_The Jackal and the Fox._--Once upon a time a hunter set a trap and baited it with a piece of fat mutton. Along came a hungry fox and discovered it, but, not daring to approach it, she proceeded to walk round and round it at a distance. In the mean time she was joined by a jackal. The fox asked the jackal where he was going. "Oh, I am almost dead with hunger," replied the jackal. "I started to go to the village in search of something to eat, but I am afraid of the dogs."--"Well, Brother Jackal," said the fox, "I know a place not far from here where there lies a big piece of fat mutton: how would you like that?"--"Why don't you eat it yourself?" inquired the jackal.--"I'm now keeping _oroozh_" [a Mohammedan fast], said the fox, "but I'll show it to you." Whereupon she led the jackal to the trap. Hardly had the jackal seized the mutton when the trap sprung and caught him by the neck. In trying to free himself by shaking his head he dislodged the bait, which rolled away to one side. This was all that the fox had waited for: she quickly seized the mutton, and sat down composedly to eat it. "Here!" exclaimed the jackal: "I thought you said you were keeping a fast, and now you are eating."--"I was," replied the fox, "but I have seen the moon,[6] and now I am having a holiday."--"But when am I going to have my holiday?" asked the jackal.--"When the owner of the trap comes," answered the fox, and so saying walked away. Most of the Caucasian literature to which I have hitherto had occasion to refer is the reflection of the lighter, more genial side of the mountaineer's character, and taken alone would give the impression that he is an amiable, jovial, good-humored fellow with a keen sense of the ludicrous and little knowledge of, or feeling for, the sorrows, the sufferings and the tragedies of life. Such an impression, however, would be a wholly mistaken one; and in order that the reader may see how full of sorrow and suffering and tragedy his life really is, I will, before taking up Caucasian poetry, give some extracts from a code of Caucasian criminal law. I do this partly because the code itself is a legal and literary curiosity, and partly because it shows better than any description could do the state of society in which a Caucasian mountaineer lives: _Laws of Ootsmee Rustem, Khan of Kaitaga._--1. To the reader of these ordinances a piece of silk from him in whose favor the case shall be decided. 2. He shall not read these laws for any one who has not a paper from the _bek_, with the impression of the bek's seal. _He who holds his tongue will save his head._ 1. He who kills a robber in his sheepfold or his house shall not be punished. 2. He who kills the killer of a robber shall pay two fines and have two blood-enemies. 3. One suspected of robbery shall clear himself by taking the oath of purgation, with seven compurgators. 4. For robbery with murder, a sevenfold fine and seven blood-avengers.