Foreword
Many peoples of the Caucasus - Ossetians, Adygs (Kabardians, Circassians, Adyghes, etc.), Abkhazians, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Karachais - are descended from the mythical people of the Narts heroes. Accordingly, various versions of legends about ancient sledges have survived to this day, both in the form of prose legends and in the form of poetic texts. Scientists unanimously admit that the Ossetians have preserved the most complete legends about the Narts. And the very term "nart" in their opinion came to other peoples of the Caucasus in the Ossetian design.
According to researchers, the Ossetian complex of legends about the Narts began to form around the 7-6th centuries. BC. Naturally, the process of transformation of these legends lasted for many centuries, including the Christian era. In addition, in the Nart epic, you can find ancient plots and plots characteristic of many other peoples of the Middle East and Europe. In general terms, scientists believe that "the core of the Nart epic was the ancient Alanic cycle, which dates back to the Scythian era in some elements and was continuously enriched through contacts with other peoples, including the backgammon of the Caucasus." However, questions of the genesis of the Nart epic are not the subject of this essay.
Any ancient epic is considered by science as a mythologized people's perception of their history up to the birth of this people and the origin of the world. But no matter what mythologization and cultural transformation the epic undergoes, it still continues to be a historical source, and not a fairy tale, a product of folk fantasy. The main question is how many (or not enough) historical "seeds" can be distinguished in this particular epic by separating them from the "chaff". In this essay I am trying to find such "grains" in the Nart epic, but not related to the official history of the Alans, Ossetians, but to the problems of alternative history.
Due to lack of time, I did not begin to analyze the entire complex of legends about the sledges preserved by different peoples of the Caucasus. Anyone who is interested in this topic can continue a more complete research himself. I just dwelt on two topics that are very popular on the LAI forum. For work, I used the most complete set of legends about the Narts, namely the Ossetian epic. It is presented in the edition “The Legend of the Narts. Ossetian epos”, M.,“Soviet Russia”, 1978. Translated by Y. Lebedinsky (electronic version can be found here). When citing the text, the name of the particular legend used in the specified edition is given in brackets.
Celestials and "technology of the gods"
Promotional video:
It is difficult to judge unambiguously about the complex of religious beliefs of the ancient Narts, precisely because of its composite nature. In the totemic plane, the Narts were descended from the wolf, in the cosmic plane they considered themselves the sons of the Sun. In the historical (mythological) aspect, among the progenitors of the Narts were the underwater people Donbettyrs (about them below). Christian saints are also present in the pantheon of the Narts: Elia (St. Ilya), Uastyrdzhy (St. George), Yonon (St. John). Moreover, these celestials appear already in the earliest legends, the plots of which relate to the pre-Christian era. Those. these are traces of a clear transformation of such legends in later Christian times.
In various legends one can find the hero's appeal to God or to the God of the gods. There are also some options for such treatment:
“The exiled, before starting to eat, said according to custom:“God lives”(“The exiled and the gum man”).
But it was not this question that interested me in the first place. In addition to the nameless god in the Nart epic, there are celestials - "daujyta", who are the same constant heroes of legends, like the sledges. Their pantheon includes: Safa, the patron saint of the hearth (it can be assumed that this is an analogue of the Slavic Clan, since he is clearly the eldest among the celestials), the lord of thunder Huatsilla, the one-eyed Afsati, the lord of noble beasts, Falvar, the lord of domestic animals, the heavenly smith Kurdalagon, the lord winds Galagon, lord of Donbettyr waters. The celestials also include analogues of Christian saints. As in ancient mythology, these celestials are the same as people. But their relationship with the Narts is much simpler, often even familiar.
“A son was born to the Nart Uryzmag, and with a thunderclap this message reached the heavenly Safa.
- Whoever makes a feast in honor of a newborn, he can take him up! And immediately Safa brought a white ox on a silk cord to the village of sledges. He approached the house of Uryzmag and shouted:
- I wish the newborn a long time! The right to raise him belongs to me!
