Abkhazia in legends. Lina Belyarova

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      Abkhazians tell of the time when the entire Abkhazian sea-coast was buried under water. People inhabited only the high mountains of the area. The earliest settlers of the mountain-parts of Abkhazia were little human beings, the dwarfish Atsans. The tribal group of Atsan dwarfs lived by hunting wild animals and sheep-breeding. They were notable for their courage and bravery, but gradually came to be very proud, freedom-loving and impious folk. God decided to punish the Atsans because of their wrong-doings aided by the youth whom, as an infant, He had once sent to the Atsans in a golden cradle for them to rear. From the youth God discovered what the Atsans feared most of all in the world.

      One day, as the Atsans were sitting by their stone-circles, the 300 year-old father of the Atsans saw a goat standing nearby whose goatee beard was waving because of the wind that God had sent to the land of the Atsans for the very first time… All of a sudden, the sky became overcast and dark clouds obscured the sun from the Atsans… The Earth sensed God’s threatening punishment and decided to rescue the Atsans from imminent danger by forming huge shelters and caves for them. But God became angry with the Earth for that and, in revenge, He pierced her body with a huge dagger. The wounded Earth begged the Atsans to draw the dagger out of her body, but the wilful Atsans ignored her pleas… Soon afterwards, woolly flocks began falling down from the sky that covered the ground like snow. In the end, God sent fire to the Earth and all the cotton flocks together with those impious Atsans were set on fire. Ever since, the Earth is said to have been left with the dagger still in her chest which God had once thrust into her for her desperate attempt to rescue the Atsans.

      Legend about how Noah built the ark to save mankind from the flood

      In mythology of some cultures the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood is “God’s punishment” set upon mankind and all alive on the Earth. In the Bible, Prophet Noah, his family, and a pair of every animal were saved from the Flood in the ark.

      According to the Abkhazian legends, having foreseen a forthcoming flood, Prophet Noah (Paigambar) decided to build an ark (azandal). Noah asked Adau the Giant to fetch some logs from the wood while he himself was cooking mamalyga (porridge) with millet flour. So off Adau went to the wood and there he pulled out trees with the roots. Some trees he stowed away in his waist belt, others he stowed away in his top-boots, and the biggest ones he flung over his shoulders and was ready to carry them away. Suddenly the Devil appeared in front of him pretending to be a well-wisher. The Devil tried to prevent Adau from doing his job assuring the giant that the Prophet was fooling him by cooking such a small cauldron of mamalyga for him that wouldn’t be enough even for a mere man. On hearing this, Adau shrugged off the trees from his shoulders at once and came to Noah to show him his anger accusing the Prophet in cooking little porridge. Nоah put the cauldron in front of the Giant and began treating him.

      No matter how much Adau ate, yet the cauldron remained full. In return for treating him with mamalyga Noah asked the Giant to give the remaining trees stowed away in his waist belt and in his top-boots and built the ark to save mankind from destruction by a flood.

      The Abkhazian Nart epic family

      The way of life, mentality, morals, customs, and religious practices of different ethnic groups of the Caucasus (including the Abkhazians) have found reflection in the ancient Caucasian Nart epic. The background of the Nart epic has been traced to the pre-literate СКАЧАТЬ