guests.
Warkhag invited the heavenly smith, Kurdalagon, and the ruler of the deep seas, Donbettir, and highly esteemed Narts, Bora and others, were called to that rich feast. Kurdalagon took a fancy to Warkhag's sons and named them so, the elder he called Akhshar, and the younger Akhshartag.
Why did he give them these names? Speaking of a brave man one says "Akhshar." The first brother was such a young fellow, and so received that name. But the second brother was even bolder, and so he was called "Akhshartag," which means "bravest."
To celebrate the naming of the newborns, Kurdalagon presented Warkhag with a magic flute, which he had forged himself from tempered steel at his heavenly forge. The Narts placed this wonderful flute on the festive table, and it began to play on its own accord, merrily and resoundingly,
Take a cup of mead!
Take a cup of mead!
Drink it down indeed!
To please God!
For seven days and seven nights Warkhag's guests feasted, and when the feast was over Kurdalagon leapt onto the crest of a fiery storm cloud, and like wide-winged Pakunza, flew off on it to the heavens. Donbettir changed into a pearly, fiery fish and disappeared into the sea depths. The Narts, as befits those who spend their life on campaign, went off on a dangerous expedition.
Akhshar and Akhshartag grew with each passing hour. In one day they grew two inches; in a night a whole hand's breadth! They were a mischievous pair. They made for themselves bows and arrows, and there was not a bird who could fly over their heads. They shot them down immediately, and they fell like stones to the earth. The whole world soon knew that the Nart Warkhag had two gallant grown-up twin sons, Akhshar and Akhshartag.
2 * AKHSHAR'S SWORD
Akhshar and Akhshartag soon grew up, and there came the day when they decided to go on a quest for a year. They made all their gear ready, and set off on the road. They came to a place where the road divided in three, and agreed thus, "We shall take one side-road each, and the middle road will be our place of meeting. Let us both put one of our own arrows we have beneath this stone by the wayside. Whoever returns, let him come to this stone and see whether his brother's arrow is still there."
Akhshar and Akhshartag then parted, traveling different roads. A year passed by, and Akhshartag returned to the agreed spot, lifted the stone and saw that Akhshar's arrow still lay there, covered with moss and mold. Akhshartag was at once disturbed. What had happened to his brother? He set out at once on the road that Akhshar had taken. He traveled a long time through forest and field, and over mountains, and toward evening he came to the Black Ravine. There he stayed for the night, and saw in his dream that his brother had been taken prisoner.
At once Akhshartag jumped up and went onward. Again he traveled all day, and toward evening he came to the White Ravine. He rested once more for the night in a forest grove, and had only just fallen asleep when he saw the same troubled dream as on the first night. Again he jumped up, and still full of alarm he went onward. From morning till evening he traveled, and now before him he saw the Red Ravine. But how could he not help feeling hungry after such long travels? He could not sleep, but went in search throughout a grove, hoping to find some wild game to shoot. Suddenly he saw a lake, and on the shore stood a tent. In the tent from time to time some strange incomprehensible light appeared, and then disappeared.
"That tent is put there for some purpose," he thought. "Maybe I can find here what has happened to my brother."
He stepped a little nearer to this tent and began to peer in through the flap. He saw that inside the tent an iron door had been set in the floor, which opened and closed by itself. Each time it opened a light also glowed from somewhere in the tent. Akhshartag was amazed. What kind of wonder was this? The next time the light shown, he loosed an arrow in its direction. Straightaway he then heard a piercing cry — such a shriek that the trees bent down, and the lake seethed up and hurled waves ashore, and the beasts sleeping for the night in the grove grew frightened, and began to run away, bumping into one another in their haste. A little time passed, and all grew still again. The lake gathered its waves together, the trees straightened up, and the beasts quietly returned to their rest.
It began to grow light. As soon as dawn broke, Akhshartag saw an old woman come out of the tent. She had one crooked eye quite sightless, and in the other sighted eye stuck the arrow he had shot. She was moaning and groaning. Akhshartag came nearer and saw that she carried his brother's scarf in her hand. He asked straightaway, "Who are you, old woman? How do you come to have my brother's scarf in your hand?"