And he immediately killed the ox and made a feast for the sledges. The boy was named Aisana. After the feast, Safa took him to his heavenly dwelling. Aisana began to grow up. Safa's friends came to admire him. Together came Uastyrdzhi and Afsati, together - Tutyr and Uatsilla. Nogbon came with Elia. A boy ran out to meet them and, according to seniority, helped the guests to get off their horses.
"And Uryzmag said:" … May my friend Safa, who raised such a brave young man for the sledges, live long in the world! " ("Aisana")
“Together with the celestials Nikkola and Uastyrdzhi, Afsati visited the Nart Atsa more than once, and then the Nart Atsa and the heavenly inhabitant Afsati swore in eternal friendship. Afsati offered many gifts to his friend. Atza refused everything, and only accepted the golden eternal pipe from his friend. Now this pipe was in the hands of Atsamaz. " ("Atsamaz and the beauty of Agunda")
And similar formulations are found in the Nart epic more than once. Moreover, in a couple of legends there is a specific time indicator, which is used to emphasize the antiquity of the era:
"In those ancient times, when the sleds were in full glory, when the sea was up to their ankles and the road to heaven was wide open for them, a sled named Dzyly lived in high esteem." ("Nart Dzily and his son")
At that time, the sleds with the inhabitants of heaven ate and drank at the same table. She called Shatan to her house of Kurdalagon, he quickly appeared at her call. ("How was Soslan born and how he was tempered")
By the way, the heavenly smith Kurdalagon of all the celestials is the most sociable. Moreover, he constantly helps the sleds using his blacksmithing skills. Most often, this help is expressed in the creation of various magical artifacts: a wonderful pipe forged from heavenly steel fatyg (the pipe plays itself), bells and bells ringing for different voices, weapons with magical properties - a sword, arrows, etc. All these artifacts are handed over to eminent sleds, heroes and are passed, as a rule, by inheritance.
The very pinnacle of Kurdalagon's blacksmithing skill was the operation to “harden” Soslan, ie. the transformation of the surface of his body into a steel shell (“How Soslan Tempered Himself”). As a result, Soslan becomes the most powerful of all the Narts. He, at the first call, comes to the aid of his relatives, he is indestructible in battles. And here one technical feature should be noted. During the battle, the steel carapace of Batradz becomes so hot that he is forced to jump into the sea or another body of water to cool the body and only after that continues the fight. This weakness ultimately played the role of "Achilles' heel" in the death of Batradz. The consequence of such an operation was that Batradz after that, probably, could not remain on the ground. Although in the epic the reason for this is not specifically indicated:
"Batradz matured, and he became such a valiant husband that he stayed in heaven and for many years did not appear in the Nart village." ("Batradz and Tkhifirt Mukara")
By the way, in the legend “How Batradz tempered himself” the nart behaves in a familiar way towards the heavenly blacksmith Kurdalagon. He easily appears in his heavenly forge and demands to temper his body. And after the "operation" instead of gratitude, he shows rudeness:
“And Batradz went up to Kurdalagon and said to him: - If you haven't tempered me properly, woe to your hearth! I'll rip your head off your shoulders! - And then Batradz put his foot on the anvil of Kurdalagon and hit it with a hammer: by the steel ringing, Batradz learned that he was well tempered …"
Perhaps this nature of the relationship between the Narts and some celestials is nothing more than a reflection of the national character traits of the Caucasian peoples and should not be paid special attention to. Nevertheless, sometimes the most interesting details can be discerned behind the fabric of fairy-tale episodes. So in one of the legends, the way that Kurdalagon traveled between his heavenly abode and the earth is mentioned:
“For seven days and seven nights, the guests of Ouarhag feasted, and when the feast was over, Kurdalagon jumped on the crest of a fiery storm and, like a winged Pakundza, rushed into heaven. ("Birth of Akhsar and Akhsartag")
True, a familiar description of the "chariot of the gods", which can be found in other peoples of the world. However, this is not the most interesting description of a flying vehicle in the Nart epic. There is also more detail in the legend "How Soslan married Koser". There are several very curious and precisely technical points, so I am giving here a fairly extensive selection from the text of this legend.
