The Flower of Paradise and Other Armenian Tales (World Folklore Series)

243 Pages·2007·2.13 MB·English

by  Bonnie Marshall

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