Achilles and the Caucasus - Université de Montréal

Achilles and the Caucasus (K. Tuite) — août 17, 2007 — pg. 18
The young Amiran, at first accompanied by his half-brothers
Usip’ and Badri, later completely alone, wanders the open spaces
in search of adventure, avoiding home, hearth and family. Amiran
takes on, and defeats, all challengers. (In the Lower Bal narrative
in which the extract cited above appears, Æmirm and the sons of
King Iwa overcome such picturesque opponents as giant
grasshoppers, man-sized bees, iron soldiers and a gargantuan firebreathing
ogre). At last, after a long series of battles, Amiran fears
that there is no worthy opponent left for him on earth. He issues a
challenge to his godfather, the supreme deity, to come down and
measure his strength against him. God punishes him for his
audacity by chaining him to a pole driven deep into the earth, and
encloses him inside a mountain high up in the Caucasus. His
faithful dog Q’ursha (Black-ear) tries to gnaw through the chains,
but every time Amiran is close to freeing himself, he is thwarted
by either a woman who talks too much, a wagtail perching on the
pole, or the combined activity of the local blacksmiths, who
reinforce the chains by banging on their anvils every Holy
Thursday morning (for details see Chikovani 1966 and
Charachidzé 1986). Here, in translation, is the conclusion to the
Lower Bal tale of Æmirm:
One day Christ God came before them. Æmirm stood before
him and pleaded: No one standing on the earth can defeat me, so
now you should fight me.
Christ replied: That would be shameful, I cannot fight you. Let
us go aside.
They go and go, and come to a plain by a hill, and there his
godfather (= Christ) said to him: I will stick this pole into the hill,
and if you can pull it out, we will fight.
Good, said Æmirm.
He stuck the pole in (the hill) and Æmirm grabbed it. He pulled
and pulled and finally extracted it. He (Christ) stuck it in again,
and Æmirm again pulled it out. He said to his godfather: Why are
you toying with me? If you are going to fight me, let’s fight, and if
not, leave me be!
The godfather replied: Let’s do it once more, and then you can