The Flower of Par a dise and Other Ar me nian Tales World Folk lore Ad vi sory Board Si mon J. Bronner, Ph.D. Dis tin guished Pro fes sor of Folk lore and Amer i can Stud ies Penn syl va nia State Uni ver sity at Har ris burg Jo seph Bruchac, Ph.D. Abenaki Sto ry teller and Writer Natalie O. Kononenko, Ph.D. Pro fes sor of Slavic Lan guage and Lit er a ture Uni ver sity of Vir ginia Norma J. Livo, Ed.D. Writer and Sto ry teller Mar ga ret Read Mac Don ald, Ph.D. King County Li brary Syst em The Flower of Par ad ise and Other Ar me nian Tales Transl ated and Ret old by Bonnie C. Mars hall Ed ited and with a Fore word by Vir ginia A. Tashjian World Folkl ore Ser ies Westport, Con nect ic ut • Lond on Li brary of Con gress Cat a log ing-in-Pub li ca tion Data Mar shall, Bonnie C. The flower of para d ise and other Arm en ian tales / transl ated and ret old by Bonnie C. Mars hall ; edi ted and with a forew ord by Virg inia Tashjian. p. cm. — (World folkl ore ser ies) In cludes bib lio graph i cal ref er ences and in dex. ISBN-13: 978–1–59158–367–7 (alk. pap er) ISBN-10: 1–59158–367–5 (alk. pap er) 1. Tales—Ar me nia (Re pub lic) I. Tashjian, Virg inia A. II. Ti tle. GR277.M37 2007 398.209566’2—dc22 2006037738 Brit ish Li brary Cat a logu ing in Pub li ca tion Data is avail able. Copyr ight © 2007 by Lib rari es Unl imi ted All rights res erved. No port ion of this book may be rep rod uced, by any proc ess or techn ique, witho ut the exp ress writ ten con sent of the pub lisher. Lib rary of Cong ress Cata l og Card Numb er: 2006037738 ISBN: 978-1-59158-367-7 First publ ished in 2007 Lib rari es Unl imi ted, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 A Memb er of the Green wood Publ ishi ng Group, Inc. www.lu.com Printed in the United States of Amer ica The pap er used in this book comp lies with the Perm an ent Pap er Stand ard iss ued by the Nat ional In for ma tion Stan dards Or ga ni za tion (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 All phot og raphs, unl ess othe rw ise noted, are prov ided court esy of Andranik Michaelian. The publ isher has done its best to make sure the ins truc tions and/or reci p es in this book are corr ect. How ever, us ers should ap ply judg ment and ex pe ri ence when pre par ing rec i pes, es pe cially par ents and teache rs worki ng with young peop le. The publ isher acc epts no res pons ib il ity for the outc ome of any reci pe inc luded in this volu me. This book is dedi c ated to my young est grandc hild ren, Mars hall Matthews and Coop er Carey, in hopes that they will enj oy the stor ies when they reach the age of und ers tandi ng. It is dedi c ated, too, to my mother Agnes, brother Bradf ord, and sist er-in-law Kennetha. Thanks for the memo r ies of Scotl and. Con tents Con tCenotns tents Forew ord ......................................................xi Ac knowl edg ments..............................................xiii In tro duc tion....................................................xv Map of Arm en ia ..............................................xxxv Part 1: Ani mal Tales The Taill ess Fox .................................................3 The Snake and the Fish............................................6 The Avengi ng Frog...............................................7 The In vin ci ble Rooster ............................................8 The Fox Who Was Dec eived ......................................10 The Counc il of Mice.............................................11 The Sparr ow ...................................................12 The Wolf and the Lamb ..........................................14 Two Foxes.....................................................15 Part 2: Myths and Leg ends Snake Child Otsamanuk and Arevamanuk, Who Ang ered the Sun .........19 The Flower of Par a dise...........................................24 Seven Stars ....................................................28 The Sun Maiden Arev and the Fire Spirit Krag ........................30 How God Taught the Greedy Priest a Less on..........................33 Blaz ing a Trail..................................................35 The Black smith, the Car pen ter, and the Farmer........................38 The Leg end about Tiridates (Trdat) III...............................39 The Mir ror.....................................................43 Why the On ion Is Bitt er ..........................................44 Con tents vii Part 3: Fairy Tales Lit tle Bear.....................................................49 Okhik.........................................................55 Forty Thieves ..................................................59 Gambar .......................................................68 The Beard less Sor cerer and the King’s Son ...........................75 The Peasa nt’s Son and the King’s Daught er...........................86 Dzheiran-ogly, the Deer’s Son .....................................92 The Ex traor di nary Cu cum ber.....................................101 Part 4: Tales of Ev ery day Life The Good Deed................................................109 The Cus tomer and the Hat ter .....................................110 Know-It-All Tangik ............................................112 The Tale about a Lazy Man ......................................114 Don’t Overs tay Your Visit .......................................118 The Search for a Lumma (Penny)..................................119 You Reap What You Sow........................................120 The Greedy Priest..............................................122 Lazy Tiuni and Uri the Slug ......................................124 The Pitcher of Gold.............................................126 Lazy Hoory...................................................128 FOUR AMUSING TALES The Greate st Sorr ow in the World .................................131 The Deaf Man, the Crip ple, and the Bald Man........................132 God, You Didn’t Un ders tand Me ..................................133 The Peasa nt and His Roof........................................134 Part 5: Wits and Dimw its The Golden Ap ple..............................................137 The Mas ter and the Hired Man....................................138 The Shoe maker’s Debt ..........................................142 When My Heart Tells Me........................................143 The Don key That Swall owed the Moon.............................144 The Ne’er-Do-Well Son .........................................145 Death or Free dom..............................................149 A Tall, Tall Tale ...............................................150 Brother Ax ...................................................153 Car ni val......................................................155 Two Brothe rs .................................................158 THE ADVENTURES OF SILLY PUGI Silly Pugi and the Egg-Hatchi ng Per sians ...........................161 Three Brothe rs Bring a Comp laint to Silly Pugi.......................163 viii Con tents Silly Pugi and His Friend ........................................165 Silly Pugi and the Teacher .......................................166 Pugi and His Wife..............................................167 The Ra ven....................................................168 Pugi and His Neighb or ..........................................169 Ap pen dix A: Ar me nian Cui sine ...................................171 Ap pen dix B: Glos sary...........................................181 Bib li og ra phy..................................................185 Rec om mended Read ings.........................................189 Index........................................................193 Con tents ix