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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 August 2023
Прощай, немытая Россия,
Страна рабов, страна господ,
И вы, мундиры голубые,
И ты, им преданный народ.
Быть может, за стеной Кавказа
Сокроюсь от твоих пашей,
От их всевидящего глаза,
От их всеслышащих ушей.
Mikhail Lermontov (1840)
An ancient Circassian Nart saga, Tlepsh and Lady Tree, inspired the titles of the chapters herein. Nart sagas are legends of the North Caucasus peoples. The Narts are virtuous heroes and familiar figures in the folklore of the diverse North Caucasus societies regardless of their ethnic or linguistic origins. The saga of Tlepsh and Lady Tree tells the story of the Milky Way, the guiding light of the Narts. Accordingly, worrying about the future and survival of his Narts, Tlepsh, the god of fire and forge, went on a quest to find an answer to ensure their prosperity and endurance. During his travels, he came across Lady Tree, a goddess who was ‘a tree yet not a tree, a person yet not a person’. Intrigued by Tlepsh, Lady Tree invited him in and made love to him. After staying with her for a while, Tlepsh decided to continue his quest. Despite Lady Tree's protests, Tlepsh left her for the sake of his Narts. The quest was unfruitful, and yet upon Tlepsh's return, Lady Tree presented him with a baby born out of their union. Their baby was the Milky Way. On the advice of Lady Tree, Tlepsh took their child, the Milky Way, to the Narts and told them to follow him in the sky so they would never get lost. One day, however, the Milky Way wandered off to play and vanished. Tlepsh rushed to Lady Tree, who told him that the child was not with her. ‘A time may come when he returns on his own … If you all return alive from raids, then you will be happy. If you do not return, then it will be your calamity and you will have perished because of this,’ she warned. And perish the Narts did. Not only did they lose their mountains, valleys and rivers to the imperial powers encroaching on the North Caucasus, but they were also driven away from their homeland. This book is a history of the process in which the North Caucasus peoples lost their ‘milky way’.
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