Re: Nart stuff

Here's saga 28, BTW.
"
Saga 28 () Wardana and Chwindizh Dwell in the White-Haired Forest

Once there were two brothers born of one mother, stalwart Nart men
Wardana and Chwindizh.1 Wardana dwelled in the White-Haired Forest,2
in a region called Wardanuquo, and Chwindizh dwelled in the region of
Pshakhwayisa, around the settlement of Abin.3 Chwindizh was blind in
both eyes, but he possessed seven grown sons. Wardana at first had no
sons. He had, therefore, to tend to his cattle himself.
The sons of Chwindizh had gone three times to their uncle, Wardana, to
raid his cattle. He had been gentle with them, indulging them in their
pranks, but had been careful to take his cattle back before they could
reach home.
When Chwindizh learned of it, he grew furious and confronted them:
"Why are you pestering him? He is my brother! Stay away from him! He
will kill you all. You have gone to his place once each month for the
past three months, but I have never heard you driving back any cattle.
So what good does it do you?"
"He pursues us and takes the cattle away from us. He does not let us
drive them home," said they.
"How does he take them back, away from you?"
"Wardana rides a white horse. At the beginning of our return he rides
behind us, keeping pace with us, but after a little while his white
horse appears in front of us all, and Wardana leads his cattle off
back home."4
"If that is how it stands, then do not go to him if you must still
rustle cattle. That white horse will be your doom."
But his sons were head busters. They would not listen to their father.
The fourth month came, and they set off a fourth time to raid cattle
from their uncle, ignoring their father's words. When they started to
drive the cattle back, Wardana followed them, seated on his white
horse. This time, in fury he overtook the first of his nephews and
slew him. After that Wardana overtook another nephew and slew him as
well. In this way he overtook each one in turn and slew all seven. At
every place where he had killed one, he later had a mound erected.
The hills of the seven brothers, sons of Chwindizh, at the present
time still stand in Pshakhwiyisa.
It had been foretold that if a son were born to Wardana, then the
blood from that babe, if smeared on Chwindizh's eyes, would restore
his sight. At about the same time as the death of Chwindizh's seven
sons, a babe was born to Wardana. It lay in a crib, a little boy. Now
he was remorseful for the seven slain sons of his older brother,
Chwindizh, and being mindful of the prophesy, he went to his own son's
crib, took one of the infant's tiny kinds, and very gently pricked it
so that a few drops of blood appeared.
He put the blood in a small vial and brought it to his older brother.
He entered the yard of Chwindizh. No one came out to greet him, so he
tied his horse to the hitching post himself and went into the main
house. "Now, my older brother, I have brought some medicine for you,"
he said as he smeared a bit of the blood on Chwindizh's eyes. As soon
as he had done so, Chwindizh's eyes were healed and he could see again.
"You evil wretch! Can it be that you have left the two of us without a
son-sword?"5 said Chwindizh, for he was mindful of the prophecy and
feared that Wardana had killed his own infant son. Chwindizh grabbed a
quiver that hung nearby and had belonged to one of his sons. Seeing
this, Wardana jumped through an open window, leaped on his horse, and
rode home. The other brother, now with his newly healed eyes, ran to
the stable, mounted a horse, and took off in pursuit.
When Chwindizh entered his younger brother's yard, Wardana's wife fled
in fear and disgrace. Chwindizh ignored her and went into the house,
looked around, and saw the crib. When Chwindizh saw that the infant
was still alive, his rage turned to joy. "So, as long as one still
lives not all is bad," he said. Then he sought out Wardana and found
him in the guest house. There the two brothers made peace.


1 Shapsegh West Circassian /c´°&nd&´-z´ / 'rook-old' also has a
variant, /c´°&-z´&-t´ / 'ox-old-give', "give(r) of old oxen." I have
taken the latter form to be a distortion driven by folk etymology.
2 The Circassian has /máz& s´h.á-a-tx^°&-m ø-ø-x^a-s&´-x^`/ 'forest
head-conn-white-obl (they-)(it-)inside-sit-pl', "they sit in the
white-headed forest." Shiva lived in a white forest atop a sacred
mountain. Odin had white hair.
3 These place-names are as follows: Wardanuquo /wardan-&´-q°a/
'Wardana-his-son', normally a patronymic name, Pshakhwayisa
/p´s^´yáax´°a-y&´-s+a / 'sand-in-sit+in', "situated in sand," and Abín
/a-b&´n/ 'the-dale, valley(?)'.
4 There is confusion in both variants that may be of comparative
significance. The white horse is said to belong to one of the
brothers. If this is incorporated, then it is not clear how Wardana
could at first take back his rustled cattle. When Wardana loses his
patience with his nephews and flies into a murderous rage, he is said
to come up to the last rider, who happens to be on this white horse.
He slays him and takes this horse, which is then faster than all the
others. So mounted, he cannot be resisted and kills his remaining
nephews. I have chosen to motivate the plot by putting Wardana on the
fastest horse to begin with, so that his nephews are foiled in their
attempts to rustle his cattle.
5 The words are obscure: /k°awá-nc^´a sá-nc^´a/ 'twig(?)+pred-without
knife-without'. The first root is a dialect word for "male offspring"
generally. It seems to mean 'branch' in the sense of family lineage.
"

Wardanuquo /wardan-&´-q°a/ 'Wardana-his-son', normally a patronymic
name, does not make sense as name of a region. But if interpreted as
IE or similar language where akWa means "water" Wadana-akW-ija
"Wodan's region at the water" vel sim. -> Odins-ey -> Odense (eg. on
Fyn) does.


Torsten