Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

She turned east, back into the woods and after a while returned to the difficult subject of
her father’s doting and her mother’s disapproval of her wishes and actions.
"My parent’s different attitudes are in part a result of the prejudices between Western
and Eastern Georgia. Mingrelia, the old Kolkhis in the West, is much richer than Kartli in the
East. The Mingrelians are rich landowners who live well. Since Jason’s times they have been
known as cunning and treacherous, you should be mindful of them! While here in Kartli they
are poets and professors, and these poor intellectuals look down on the Western Georgians.
The Chavchavadze consider themselves one of the politically powerful families in Kartli.
Father, a Mingrelian who chose to become a professor in Tiflis, has had a hard time measuring
up to the expectations of his Chavchavadze in-laws."
She looked at Konrad uncertain whether he appreciated the deep, personal effect that
these age-old family feuds had on her. She gave her horse the reins, but after a short distance
changed her mind. There were still her personal troubles with Mother.
"Mother is the true Georgian woman," she began anew. "She is a good mother to us
children, but foremost she is a devoted wife to her husband, whom she loves and admires
deeply. Father, by virtue of his intelligence and his wife’s admission, is the decisive person in
our family. But following old Georgian custom, father tactfully defers internal family matters to
her, and among those is the decision about who I should marry. Mother has always thought of
an arranged marriage for me with some suitably boring member of a well-known family."
Eyes blazing dangerously, she impatiently spurred her horse. "I will make my own
decision in this matter, and she knows that!"
She calmed herself. An idea to ease the tensions between all of them had occurred to
her. She turned to Konrad. "You know, there is one all-important thing you could do—learn
some Georgian. Not to speak it colloquially immediately, none of us speaks much Georgian at
home, but to be able to recite some of our poetry. It would instantly win the hearts of all
Chavchavadzes."
The Church of Betania, 1890s
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