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 humiliation 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 restored.

When he came into the hall of Lady Tree, he was confronted by a fabulous being, neither fully human nor fully tree: Her trunk was mighty; her hair reached like clouds up into the heavens; and her roots sank down deep into the earth.