“The beautiful Koser entered her flying tower. She rose on a tower into the sky. Then the sleds gathered to look at this miracle, and she said this word to them:
And the beautiful Koser lowered her tower to the ground, to the people.
“The one whose arrows are, let him come here,” said Coser. - He will be my betrothed.
Soslan was delighted, tore open the doors of the tower and entered it.
- Wait, madman, wait! Shouted Koser. - You will not be able to control my tower!
But Soslan did not listen to her. Koser got angry. She sent her tower up, and she jumped out of it to the ground. Soslan did not notice that Koser jumped out of the tower, he ran around the entire tower and did not find it anywhere.
“That means that this insidious one has deceived,” Soslan thought in anger. And the tower still flies upward and carries Soslan away. The tower flew to the sky and stopped. What is Soslan to do here? He got angry and jumped from the top of the tower to the ground. He flew down like a stone - the closer to the ground, the faster. He reached the ground and, with all the strength of his flight, quickly pierced it through."
“And Koser, while Soslan was in the underworld, was on earth. A rumor reached her that Soslan had returned, and she thought: "Who knows him, maybe he was offended by me?" She ordered her tower to go down, went into it - and again the tower hung between earth and sky.
“And in the same place, above, between the earth and the sky, the sled Soslan and the beautiful Koser reconciled. And then they told the tower to turn and brought it down to the ground.
How long they lived among the sledges, no one knows, but the beautiful Koser was used to living alone in her flying tower between heaven and earth and could not get along with the sleds. … So Soslan and the beautiful Koser parted. The beautiful Koser sat down in her tower and ascended into the bosom of heaven, while Soslan remained to live with the sledges."
Agree, there are too many technical details for a folk tale, up to and including acquaintance with the law of acceleration of free fall.
And I would like to dwell on one more fundamental theme reflected in the Nart epic, namely, the origin of the manufacturing economy and metallurgy. This plot, albeit in a strongly mythologized form, is described in the legend "What the inhabitants of heaven gave Soslan." Soslan was a pupil of Safa. Safa summoned the celestials to the feast, and Soslan was present and served them. And the inhabitants of heaven, of their own free will, decided to present the young sled. And this is what he received as gifts: from Uastirdzhi, the farinka sword made by Kurdalagon, livestock from the heavenly patron of cattle Falvar, grain from the lord of thunder Huatsilla, plow from Kurdalagon, the autumn wind from the lord of the winds Galagon (i.e. grain processing technique) and a water mill from the lord of the waters of Donbettyr. Those. a fairly complete set of agricultural technologies and livestock raising. And in yet another legend ("Nart Dzily and his son"), in an even more allegorical fairy-tale form, the plot develops that the Narts receive grain and cattle from the inhabitants of heaven.
There is another very interesting moment in the Nart epic that I would like to mention. We are talking about the underwater inhabitants of Donbettyrs, whose ruler Donbettyr himself belongs to the celestials. The plot, rich in information, is given in the legend "Sword of Akhsar":
“Bycenags (underwater inhabitants) were hunting, and then suddenly a gate opened in the sky, and a piece of heavenly ore fell from there right on the head of the eldest of the bysenagi and pierced it through. Byzenags carried this piece of heavenly ore to their own water. Akhsar found out about this and decided to take this fragment from them."
“… The brothers Akhsar and Akhsartag found the pantry where the bystanders kept their ore. They found a piece of heavenly ore, hidden by a priest, and took it to the heavenly smith Kurdalagon. From this fragment, Akhsar made himself a double-edged sword - such that any stone, any metal would disintegrate in half from his blow, and the sword itself would not be blunt.
