large iron kettle on his back; in one
hand he held by the legs a live chicken, in the other a cane; and he was
leading a goat. Just as they were coming to a deep dark ravine, the woman
said to the man, "I am afraid to go through that ravine with you: it is a
lonely place, and you might overpower me and kiss me by force."--"If you
were afraid of that," said the man, "you shouldn't have walked with me at
all: how can I possibly overpower you and kiss you by force when I have
this great iron kettle on my back, a cane in one hand and a live chicken
in the other, and am leading this goat? I might as well be tied hand and
foot."--"Yes," replied the woman, "but if you should stick your cane into
the ground and tie the goat to it, and turn the kettle bottom side up, and
put the chicken under it, _then_ you might wickedly kiss me in spite of my
resistance."--"Success to thy ingenuity, O woman!" said the rejoicing man
to himself: "I should never have thought of such expedients." And when
they came to the ravine he stuck his cane into the ground and tied the
goat to it, gave the chicken to the woman, saying, "Hold it while I cut
some grass for the goat," and then, lowering the kettle from his
shoulders, imprisoned the fowl under it, and wickedly kissed the woman, as
she was afraid he would.

It would be easy to multiply illustrations of Caucasian wit and humor, but
the above anecdotes are fairly representative, and must suffice. I will
close this paper with two specimens of mountain satire--"The Stingy
Mullah" and "An Eye for an Eye."

_The Stingy Mullah._--The mullah of a certain village, who was noted for
his avarice and stinginess, happened one day in crossing a narrow bridge
to fall into the river. As he could not swim, he sank for a moment out of
sight, and then coming to the surface floated down the stream, struggling
and yelling for help. A passer-by ran to the bank, and stretching out his
arm shouted to the mullah, "Give me your hand! give me your hand!" but the
mullah thrust both hands as far as possible under water and continued to
yell. Another man, who knew the mullah better, ran to the bank lower down
and leaning over the water cried to him, "Here! take my hand! take my
hand!" And the mullah, grasping it eagerly, was drawn out of the river. He
was always ready to _take_, but would not _give_ even so much as his hand
to save his life.

The following clever bit of satire was probably invented by an inhabitant
of one o