224 CASUALS IN THE CAUCASUS 



and down, down he dropped out o£ our sight, in swift 

 sharp impulse, a Nemesis to some poor wandering 

 field mouse. 



It took us just two hours and forty minutes to 

 clamber up the fourteen and a half versts between 

 Mleti and Gaudaur, and because the horses had all to 

 do and the yamschik nothing, the latter, a very 

 intelligent specimen, turned round and told Cecily in 

 quick Russian why Gaudaur is sd called. He recounted 

 the story with the air of one who has sprung it often 

 before and was very pleased with it. The word 

 Gaudaur, he said, is a compound of aul, which means 

 " village " in Ossetia, and Gaud, the name of the 

 mountain spirit of the region, whose romantic love- 

 story our garrulous friend retailed for our benefit. 

 And here it is for yours. 



Once upon a time, in this aul set on the highlands, a 

 most beautiful girl lived, and she was so lovely that 

 every passing caravan brought her some bright piece 

 of silk, or gay scarf, or glittering jewel for the sheer 

 unselfish joy of adding lustre to already peerless charms. 

 Nina was the Circe of the whole district, and everyone 

 fell in love with her. The great Spirit Gaud loved 

 her most of all, and from her childhood had tempered 

 the ice-touched winds for her, watched over her 

 comings, guarded her goings. If she went out on the 

 mountain slopes to bring the goats home, lo ! the 

 grim grey rocks and knife-edged stones gave place to 

 a soft carpet of moss beneath her tiny feet, flowers 

 bloomed for her where no blossoms ever flourished. 

 This protective admiration even extended itself to 