After that, Akhsar exterminated the bystanders. And one of the donbettyrs helped him with advice. So in the epic, the underwater inhabitants of the bysenagi (their nature is not clear from the legend) and the underwater people of the donbettyry are clearly distinguished. Moreover, in the next two legends, "The Apple of the Narts" and "The Beauty of Dzerassa", it is described as Ahsar's twin brother Akhsartag, who fell into the underwater world. He sank to the bottom of the sea and found himself in the underground dwelling of the Donbettyrs. "The walls of the house are of mother-of-pearl, the floors are of blue crystal, and the morning star is shining from the ceiling." ("Beauty Dzerassa"). A very specific description of a room with an artificial wall covering and a transparent (crystal) floor and a source of artificial lighting. Here, in an underwater dwelling, Akhsartag marries the daughter of the ruler of Donbettyr, the beautiful Dzerasse.
Subsequently, Dzerassa magically (after death and as a result of the Immaculate Conception !!!) gives birth to Shatana. The image of Shatana is the most striking female image in the Nart epic. She is also the wisest of women, to whom all the sledges turn for advice and help. She is the owner of the strongest magical abilities and the owner of magical artifacts. Shatana is Soslan's mother. A similar description of the dwelling of the Donbettyrs is found in another legend, where Uryzmag (son of Ashartag) descends into an underwater dwelling located inside a rock on a small island in the sea. “Uryzmag sat down, looked around and saw that the floor under his feet was made of blue glass, the walls were lined with mother-of-pearl and the morning star was burning in the ceiling”. ("The Nameless Son of Uruzmag")
So in the world of the Narts, in addition to them and other peoples, there is another human race, many times superior to the same Narts in the level of technical development. This race "daujyta" has its settlements both in the air and in the underwater space. "Daujyts" favor the sleds, ensure their cultural and economic development, constantly patronize, supply certain technical products (as a rule, very powerful ones), occasionally take boys for education and in some cases even marry sleds. The owner of the flying tower, the beautiful Koser, who was Soslan's wife for a short time, probably also belonged to this race. Although the epic does not say this directly, it is indicated that "the beautiful Koser was used to living alone in her flying tower between heaven and earth and could not get along with the sledges." By the way, the researchers notedthat the Narts never came into confrontation with the daujit. Conflicts occurred only with Christianized celestials: Eliya, Uastyrdzhy, Oinon. And the reason for the death of the Narts was the fact that they decided to measure their strength with God (but not "daujyta", remember that Batradz even threatened the heavenly blacksmith Kurdalagon).
Here we have already mentioned various artifacts made by the inhabitants of heaven and received at the disposal of the Narts. Quite a lot of such examples of "technologies of the gods" are mentioned in the epic. For example, Shatana owned a magic mirror capable of transmitting information not only about events taking place many kilometers away, but also about events of the recent past. There are references to combat artifacts in the epic, which were of an automated (cybernetic?) Nature. For example, the invulnerable helmet of Bidasa, who himself put on the warrior's head before battle. Or the impenetrable shell of Tserek, which belonged to the mythical hero Tserek. He also dressed himself on the body in case of a combat alert. Although there is no mention of Cerek himself in the "Legends of the Narts".
There are descriptions of other magical items: “There is a magical skin here in the Kanzargas cave. All the riches of the world can be placed on it. He has a magic rope - whatever you wrap it around, everything loses its weight and becomes as light as a moth. Kandzargas also has two spring wings. Whatever you put on them, they will carry everything through the mountains and forests to wherever you want”(“Simd Narts”).
Several legends mention that the ancestors of the Narts spoke the Khatiag language. Almost everyone forgot him. But Shatana still has an iron treasure chest with an ancestor. You can open it only by contacting it in the Khatiag language. This was easily done by Batradz (and he grew up and was brought up at the bottom of the sea at the Donbettyrs). The seven-headed winged giant Kandzargas had the same chest. Batradz opened it in the same way ("Simd Narts"). Of course, all this can be attributed to the rich folk fantasy. But, as they say, "the tale is a lie …".
