Tales of the Terek Cossacks and Caucasian Mountaineers

Evgeny Zakharovich Baranov (1869–1934) — a Russian writer and collector of folklore. His father, a petty trader, came from a family of former serfs. He traveled extensively to the farthest corners of Russia and later settled in Nalchik, where Evgeny was born. After finishing city school, Evgeny, feeling a pull towards creativity, enrolled in the Stroganov School in Moscow. However, he studied there for a short time: after a few months, he was arrested for participating in a Narodnaya Volya circle and exiled back to Nalchik. From the late 1880s, Baranov's life was filled with events. Prosperity and poverty alternated, as did literary work and physical labor; Evgeny received both approval and ridicule. He earned a living in various ways: worked as a scribe and proofreader, wrote articles for newspapers and magazines, petitioned in court cases, sold books at the bazaar, washed dishes in taverns, and harvested potatoes, corn, and grapes. Among all the activities Evgeny Zakharovich tried, collecting folklore attracted him the most. Baranov wandered around the Caucasus for a long time, as well as visited the Don region and Crimea. 

During his travels, he met different people, took notes about their lives and customs, and remembered legends and tales. He tried to record the stories he heard in such a way that they would not lose their original authenticity during the literary processing. As a result of extensive painstaking work, Baranov managed to gather a vast collection of folklore materials. Unfortunately, much of it has not survived: in 1928, a fire in the writer's apartment destroyed archiving records. 

However, Baranov managed to publish some texts in magazines, 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 captivating events, introduce them to unseen creatures, and reveal ancient secrets. Their brave, beautiful heroes are captured in wonderful illustrations by Vasily Komarov. 

Vasily Ivanovich Komarov (1868–1918) — a Russian painter and graphic artist. The artist was born in one of the villages of Moscow Province in a peasant family. He first obtained his artistic education at an art school in Moscow and then attended the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture as a listener. The artist traveled a lot, including to Crimea and the Caucasus. During his trips, he made sketches, painted genre scenes, and landscapes. Additionally, 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.