Ashik Kerib

"Ashik Kerib" is a short story by Mikhail Lermontov written in 1837. Aplin describes its status as "obscure" and appearing to be an "unrevised transcription of a folk tale that was well known in slightly different versions throughout the Caucasus". Powelstock describes it as "what appears to be a transcription, in prose, of a Turkish fairy-tale". Together with his later A Hero of Our Time, Ashik Kerib testifies to the substantial part the landscapes and traditions of the Caucasus played in Lermontov's creative consciousness. "Ashik Kerib" is also part of the 19th-century genre of Russian literature of Caucasus writings (produced at a time when the Russian Empire was engaged in a prolonged drive to acquire the lands south of the Caucasus Mountains). Synopsis Kerib, a poor but good-hearted ashik (minstrel) living in the city of Tiflis, is in love with Magul-Megeri, the beautiful daughter of a local rich man. The feeling is mutual, but Magul-Megeri's father would prefer her to marry Kurshudbek, a rather rude but wealthier man who has long has his eye on her. Ashik Kerib makes a deal with her father: he will travel the world for seven years and earn enough wealth to be worthy of Magul-Megeri's hand. If he fails to return or returns with not enough, she will have to marry Kurshudbek. On Ashik Kerib's way out of the city, Kurshudbek meets him on the road and they travel together for a short while, until they reach a river. There is no bridge, so Kurshudbek tells Ashik Kerib to take off his robe and swim across, he would follow close behind. As soon as Ashik Kerib is in the river, though, Kurshudbek steals his robe and rides back to Tiflis, where he goes to the house of Ashik Kerib's mother and tells her that her son has drowned in the river, offering the wet robe as proof. She weeps bitterly, but Magul-Megeri tells her not to believe Kurshudbek, it is all a trick to make her marry him. For her part, Magul-Megeri flatly refuses to marry Kurshudbek before the seven years have gone by.