In the southernmost part of European Russia, near the Soviet Union's border with Turkey and Iran, rise the highest mountains in Europe, the mighty massif of the Caucasus. In the complex topography of this region live many tribes and ethnic groups, most of whom speak languages unrelated to any others on earth. One of these groups is the Circassians, famed for the beauty of their women and the bravery of their men, not to speak of the bewildering complexity of their language. Since remotest antiquity their homeland has been the northwest region of the Caucasus (though today, many live outside the Soviet Union). In the Caucasus the Circassians have pursued a pastoralist way of life on the plains abutting the mountains, and an existence based on animal husbandry (especially horse-breeding), farming, hunting, and metalworking if living higher in the foothills. These foothills, with their dark gorges--many of which have never been penetrated by man--are covered by dense forests of hardwoods, conifers, and undergrowth such as rhododendron, well watered by rains carried from the west off the Black Sea.
Although the majority of Circassians are Sunni Muslims, they still preserve heroic mythlike tales called Nart sagas, two of which reflect older practices of venerating trees and forests. Given the nature of their homeland and the widely dispersed Eurasian traces of tree worship (for example, the English word true ultimately derives from the same root as that for tree), these myths are not in themselves surprising. The rich insights they provide into cultic practices surrounding trees and groves, however, are astounding.
Here, with the help of my Circassian friend Hisa Torkacho of Hillside, New Jersey, I present translations of two of the more interesting tree and forest myths. The first is from the collection of Circassian Nart sagas by the Soviet scholar Asker Hadaghat'la. The Second was collected by Mr.Torkacho himself.
Tlepsh and Lady Tree
As god of fire and the forge Tlepsh had been very kind to the race of heroes, the Narts, inventing many useful tools and implements for them. Despite his great skill and wisdom he was plagued by the feeling that the Narts still needed something vital to ensure their well-being and survival. He went to the wise Lady Satanaya to ask her advice, but she was in a stingy mood and told him to set off about the world to see how other peoples lived, to search to the very edge of the earth itself and perhaps by that means fulfill his quest.
Tlepsh returned to his smithy, fashioned a pair of boots from his strongest steel, put a heavy torque about his neck and a hat upon his head, took up his walking staff, and set off upon his quest. He traveled through an immense forest for one whole year. He leapt a crag and a river and then bounded over seven more rivers, until he came to the shore of a great sea. There he fashioned a raft for himself from the branches of three nearby trees. Upon reaching the other side, he found a band of lovely young women frolicking upon the sand. Smitten with passion, he chased after them, but try as he might, they slipped from his grasp every time. Finally, panting and red in the face, he admitted his failure and humilation to them and asked them what manner of women they were. They told him that they were the followers of a goddess, Lady Tree, and taking pity upon him, they took him to meet their mistress so that his honor might be
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