Sledges and giants
One of the most widespread subjects of the Ossetian epic is the struggle of the Nart heroes with the giants, in which the Narts, of course, emerge victorious. As already mentioned, the Nart epic is a multi-layered work. It has been repeatedly reworked and adapted throughout the entire period of its existence. Therefore, the images of giants in the epic are not very specific. I tried to carry out the simplest classification of the characters of the giants based on the materials of The Legend of the Narts.
The common name for giants in the Nart epic is "waigi". But this word denoted various human beings of enormous growth. At a first approximation, three types of giants - waig can be distinguished:
- fantastic giants, - mythical giants, - historical giants (tribes and separate clans and families).
I deliberately used two synonyms (giants and giants) to separate, primarily on the basis of chronological grounds. Those. by giants I mean older and larger creatures. I emphasize once again: the division is very conditional and does not pretend to be any methodological basis.
The first type of characters - fantastic giants, the smallest, they are present in only a couple of legends. I called them fantastic because they are depicted in the epic as multi-headed creatures. So in the legend "Simd Narts" it is mentioned: "Many years ago the seven-headed winged waig Kandzargas took one of your ancestors by the name of Uon for the distant mountains and made him his shepherd." In the legend "The share of the elder and the share of the younger" 9 and 12-headed waig are mentioned. But they are rather allegorical representations of obstacles. Those. the hero must defeat these monsters (overcome obstacles) guarding the bridge or ravine in order to reach his goal. It can be assumed that this type of waig is a strongly mythologized memory of very ancient times, when people of enormous stature lived on earth. And the development of this plot can be found in legends where the second type of waig is found.
These are mythical giants and they are represented in the epic in more numerous images. In the legend "Soslan is looking for someone who is stronger than him" the hero meets a family of giants, cannibals. “Soslan walked along the river bank and came to some house. I crossed the threshold of Soslan and saw: a woman was sitting by the hearth, and she was so big that a swallow made a nest between her teeth. It also mentions the waig-plowman, one-eyed and one-armed, who saves Soslan by hiding it in his mouth. Naturally, this is a very exaggerated image of the waig. However, it differs from the fantastic giants in that these mythical giants are shown as leading the same lifestyle as ordinary people. Sometimes even these giants are tied to a specific area: “Soslan went down the bloody trail down into the gorge, and he saw - a dead deer was lying at the bottom of the gorge, and a man was standing next to him. And this man is no less tall than a tower. " And he was from the country of Gum ("The exiled and the Gum man"). It is hardly possible to localize the geographical position of the land of Gum today, but for the ancient storytellers it probably had a definite place in the world they knew. The name of the area is also found in the legend “Soslan and the sons of Tara”. Soslan again meets huge giants who live in the Balga country on the seashore and rich in steppe pastures. “But then a cloud approached him, and he saw that it was not a cloud, but a rider galloping towards him. The horse under the rider is as tall as a mountain, and the rider himself on horseback is like a haystack on a mountain. From the breath of the rider and the horse, his fog rises over the steppe. His saber leaves a deep furrow in the ground. And it is not crows above the cloud, but clods of earth and pieces of turf that fly over the rider's head from under the hooves of his horse. “So this is what Mukara is,son of Tara! - thought Soslan. " Mukara in the epic is also called the term "waig".
The comparative growth of the mythical waig is also shown in the legend "Nart Soslan and waig Byzguana": "Waig Byzguana jumped out of his bed, jumped out into the yard and saw Soslan. And Soslan is ankle-deep.” Of course, such information should not be taken as seriously describing the growth of ancient giants. But in my opinion, this is a recollection of those ancient times, reflected in the people's memory, when giants existed on earth, whose height was incomparably greater (not 2.5 - 3 meters) than that of ordinary people.
And in support of this assumption, I will cite a fairly extensive passage from one curious legend "The Narts and the Bones of Wadmer." It says that twelve eminent sledges went hunting. On some plain, they spent the night in a cave. In the morning it turned out to be a skull. Bones are scattered all around. “There are huge human, horse, dog, and wild boars here …”. “Soslan jumped off his horse, chose human bones, then collected horse bones and also put them separately, picked up both dog bones and boar bones. He made the skeleton of a giant out of human bones and said:
- And now I will ask God to appear before us this wonderful creature as it was in its time!
