f the Arab khanates as a means of getting even with a ruler who
had wronged him by an absurdly unjust decision. The khans of the Eastern
Caucasus previous to the Russian conquest had almost unlimited power over
the lives and persons of their subjects, and their decrees, however
unreasonable and unfair they might be, were enforced without appeal and
with inexorable severity. A mountaineer therefore in Avaria or Koomookha
who considered himself aggrieved by a decision of his khan, and who dared
not complain openly, could relieve his outraged feelings only by inventing
and setting afloat an anonymous pasquinade. Some of these short personal
satires are very clever pieces of literary vengeance.

_An Eye for an Eye._--A robber one night broke into the house of a poor
Lesghian in search of plunder. While groping around in the dark he
accidentally put out one of his eyes by running against a nail which the
Lesghian had driven into the wall to hang clothes upon. On the following
morning the robber went to the khan and complained that this Lesghian had
driven a nail into the wall of his house in such a manner as to put out
one of his (the robber's) eyes, and for this injury he demanded redress.
The khan sent for the Lesghian and inquired why he had driven this nail,
and if he had not done it on purpose to put out the robber's eye. The
Lesghian explained that he needed the nail to hang clothes upon, and that
he had driven it into the wall for that purpose and no other. The khan,
however, declared that the law demanded an eye for an eye; and since he
had been instrumental in putting out the robber's eye, it would be
necessary to put out one of his eyes to satisfy the claims of justice.
"Your Excellency," replied the poor Lesghian, "I am a tailor. I need both
my eyes in order to carry on my business and obtain the necessaries of
life; but I know a man who is a gunsmith: he uses only one eye to squint
along his gun-barrels, so that the other is of no particular service to
him. Be so just, O khan! as to order one of his eyes to be put out and
spare mine." The khan said, "Very well," and, sending for the gunsmith,
explained to him the situation of affairs. "I also need both eyes,"
objected the gunsmith, "because I have to look on both sides of a
gun-barrel in order to tell whether it is straight or not; but near me
there lives a man who is a musician. When he plays on the _zoorna_ [a
Caucasian fife] he shuts both eyes; so his trade won'