Snow-covered tops beyond the clouds, narrow rocky canyons, flowering fertile valleys, ancient burial mounds (kurgans), mysterious caves in which, according to legends, time itself stops running and anyone entering them is rejuvenated... The author tells us about the Republic of Adygeya located in the west of Northern Caucasia where 450 thousand people of more than 80 nationalities live at peace and in chime. They are loyal to the best traditions of elder generations, ethical principles of the etiquette developed for centuries, respect culture and customs of other nations. стр. 95 This subject of the Russian Federation set up in 1922 at first had the status of an autonomous region as a part of Krasnodar Territory. In 1991, it became Presidential Republic with the supreme organ of legislative power Khasse (State Council). The capital of Adygeya, Maikop, celebrating its 150th-anniversary in 2007, is located at the foot of the western spurs of the Main Caucasus Mountain Range on the right bank of the Belaya river, tributary of Kuban. The name of the town is translated from the Adygei language as an "apple-tree branch" or a "settlement at the river mouth running in the valley of apple trees". It was founded as a Cossack fortress and, according to another version, got its name from the phrase "dug in May" (by the time of laying the fort). Our territory is rich in fine legends, passed on from generation to generation. One of them is associated with the Belaya river. After the raid on Georgia, the Adygei prince Dakho took prisoner beautiful Bella having destroyed her family. The girl did not want to marry him and dreamt only of taking revenge for her relatives' death. Having managed to get a dagger by cunning, she went to the prince's apartment and said that she agreed to become his wife. In a fit of joy Dakho embraced the beautiful woman, but she snatched the dagger out of the folds of her dress and stabbed him into his heart. Then she jumped on ... Read more