“And he began to ask: - O God of gods! Revive this man, only so that he does not have legs below the knees and that his eyes do not see anything. Immediately after these words, the skull hesitated, then they grew, all the other bones were attached to it, they were covered with meat and skin, and the person came to life. Only he did not have legs below the knees - therefore he could not walk, and there were no eyes - and therefore he could not see anything. The giant stirred, sat down, stretched. The sledges began to communicate with the giant. Here is an excerpt from this dialogue:
“- What a pitiful fate you have if you live on such useless food! Soon, apparently, your doom will come. Do you have fire?
- Yes, - answered Soslan and asked: - And what did you feed yourself with?
“We lived on hunting and the sap of the earth,” the giant replied.
- And how did you get the juice of the earth?
The giant rolled up his sleeve to the shoulder and thrust his hand into the ground. He scooped up a handful of earth and said to Soslan:
- Put your palm up.
- Soslan put his palm down, the giant squeezed the earth in his fist, and the fat juice of the earth dripped into Soslan's palms and immediately filled them. Soslan licked what filled his palms - and the juice of the earth, like fatty meat, immediately hit his heart. And Soslan was so full at once that it seemed to him that he had overeat.
“Now you won't feel like eating for a week,” said the giant.
- You will only drink from time to time. Soslan asked the giant:
- And you are from what human race?
"I am of the Wadmer," the giant replied.
“Then the sledges prayed again. - Oh, God of the gods! Turn him back into what he was. "And then the Wadmer disappeared, only his skull the size of a large cave remained in the middle of the plain."
From this legend it is clear that for the ancient giants of enormous growth there was even a separate name, different from the term "waig". Perhaps the ancient inhabitants of the Caucasus found human skulls in the ground, many times larger than their own. And this was the reason for the formation of such myths.
And ending the passage about mythological giants, it should be mentioned that the Nart epic contains a well-known story about the Cyclops. In the legend "Uryzmag and the curve waig", a story is told that is completely analogous to the story of Odysseus and the Cyclops Polyphemus. However, this is not surprising, since we are well aware of the existence of close cultural and economic ties between the Caucasus and the ancient world.
And finally, the third type of waig, which I have called the historical giants. The reason for this was the assumption that, judging by the information given in the Nart epic, these waigi lived next to people already in historical, and not in time immemorial. The stories about them are the most numerous in the "Legends of the Narts". In order not to bother the reader with numerous quotations, I will give only a number of conclusions that can be reached when getting acquainted with this source.
First, it can be assumed that the growth of these waigs was not as huge as that of the mythical giants. Most likely, on average, it reached 3 meters. There are no direct indications of this in the epic. But according to indirect data (for example, the fact that the sleds were sitting with the waig at the same table, etc.), this assumption seems to me quite likely. The bulk of the Waig lived quite far from the lands of the Narts. It is mentioned several times that the sledges, going on a hike to the Waig, spent days or even weeks on the way. One legend "Nart Uradz and waig Akhsualy" says that waig Akhsualy kidnapped the beautiful woman and took her to the country of Sekha (Sekh steppes), where his castle was. There he imprisoned her in a high tower. The waig himself lived by hunting. Another legend, "Nart Sidamon", mentions waig Shualy, who killed the nart Bceg on the Uarpp mountain. The Narts went on a campaign to take revenge. Waig lived very far away, only on the eighth day the sledges reached the Kirmyz steppes, where waig and Bcega fought. The skhuals had their own herds, but they spent their time hunting. He was not afraid of ordinary death. This factor is characteristic of many strong waigas and is mentioned in other legends. Shuala had a wife and a heroic horse.