"Ah, young man, I don't know who you are, but if you call yourself Akhshar's brother, then you are my brother as well. I am one of the Narts. When he set out for the underwater dwellers, the Bisenags, he left me his scarf and said sternly, 'Take care of it, my sister. If blood appears on it, that means that I am in difficulties, but if no blood appears, then you need not worry about me!' I have just seen blood on the scarf. That means that he is in great trouble, your brother Akhshar, and he has probably fallen into the hands of the Bisenags. Now I have been blinded, and I don't know what I can do."
"Is there no remedy that would give you back the sight of one eye at least?" asked Akhshartag.
"If someone gathered some drops of morning dew and mixed them with doe's milk, and sprinkled it on my wound, then I would see!"
Akhshartag ran off into the forest, caught a young deer and milked it, and mixed with it some fresh dew-drops. Then he gently removed the arrow from the woman's eye, and poured into the wound the prepared mixture. She at once began to see again, and was happy to make out Akhshartag.
"How do you think my brother fell prisoner to the Bisenags?" Akhshartag then asked her.
"I shall tell you all, from the beginning, as far as I know it. The Bisenags went out hunting, and suddenly the gates of the sky opened, and out fell a piece of heavenly ore, right on the head of the eldest Bisenag, and passed right through him. The Bisenags carried off that piece of heavenly ore with them, below the water. Akhshar heard about this, and thought that he would take this piece of ore from them. When he came they must have surrounded him, tied him up, and carried him off as a prisoner with them. Just today I was making plans about what to do, when because of your arrow I was unable to carry on."
"But to whom among the Narts do you belong, and why do you call yourself one of our women? To whom are you sister? Then afterward explain why when I looked at your tent at night there appeared and disappeared a strange light."
"I am Warkhag's sister, but I have lived here for a long time. My husband shared a table with the sun, and the sun presented him with a white stone. That stone I hung around my neck every night, and it lighted up my path. The light you saw was the light from it!"
"Where, then, has your husband gone?" inquired Akhshartag.
The old lady pointed to the iron door, lying in the ground, "That door leads to an underground cave, and at evening, on Saturdays, it opens. The Bisenags come to catch at least one person living on earth's surface. If they don't succeed, one of them dies. So it was that they once took my husband, but what happened to him I do not know, just as I do not really know what has happened to Akhshar."
Akhshartag and the old woman waited till Saturday evening came. When the door to the underworld opened, Akhshartag put his shoulder under it to prevent it from closing, then gave a great heave, and tore it out, together with its hinges, and flung it aside. After that he and the old lady went into the cavern and saw with horror that a man lay bound with arms and legs spread out, and from his beard and mustaches was woven a rope-like ladder that stretched up to the surface.
"There he is, my husband, the master of my head!" cried his wife.
Akhshartag drew his sword and cut the man's bonds, and then cut short his beard and whiskers. The man stood up and thanked Akhshartag. Then they went together into the cavern, and suddenly saw Akhshar, standing as though he had been crucified, with his back to the cavern wall, while the Bisenags were shooting arrows at him, and then began attacking him with their swords. Seeing this, Akhshartag fell on them in a fury, and began to hew them down, while Warkhag's sister and her husband chased those who fled, and killed them.
Thus Akhshartag freed his twin brother, Akhshar.
"You and your husband go along home together, and Akhshartag and I will come to you later!" said Akhshar.
The husband and wife went off together, while the brothers looked for the storeroom where the Bisenags kept the ore. They found this heavenly ore at last where the Bisenags had hidden it, and carried it off to the smith of the gods, Kurdalagon, and from it he made for Akhshar a two-edged sword. Such a sword it was that from a single blow any stone or any metal would fall apart, while the blade itself was never blunted.
When Akhshar and Akhshartag descended to earth again from Kurdalagon's forge, they found the Bisenag's chief, Karamag, waiting for them with more men. Akhshartag at once engaged them in a furious battle. But Karamag struck Akhshartag such a cunning blow that he fell senseless to the ground, and his sword dropped from his hand. Just then one of the servants of Donbettir appeared and whispered to Akhshar, "Smear your blade with this fish oil, and you will overcome your enemies!"
