Nart Sagas

Ancient Myths and Legends of the Circassians and Abkhazians

John Colarusso, John Colarusso

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781400880737
• Topic: Littérature
• Subtopic: Collections littéraires européennes

The sagas of the ancient Narts are to the Caucasus what Greek mythology is to Western civilization. This book presents, for the first time in the West, a wide selection of these fascinating myths preserved among four related peoples whose ancient cultures today survive by a thread. In ninety-two straightforward tales populated by extraordinary characters and exploits, by giants who humble haughty Narts, by horses and sorceresses, Nart Sagas from the Caucasus brings these cultures to life in a powerful epos.
In these colorful tales, women, not least the beautiful temptress Satanaya, the mother of all Narts, are not only fertility figures but also pillars of authority and wisdom. In one variation on a recurring theme, a shepherd, overcome with passion on observing Satanaya bathing alone, shoots a "bolt of lust" that strikes a rock--a rock that gives birth to the Achilles-like Sawseruquo, or Sosruquo. With steely skin but tender knees, Sawseruquo is a man the Narts come to love and hate.
Despite a tragic history, the Circassians, Abazas, Abkhaz, and Ubykhs have retained the Nart sagas as a living tradition. The memory of their elaborate warrior culture, so richly expressed by these tales, helped them resist Tsarist imperialism in the nineteenth century, Stalinist suppression in the twentieth, and has bolstered their ongoing cultural journey into the post-Soviet future.
Because these peoples were at the crossroads of Eurasia for millennia, their myths exhibit striking parallels with the lore of ancient India, classical Greece, and pagan Scandinavia. The Nart sagas may also have formed a crucial component of the Arthurian cycle. Notes after each tale reveal these parallels; an appendix offers extensive linguistic commentary. With this book, no longer will the analysis of ancient Eurasian myth be possible without a close look at the Nart sagas. And no longer will the lover of myth be satisfied without the pleasure of having read them.
Excerpts from the Nart sagas
"The Narts were a tribe of heroes. They were huge, tall people, and their horses were also exuberant Alyps or Durduls. They were wealthy, and they also had a state. That is how the Narts lived their lives...."
"The Narts were courageous, energetic, bold, and good-hearted. Thus they lived until God sent down a small swallow...."
"The Narts were very cruel to one another. They were envious of one another. They disputed among themselves over who was the most courageous. But most of all they hated Sosruquo.... A rock gave birth to him. He is the son of a rock, illegally born a mere shepherd's son...."In a new introduction, folklorist Adrienne Mayor reflects on these tales both in terms of the fascinating warrior culture they depict and the influence they had on Greco-Roman mythology.

SELECTION OF THE CIRCASSIAN NART CORPUS

Translated and Edited by

John Colarusso

with the Assistance of

Rashid T’haghapsaw

Majdalin (Habjawqua) Hilmi

Kadir Natkhwa

and others

SAGA 1 l If Our Lives Be Short, Let Our Fame Be Great

The Narts were courageous, energetic, bold, and good-hearted. Thus they lived until God sent down a small swallow.

“Do you want to be few and live a short life but have great fame and have your courage be an example for others forevermore?” asked the swallow. “Or perhaps you would prefer that there will be many of you, that your numbers will be great, that you will have whatever you wish to eat and drink, and that you will all live long lives but without ever knowing battle or glory?”

Then without calling a council, but with a reply as quick as thought itself, the Narts said, “We do not want to be like cattle. We do not want to reproduce in great numbers. We want to live with human dignity.

If our lives are to be short,

Then let our fame be great!

Let us not depart from truth!

Let fairness be our path!

Let us not know grief!

Let us live in freedom!”

In this way they chose to be small in numbers but to perform deeds of courage and boldness. This was the answer they gave to that small swallow to take back to God. And so their fame has remained undying among people. The Natuquaja¹ are their descendants.

From GENEG, 362, recorded in Syria in Abadzakh West Circassian.

l The heroic spirit articulated here is reminiscent of the Ancient Greek concept of kleos aphthiton ‘imperishable glory’ [KT]. This is the first of numerous parallels between the Nart tradition and the lore and civilization of Ancient Greece. Many of these parallels may have arisen during the long period of Greek colonization of the Black Sea coast (see Ascherson 1995, 49–88).

¹ I do not recognize the Natuquaja, the tribe referred to, as one of the historical Circassian tribes. The name seems to be a Shapsegh-derived form [nɑ(r)tʿəq°ág^ye] ← /nahrtʿ-ə-q°a-a-g^ya/, with the sense of ‘Nart-inal-son-conn.vowel-instr’ (as a derivational suffix), literally, “the sons of the Narts.” In a note Hadaghatl’a claims that this was one of the ancient Circassian tribes that lived along the Black Sea coast and that one village in this region is descended from them.