The legend "Narts and Black-Headed Waigi" speaks of a whole tribe of giants: “The Black-Headed Waigi were powerful rapists. This ruthless and healthy tribe defeated all the people who lived in their neighborhood. Only the sledges remained undefeated - a daring people. " When the older sleds were not in the village, the waigi attacked, plundered the Nart houses and towers, and took their girls prisoner. When the older sleds returned and learned of the misfortune, they set off on a return campaign. And, again, in a distant one: “The sledges got angry and equipped a big trip to the Land of the black-headed waig. We drove for a day, drove for two, a week, two weeks. " They attacked the fortified village of the Waig and fought for seven days, but could not defeat them, since the killed Waig came to life in the morning. Here again we are faced with attributing magical properties to giants. The celestial Uastyrdzhi helped to defeat the Narts.
On the other hand, different legends mention individual families of the Waig who lived in the neighborhood of the Narts, sometimes even on the nearest mountain ("Batradz and the arrogant son of the Waig Afsaron"). In these legends, the main, so to speak, characteristics of the waig are given. Their enormous strength and, at the same time, stupidity are noted. However, such characteristics of giants can be found in the myths of different peoples of the world. As well as another trait, that the giants were cannibals. The legend “How Batradz saved the eminent sledges” tells how the eminent sleds went hunting. They chased a deer, which took them over seven mountains (which, in general, is not near). There they came across a tower "made of huge boulders." Seven Waig lived in it. “Hearing the call of the sledges, they ran out and were delighted: the mountain petty, as they called the people, itself appeared to them. They invited the sleds to their dwelling, seated them in a row near the hearth, looked at each other, and three began to plan skewers, and four began to make a fire. And one more quote from the same legend: "And another waig answered him: - … Our elders have feasted on the meat of mountain men before" …
Those. one can make the following conclusion: even in historical times, in some territories (and in neighboring ones too), tribes and individual families of people of gigantic stature lived next to ordinary people. With people, they were most often in a state of armed neutrality. But at the first opportunity they attacked and robbed. It ended with the fact that more numerous and better organized people defeated and exterminated the tribes of giants. This is directly stated in the legend “Death of the Narts”: “The valiant sledges spent their whole life in battles. They broke the strength of many rapists. The Waig were exterminated to the last and even entered into a struggle with the spirits of the earth and heaven."
Instead of an afterword
"Legends of the Narts", like any other ancient epic, can be the richest source of information about the ancient past of mankind. The Old Testament, according to scientists, began to form as a single epic in the 14-12 centuries. BC. But the events described in the "Book of Genesis" begin from the creation of the world. Most of the events of the Nart epic fit, in fact, during the life of four generations of the main characters. But it would be naive to assume that such a historical epic reflects the life of the people for only a couple of centuries at best. We can safely assume that such a picture is the result of the formalization of legends of different times. And the fragments of information about the events of ancient times simply fit into the canvas of the canon of the work and mate with the main characters. This is how I supposethe result of insufficient preservation of information about the distant past that was available at the time of the formalization of the epic. For example, in the legend, the inhabitants of heaven endow Soslan with grain and domestic animals, agricultural technologies. But Soslan belongs to the fourth generation of Nart heroes. And previous generations have both livestock and agricultural crops and metal implements. Those. attempts to establish any scientifically grounded chronological scale based on the epic are completely unpromising. The epos provides us with individual grains of information about the events of antiquity, undefined in time, and sometimes in space. However, such nuggets are sometimes extremely interesting.agricultural technologies. But Soslan belongs to the fourth generation of Nart heroes. And previous generations have both livestock and agricultural crops and metal implements. Those. attempts to establish any scientifically grounded chronological scale based on the epic are completely unpromising. The epos provides us with individual grains of information about the events of antiquity, undefined in time, and sometimes in space. However, such nuggets are sometimes extremely interesting.agricultural technologies. But Soslan belongs to the fourth generation of Nart heroes. And previous generations have both livestock and agricultural crops and metal implements. Those. attempts to establish any scientifically grounded chronological scale based on the epic are completely unpromising. The epos provides us with individual grains of information about the events of antiquity, undefined in time, and sometimes in space. However, such nuggets are sometimes extremely interesting. The epos provides us with individual grains of information about the events of antiquity, undefined in time, and sometimes in space. However, such nuggets are sometimes extremely interesting. The epos provides us with individual grains of information about the events of antiquity, undefined in time, and sometimes in space. However, such nuggets are sometimes extremely interesting.