Akhshar at once smeared his sword with the fish oil, and then when Karamag raised his sword to strike him, Akhshar parried the blow, and Karamag's blade shattered into tiny fragments, like little tin tacks.
Akhshar went on to slay all his Bisenag opponents, to the last one. The Donbettir servant, who advised Akhshar how to avoid defeat, then carried Akhshartag off to the Milky Lake, and bathed him in its healing waters, where he immediately recovered consciousness.
The word about Akhshar's wonderful sword flew round among all the Narts. They all gathered to see, and stood in amazement before that wondrous weapon. Since that time, whenever difficulties faced the Narts Akhshar went into battle against their enemies in the vanguard with his wonder-working sword. For its invincible durability it received the name "Akhshargard," which means "Akhshar's sword."
After Akhshar's death, his eldest son inherited his sword. Since then it has been a Nart custom that the eldest son receives his father's sword, and the youngest son inherits his horse.
3 * THE APPLE OF THE NARTS
An apple tree grew in the Narts' orchard. Like heavenly azure its blossoms shone, but each day only one apple grew ripe on it. That was a golden apple, and it gleamed like fire. It had also life-giving powers, and cured people from all kinds of diseases, and healed all kinds of wounds. Only from death could it not save one. In the course of a day such an apple ripened, but during the night somebody always stole it. The Narts went on guard in turn, every night, but nobody ever saw anyone stealing the apple, though it continued to disappear each night.
It became Warkhag's turn to stand on guard in the orchard. He called his sons Akhshar and Akhshartag, and said to them, "Go, my sons, and protect the golden apple. All my hopes are set on you. If you do not preserve it, then you know what will happen. All three Nart tribes will gather here, a man from each of the three families. One of them will cut off your heads, the second will cut off your arms, and the third will stick on a stake the head of one of you and the arm of another and I shall remain alone in my old age with none to protect me nor feed me!"
"Have no fear, father, we shall guard the golden apple tree!" his sons replied.
"Get along then. I know that you are afraid of nothing. Only I myself am afraid that you should not guard the apple well," said their father.
The fence around the orchard was of reindeer antlers, and it was so high that not even a bird could fly over it. The brothers sat under the magic tree and had their supper, and the younger one, Akhshartag, said to the elder one, Akhshar, "We shall stand guard by turns. You lie down now, and sleep till midnight. From midnight it will be your turn to watch."
Akhshar agreed, lay down, and slept. He awoke at midnight and said to his brother, "May god forgive me, Akhshartag, but have I not overslept?!"
"No, it is not midnight yet, sleep on a little!" said Akhshartag.
Akhshar was glad to hear that and slept again. Then at about the hour when night begins to change to day, some kind of bird, it seemed, flew to the tree.
The apple was suddenly lit up, and Akhshartag saw a dove near the magic apple. She plucked the apple by its stem, and Akhshartag straightaway shot an arrow at her, so that half of her wing fell to the earth, and the dove, covered in blood, flew lower unevenly, and let the apple fall to the ground. Then Akhshartag woke up Akhshar.
"You see these drops of blood?" he said to his brother. "I shot a dove in our apple tree. She flew off, and see, here is half her wing! Very low, only just above the earth she flew, leaving a trail of blood. I must follow that track. I must catch her, or die in the attempt. There's nothing else left for me to do!"
Akhshartag carefully bound up his victim's half-wing in a silken handkerchief, and put it in the bosom of his coat, and when it grew quite light he said to Akhshar, "I am off to seek that wounded bird. What do you say to that?"
"I shall come with you, wherever you go!" replied Akhshar. So the brothers followed the bloody trail that led them to the seashore.
"It goes on into the water!" said Akhshar, and Akhshartag replied, "I shall go to the bottom of the sea. Wait for me here. If the waves throw up bloody foam on the shore, that means I am no longer in the Land of the Living, and you had better return home. If the waves throw up white foam, then wait for me here! Wait for just one year!"
