As soon as my family found out that I was about leaving for Kabardino-Balkaria district, they freaked out. They warned me about locals who were capable of kidnapping a girl in order to marry, that they were hot tempered and I’d better never leave the territory of the hotel on my own.
They even told me a legend about a dzhigit* who once kidnapped a girl and galloped her up into the mountains. There he threw a yak-fell on stones, raped the girl and said that it would be her home from then on. The girl submited.
The story impressed me, of course, however I thought that if I had been that girl, I would have knocked down the guy, jumped onto his horse and galloped back to my parents.
What a romantic experience could it have been!
There were more stories about the habits of locals, but none of them would persuade me to travel there. That’s why I packed up my skiing gear and got on the first train to the Caucasus Mountains.
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*dzhigit – an inhabitant of Kabardino-Balkaria district, the Caucasus Mountains; a very talented horse rider