And at the end of this little essay, I would like to mention some of them. So, for example, In the legend "Batradz and the bowl of the Uatsamonga sledges" there is a strange episode: "Six ears of corn grew up to this time on a stalk of barley." But the lord of bread, Khor-aldar, out of revenge for his son Bur-khor-Ali, who was killed by Batradz, left "only one ear on the barley, and destroyed five ears forever." This happened only because Uastyrdzhi came out in defense of barley. What can such a strange phrase mean, is it only a mythical allegory?
The legend "How Khamyts got married" describes the people of dwarfs, descending from the Donbettyrs. “We come from donbettyrs,” said the little hunter. “I belong to the Bycenta family, and we live permanently underground.”
“That's good,” said the little hunter. - We, too, would gladly intermarry with the sledges. But you should know: we are hot-tempered and impatient and mercilessly avenge insults. Only two spans of our height, and even less in girth, but our strength, our courage and our other virtues do not need testing. I have a sister, and we would have married her to you, but you, sledges, love to mock everyone, we get sick from ridicule, but we die from reproaches."
By the way, Khamyts's bride turned out to be in the guise of a frog, which only returned to human form at night and possessed magical powers. A very familiar plot, but where are the dwarfs?
“The sleds Uryzmag often went hiking. And then one day he was away for a long time and did not meet anyone and did not find anything”(“Uryzmag and Kharan-Huag”). Those. the land was not densely populated !? Then, in theory, this should refer to the time after the flood.
“They took Sauuai away and threw him into the crevice of the glacier. The wolves picked him up, and the she-wolf fed him with her milk. Sauwai grew by leaps and bounds, and soon he began to hunt "(" Sauwai "). Sauuay, as it were, falls out of the main sequence of the Nart epic. Nevertheless, as we know, some modern peoples of the Caucasus (the same Chechens) still associate their mythological origin with the wolf. In addition, this motive has a direct analogy with ancient Roman mythology.
And finally, I would like to note a couple of interesting points related to the ideas of the Narts about God. The legend (“Death of Batradz”) says: “After the evil of the Narts - Syrdon - set Batradz against the earthly and heavenly spirits, Batradz began a fierce war with them. Wherever he overtook them, there he destroyed and maimed. All the spirits and dauags gathered here and came to complain to God:
- We have no living from the son of Khamytsev Batradz! Send death to him! Or let him remain, but we will not be. And if we stay, let him die.
“I don’t know how to help you,” God answered. "Besides my will, he was born, and there is no death in my hands for him."
And we find confirmation of such a strange "weakness" of God in the legend "Death of the Narts", which indicates the reason for the death of this people. Because of their pride, they stopped praying to God and challenged him. God offered them several choices. The first is to eradicate their genus or leave bad offspring. The sledges chose the first. The second is eternal life or eternal glory. The sledges chose the latter. But God did not destroy them, they themselves lay in the graves to confirm their choice. And in this legend there is an interesting episode: “When they stopped remembering God, he sent a swallow to them:
- Fly from me to the sleds and ask them why they are offended. A swallow flew in, sat on a young tree that grew on the Nart nihas, and chirped in Khatiag:
- I have been sent to you as a mediator. The person whom you worshiped sent me to ask you: "What have I done, sleds, why are you offended?"
The ancient language, which the Narts have almost forgotten, is the language of God? Does God himself also have a human nature? However, this is already a theological question and I mentioned these episodes only in order to once again emphasize how amazing information is contained in the ancient epic legends.
PS I apologize for possible inaccuracies in the history of the Nart epic. As I have already mentioned, I wrote my essays literally "on the run", but I hope the readers will not be disappointed.
Author: ANDREY ZHUKOV