"Very well," answered Akhshar, and remained on the shore.
Then Akhshartag pulled up the ends of his overcoat and stepped into the water, and down to the bottom he went ...
4 * THE BEAUTY ZERASHSHA
After a long descent through the dim waters Akhshartag found himself in the house of Donbettir.
The walls of the house were made of mother-of-pearl, the floor was of blue crystal, and the morning star shone through the ceiling.
Akhshartag stepped across the threshold, and there he saw seven brothers sitting, along with two sisters, one more beautiful than the other. Like gold glittered and gleamed the maiden's fair hair.
"Good day to you!" said Akhshartag, as he greeted them. "May happiness ever fill your home!"
"May you be blessed by a kindly fate!" one of the seven brothers and one of the pair of sisters replied. They rose and made a place for him to be seated. The three who were older than he sat on one side, the four who were younger on the other. They looked Akhshartag up and down, and said, "None like you has ever been in our home before, and never will be again. We should be joyful at your coming, and greet you with honor, but we cannot do so now since we are in mourning."
"God save you from all sorrow. What woe is troubling you?"
The eldest brother answered him so, "We have three sisters, and one of them has been going into the Narts' orchard, and it has ended badly for her. There each day a golden apple grows and ripens. At night our sister changed into a dove, and stole it away. More than once we told her that the Nart youths were bold, and no birds dare fly over their heads, so don't go after any more apples. But she did not listen to us. The Narts Akhshar and Akhshartag were guarding the apple tree last night, and wounded our sister fatally, may they cut each other down with their swords!"
They had only just pronounced this name when a groan was heard from the adjoining chamber.
"Who is that groaning?" inquired Akhshartag.
"It is our Zerashsha, of whom we have told you," they replied.
"Is there any remedy that will cure her?" asked Akhshartag.
"There is such a remedy!" answered one of the brothers. "If anyone can put back the missing half of her wing in its proper place she will be cured, and her life will be saved. If not, she will surely die!"
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Tales of the Narts by John Colarusso, Tamirlan Salbiev, Walter May. Copyright © 2016 Princeton University Press. Excerpted by permission of PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Preface ixJohn Colarusso, English-language Editor
Commentary xv
Tamirlan Salbiev, Ossetian-language Editor
A Short Biography of the Translator xix
Guide to the Names and Terms, translated from Skazanija iz Nartov xxi
Walter May
Introduction: The Ossetian Epic xxix
Vasily Ivanovich Abaev
Part 1 Warkhag and His Sons 1
1 The Birth of Akhshar and Akhshartag 3
2 Akhshar’s Sword 4
3 The Apple of the Narts 7
4 The Beauty Zerashsha 9
5 The Death of Akhshar and Akhshartag 11
6 The Birth of Urizhmag and Khamis 14
7 How Urizhmag and Khamis Found Their Grandfather, Warkhag 16
Part 2 Urizhmag and Shatana 19
8 The Birth of Shatana 21
9 How Shatana Became Urizhmag’s Wife 22
10 Urizhmag and Kharan-Khuag 25
11 Urizhmag and the One-Eyed Giant 27
12 How Urizhmag Parted from Shatana 33
13 The Nameless Son of Urizhmag 34
14 Shatana’s Son 46
15 Who Won the Black Vixen? 53
16 Urizhmag and Three Inquisitive Guests 61
17 How Black Beer Was Brewed 63
18 Urizhmag’s Last Campaign 64
Part 3 Shoshlan 71
19 How Shoshlan Was Born and How They Tempered Him 73
20 What Gifts the Heavenly Gods Bestowed upon Shoshlan 75
21 Shoshlan Seeks Someone Stronger than He 78
22 Shoshlan and the Goomag Man 82
23 Shoshlan in the Land of Goom 86
