Evgeny Zakharovich Baranov (1869–1934) — a Russian writer and folklore collector. His father, a petty trader, came from a family of former serfs. He traveled extensively to the most remote corners of Russia and later settled in Nalchik, where Evgeny was born. After finishing city school, Evgeny, feeling a craving for creativity, entered the Stroganov School in Moscow. However, the young man did not study there for long: after a few months, he was arrested for participating in a Narodnaya Volya circle and exiled back to Nalchik. Since the late 1880s, Baranov's life was filled with events. Prosperity and poverty alternated, literary work and physical labor; Evgeny received both approval and ridicule. He earned a living in various ways: working as a scribe and proofreader, writing articles for newspapers and magazines, advocating for court cases, selling books at bazaars, washing dishes in taverns, and collecting potatoes, corn, and grapes. Among all the occupations he tried, Evgeny Zakharovich was most attracted to collecting folklore. Baranov wandered through the Caucasus for a long time and also visited the Don and Crimea.
During his travels, he made acquaintances with different people, took notes about their lives and customs, and memorized legends and tales. He tried to record the stories he heard in such a way that they would not lose their original authenticity in the process of literary processing. As a result of prolonged meticulous work, Baranov managed to collect an extensive collection of folklore materials. Unfortunately, a large part of it did not survive: in 1928, a fire in the writer's apartment destroyed the archival records.
However, some texts Baranov managed to publish in journals, newspapers, and books.
Among them are the tales of the Terek Cossacks and the tales of the Caucasian mountaineers presented in this collection. These tales will tell readers about dangerous adventures and exciting events, introduce them to unseen creatures, and reveal ancient mysteries. Their brave, beautiful heroes are captured in wonderful drawings by Vasily Komarov.
Vasily Ivanovich Komarov (1868–1918) — a Russian painter and graphic artist. The artist was born in one of the villages of the Moscow province in a peasant family. He received his artistic education first at a drawing school in Moscow and later attended the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture as a free listener. The artist traveled a lot, including to Crimea and the Caucasus. During his travels, he made sketches, painted genre scenes and landscapes. In addition, Komarov loved to engage in book graphics: he illustrated works by N. Gogol and M. Lermontov and created a series of illustrations for the tales collected by Baranov.
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