Variants also exist in the sister languages: Mingrelian, Laz, and Svan.
Eteriani is a love story of a Cinderella-like peasant girl, Eteri, and Prince Abesalom who decides to marry her against the will of his father, a king.
Abesalom’s courtier Murman also falls passionately in love with Eteri and sells his soul to the devil to make the marriage impossible.
Abesalom does not survive the breakup and dies, prompting Eteri to commit suicide.
A purely folklore version of the epos, a tale, was first published in the Georgian press in 1858.