I have adopted a deep phonological representation of Circassian vowels (Kuipers 1960), whereby the neutral vowel is /ə/([ə]), the mid, central, or front vowel is /a/ ([ε], [æ], [a]), and the open back vowel, which also fills syllable codas, ([ɑ·]), is either /aa/ if it reduces when unstressed—because it arises from two /a/s—or /ah/ if it persists regardless of stress—because it seems to be patterned after the plural allomorph /-ah-/ in prefixes (/-ha-/in suffixes). Once the equivalence of persistent [ɑ] with /ah/ has been made, I have assumed that the speaker extends this equivalence to those persistent [ɑ]s found also in loanwords. A more conventional analysis of /I, e, a/ would be closer to the Cyrillic orthography but would ignore a host of phonological patterns that link [e] as well as /ʔ/ with reducible [a]. For more on Circassian phonology and vowels, see the introductory remarks in Appendix A.

SAGA 2 l The Tale of How Warzameg and Yimis Came to Be

It is told that the Narts had a golden tree. This was no ordinary tree, not least because it was golden. If an apple were to sprout from it in the morning, then by the evening of the same day it would have fully ripened. This same apple held within it an amazing magical power. One side of the fruit was red, and the other was white. It was said of it:

If a barren woman tastes of the white side,

Then to her will be born a daughter

With hair silken white.

If a barren woman tastes of the red side,

Then to her will be born a Nart son,

A great son, a white son,

With hair silken white.

But it came to pass that the Narts could no longer enjoy the wonders of this marvelous apple. Each time an apple would sprout forth, it would be secretly stolen in the dark of night. For a long time no one could discover this thief.

“Now, alas! What are we to do?” said the Narts as they sat together at their council. Some of the wisest among them said, “A guard must be set!” And so a guard was posted by the tree. But, alas, this effort was to no avail, for during the night the apple once again disappeared.

“We must enclose the tree within a high fence made of thorns!” others then said, and a fence of sharp thorns was built around the tree. But, alas, this too was to no avail. Once more the apple disappeared during the following night.

“Now, surely we must surround the tree with a whole band of mounted warriors!” some said, and so a mighty band of armed horsemen was set around the tree. But, alas, this too was in vain. No one was able to catch a single glimpse of the thief, not even of his feet or his footprints. And in this way the theft of the apples continued for a long time.

There was one Nart, Tatemquo,¹ who had two sons. The elder was called Pija,² the younger Pizighash.³ These two brothers were famous throughout the land of the Narts and beyond for their skills in battle. Their arrows never went astray; their swords never failed to slash. They came to sit guard through the night beneath the golden tree of the Narts. While they were thus sitting, the elder brother, perhaps being more tired than the younger, fell asleep. Pizighash, the younger brother, remained sitting, however, with his bow and arrows at the ready. Suddenly three doves flew up to the golden tree of the Narts and alighted on it.

“Ah, now! What should I do?” he asked himself, but he did not waste much time in thought. Quickly he took aim and shot at one of the doves and wounded it. Despite this, the three doves rose up and flew back from whence they had come, taking with them the golden apple.

Pizighash took out his white handkerchief and blotted some of the blood that the wounded dove had spilled, then he called to his brother and woke him up. He told him all that had happened, and together they set off. They followed the trail of blood left by the wounded bird until they came to the shore of the Sea of Azov.⁴ There the trail disappeared.

“Now,” said Pizighash, “you and I sprang from the same mother and father. So if we turn back without discovering who these thieves are, then not only will we surely be disgraced, but so will our mother and father. These three doves who returned to this sea, I shall go after them. Stay here on the shore. Wait one year for me, and if I have not returned by that time, you must assume that I am dead.”

“So be it,” said his elder brother. “Seek them upon the waves! Seek them in the depths! May your quest be blessed!”

Nart Pizighash struck the sea with his sword. The waters parted and he descended straightaway to the seafloor.⁵ Once in the dark depths, he set off and traveled far until he came upon a mist-filled ravine. There, nestled deep within it, was a beautiful white house. He entered, and as he did so there appeared seven brothers, all of the exact same size and appearance, who followed behind him.

“Welcome!” they said. They bowed before him and showed him great respect. They stood ready to serve his every need. Two young women then entered, one carrying an ewer, the other a snow-white towel. They let him wash himself and then they retired. In a few moments they returned, bearing a small three-legged serving table laden with food. First Pizighash saw only the sumptuous array of food on the table, but then he discovered the apple that sprouts from the golden tree of the Narts lying among the delicacies.

“Aha! What is unfolding is a marvel,” said the Nart youth as he sat there. “As things have happened, I have chanced upon the exact spot where my quest lies!”

They fed him and gave him drink. These men sat together as one and they stood together as one. All that they did they did as one. Finally they said to him, “We are the children of the goddess of water. In all we are seven brothers and three sisters. If you will speak honestly, then why should we keep secrets? Those you see before you are our two sisters. The third is unable to wait upon you.”

“What is amiss with her? Is there any way at all that I can be of help?” asked Pizighash.

“We shall speak to you of what has befallen her,” said the sons of the Lady of Flowing Waters,⁶ “if it does not seem importunate.”

“Speak,” replied their guest.

“The three sisters used to put on the skins of doves and in this guise would fly to Nartia, land of the Narts, in search of husbands. They would bring back the apple, which sprouts in one day on the golden tree of the Narts. Until now no one has ever followed ...