24 Shoshlan and Warkhag’s Unknown Son 92
25 Shoshlan and the Sons of Tar 97
26 How Shoshlan Wed Kosher 110
27 How Shoshlan Slew Telberd’s Three Sons 113
28 Shoshlan’s Campaign 116
29 Nart Shoshlan and the Giant, Bizhgwana 118
30 Why Shirdon Became Shoshlan’s Enemy 121
31 Little Arakhzau, Son of Bezenag 122
32 The Death of Arakhzau 134
33 How Shoshlan Wed Vedukha 140
34 How Shoshlan Saved Shatana from the Lake of Hell 148
35 Shoshlan and Totraz 151
36 Shoshlan in the Land of the Dead 160
37 The Death of Shoshlan 181
38 Aishana 192
39 Aishana and Shainag-Aldar 197
Part 4 Shirdon 201
40 The Birth and Marriage of Shirdon 203
41 A Nart Expedition 205
42 How the Twelve-Stringed Harp Appeared 215
43 Shirdon Again Deceives the Narts 219
44 How Shirdon Tricked the Giants 221
45 How Shirdon Held a Memorial Feast for His Ancestors 222
46 Why Shirdon Was Called a Liar 223
47 Your Cloth Is in Your Hands 225
48 Who Deceived Whom? 226
Part 5 Khamis and Batraz 229
49 Khamis and Batraz: Arkizh’s Tooth 231
50 How Khamis Was Wed 234
51 The Birth of Batraz 240
52 How Batraz Was Lured Out of the Sea 241
53 The Games of Young Batraz 243
54 Batraz, Son of Khamis, and Arakhzau, Son of Bezenag 247
55 Batraz and the Giant with the Mottled Beard 249
56 How Batraz Hardened Himself 251
57 How Batraz Saved Urizhmag 253
58 How Nart Batraz Found Burazag 257
59 Batraz and Tykhyfyrt Mukara 260
60 Batraz and the Arrogant Son of the Giant Afsharon 264
61 How the One-Eyed Giant Afsharon Took Revenge upon the Narts 268
62 How Batraz Saved the Eminent Narts 269
63 Nart Uraz and the Giant Akhshualy 271
64 Batraz and the Aldar 275
65 How Batraz Stormed the Khizh Fortress 276
66 Batraz and the Narts’ Bowl, Wasamonga 278
67 The Narts’ Round-Dance, the Shimd 279
68 How Batraz Beat the Spirit of Fertility 289
69 Who Is Best among the Narts 290
70 The Death of Khamis 297
71 How Batraz Avenged His Father’s Death 299
72 The Death of Batraz 307
Part 6 Asamazh 311
73 Asamazh and the Beauty Agunda 313
74 Nart Shidamon and the Giant Shkhuali 323
Part 7 Shauwai 329
75 The Birth of Shauwai 331
Part 8 Various Stories about the Narts 347
76 The Narts and Wadmer’s Bones 349
77 Nart Shibals, the Son of Warkhtanag 352
78 Washtirji and Nart Marguz the Noseless 356
79 Nart Zili and His Sons 365
80 Alimbeg’s Daughter and the Alita Family 373
81 The Beauty Wazaftau, Daughter of Adakizh 380
82 The Nart Named Solitary 386
83 Nart Zhivag, the Lazy Lout, and Agunda, Daughter of Burafarnig Borata 392
84 The Elder and the Younger Share 398
85 Nart Bzhar and His Son 403
86 How Nart Eltagan Was Wed 410
87 The Narts and the Black-Headed Giants 413
88 The Sword in the Lake 418
89 The Downfall of the Narts 421
Epitaph 425
Appendix of Names 427
Bibliography 437
What People are Saying About This
"Tales of the Narts is a valuable addition to hero-literature and folklore. Passages read like Breughel in oral form, with fantasies and moral lessons combined—even with humor. These are simply great, entertaining, multitextured stories, and exotic without being too obscure or arcane. Colarusso is an indisputably major voice in this field."—Dean A. Miller, University of Rochester"Tales of the Narts is a remarkable book and a major contribution. It will be of value to readers in mythology, legends, and folklore, but will also be welcomed by nonspecialists who enjoy reading exciting myths and legends about gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines. We simply have not had such a large collection of Ossetian literature in English in one volume before. As the most important figure in the field and North America's greatest authority on Caucasian languages, Colarusso brings invaluable linguistic expertise."—Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania