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Description:
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The inspiration for this introduction to folk-texts in Abkhaz (North West
Caucasian) was the late Helma van den Berg's parallel collection of
folk-literature for the North East Caucasian Dargi people (Dargi Folktales,
CNWS 2001). The small volume entitled 'Oral Tales of the Abkhazians' (in
Abkhaz) published in 2000 by the Abkhazian folklorist Zurab Dzhap’ua
provided the source for the selection of the twenty texts which are here
presented in original Cyrillic-based script and accompanied by
IPA-transcription, morphological analysis, morpheme-glosses, annotation and
translation; the volume starts with an extensive grammatical sketch of
Abkhaz and ends with a vocabulary. Included myths describe the creation of
the world, an Abkhazian version of Noah and the flood, man's relations with
the Prince of the Dead, and God's expulsion of the Devil from heaven. The
Abkhazian version of the Greek Prometheus is Abrskj’yl, and five stories
relate the cycle of his birth, exploits and death; an appendix presents for
comparison a poem by the Georgian Vazha-Pshavela on the fate of the
Georgian equivalent to this hero, Amiran. It is hoped that this book will
complement the eleven Abkhazian tales gathered from Abkhazians in Turkey
and published with French translation by Georges Dumézil in his Etudes
Abkhaz (1967) and that it will at the same time contribute to a better
understanding in the English-speaking world of Abkhazian society through
its legends.
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