Konrad and Alexandra (PDF) - Rolf Gross

she barely addressed her guest. Konrad, puzzled, could only explain her behavior as deferential reticence in presence ofher husband.Dadiani tried to persuade her to tell the tale of her abduction from Tsinandali. But true to conservative form she declined.Her husband could not refrain from telling the tale himself.When Tamara Chavchavadze had been three years old, her mother, an aunt, and six children had been abducted fromTsinandali by the Lesgian men of the infamous Imam Shamyl, the legendary leader of the Chechen Moslem guerrillas.Shamyl had kept the women hidden in his mountain retreat for over a year, until their families ransomed them inexchange for two carts of gold coins and Shamyl’s son, whom the Russians had taken prisoner.Alexandra appeared bored and restless. When her father finished the well-worn family saga, she pleaded for anexcursion to Zedazeni. She was the enfant terrible of the family, but also her father’s adored daughter. Alexandra’syounger brothers Niko and Otar supported their sister’s request and Dadiani finally let himself be persuaded. Theirmother, citing domestic duties, asked to be excused. Two servants carried baskets with a copious lunch and two bottlesof wine, and the entire party walked up the steep path behind the house.Except for the church, the monastery of Zedazeni turned out to be a deserted, romantic ruin. A dilapidated wallsurrounded the precinct, the church, a few decaying buildings, and an orchard.The caretaker received them with a bow and a handshake. Dadiani introduced his guest as a professor from Germany.While the servants spread a large tablecloth under the trees and set up lunch, the caretaker unlocked the church forAlexandra.Light-footed Alexandra took Konrad into the sanctuary. "This place predates Christianity," she explained as they entered."You can still see the heathen altar behind the iconostasis."Alexandra led Konrad into the sanctum where she showed him a stone column decorated like an Indian phallic lingam. Itgrew from a circular foundation, which in India represented the female yoni. The three foot high column was covered witha white cloth and garlanded with flowers."The village women come here to decorate this thing. This heathen altar is the reason that the church has beenabandoned. The old spirits scared the monks away." Alexandra laughed, her blue eyes sparkling in complicity. "Thepriests and the good citizen of Tiflis deny the existence of this female place of worship, but at Easter the shepherds comehere to celebrate the resurrection in an ancient rite. The heathen customs are alive everywhere and especially in themountains. You will see.""We Georgians love picnics!" Dadiani called when they emerged from the church. "Konrad, come and join your firstCaucasian picnic."The servants had laid out an opulent lunch al fresco. With a simple gesture Alexandra’s father invited the caretaker.Everyone sat or lay around the tablecloth on which the servants had arranged Georgian delicacies among bottles of wineand Borzhomi mineral water. They had brought glasses for the wine. One of the servants lit a fire and roasted shashlik onsharpened sticks cut from the local trees. Dadiani served a fine red wine, and toasts in Georgian, French, and Germanadded a graceful touch.Afterwards Alexandra and her brothers took Konrad to an old watchtower. They scrambled up the crumbling stairs.Quietly the three had agreed to let Konrad reach the topmost parapet first. A stunning view surprised him: the road toKazbegi, a few villages amid fields and green meadows in the foreground. At the horizon stretched the entire snowcoveredrange of the Eastern Caucasus from Daghestan to Ossetia, with mighty Mt. Kazbeg in its center. Alexandra, fullof pride and happiness about the successful surprise, stood next to him and pointed at all the peaks by name.Towards the west they looked down into the rolling country of the Kura valley. In the triangle at the confluence of the tworivers huddled the houses of Mtskheta around the royal cathedral, and far in the distance they could barely make out thehouses and towers of Tiflis, its fort and the Metekhi cathedral. Vineyards covered the valleys and dense, deciduouswoods the slopes, creating a serene, pastoral scene of exceptional beauty.Alexandra was glowing with excitement. She appeared more beautiful than ever to Konrad. Had he felt free to do so hewould have kissed her."I wanted to show you this view," she said putting her hand on his arm. "This is why I insisted to take you up here. It isthe most beautiful place in my Georgia."During the summer months Alexandra became Konrad’s guide and companion in Tiflis. He enjoyed her presenceimmensely, because—he told himself naïvely—she was an inexhaustible source of information on local customs. In truth,however, their mutual affection had become like a delicate, invisible fabric that they dared not touch lest it might rent.4.Chekhov's "Chaika" and a visit to Henri the Goldsmith189816