The Armenian people have created many fairy tales over their five thousand year history. Among them are funny and sad. However, all Armenian folk tales are instructive. They teach the listener or reader good and justice. It is not surprising. After all, every nation invests in its folklore the wisdom accumulated over the centuries. For example, “Snake and Fish” is an Armenian fairy tale that all patience can end.
Many of these stories are unlikely to be understood by children, as they are more like fables. In addition, for the most part these are not ordinary oriental tales, since Christian morality and tragic history left their mark on them. However, for children in the treasury of Armenian folklore there are many interesting things. Moreover, many fairy tales for kids at one time became the basis for funny cartoons in Russian.
"Barikendan" ("Shrovetide")
Lived were husband and wife. Both were, as they say, without a king in their head, and even constantly quarreling.
Once, a husband brought home a bag of rice and a pot of oil. The wife was indignant at why he brought so many expensive products, but the husband replied that this was for Barikendan (Shrovetide). The spouse, in a rage, did not understand that this was a holiday and decided that the products belong to a person with that name. A few weeks passed. And then one day a traveler knocked on the spouse's house. Without waiting for him to say why he came, the grumpy woman began to be indignant: "So what, brother Barikendan, was so late? Are we obliged to keep your rice and butter at home?" Then a passerby realized who he was dealing with and, apologizing, said that he was detained by business, and now he has come to pick up his products.
After the traveler left, taking with him rice and butter, the husband of the fool returned. Upon learning that she gave the stranger supplies she bought for Shrovetide, he chased after the liar on a horse.
A cunning passerby, seeing the chase, hid the Khurdjins (carrying bags) with products behind the stones, and he sat down by the road. The husband of the stupid woman asked him about the traveler with the Khurjins, but the fraudster said that he could not catch up with him on horseback, since the horse was running on 4 legs, and the man was only on two. Then the fool gave him his horse, and he ran along the road on his own two.
Late in the evening, the husband returned home without the Khurdjins and the horse, and until the end of his life he and his wife reproached each other.
"Snake and fish" (Armenian fairy tale)
Once a snake and a fish began to gather. The snake asked her new sister to ride her across the sea, and she agreed. She crawled onto the back of the fish, and she began to haul her across the sea. Suddenly a snake stung a sister. The fish was surprised, but she said that she did it by accident. After a few minutes, everything repeated, and to the question of her bitten sister, the viper replied that this sun had clouded her mind. When the fish felt a bite for the third time, she was outraged by her friend’s behavior, but the snake said: “This is my custom!” The fish said nothing, only she went under the water, where the evil viper drowned.
"Talking fish"
This Armenian fairy tale in Russian is known to many, as an interesting musical cartoon was shot on it. She teaches that one always has to pay for good with good. In a sense, this is the opposite story to that narrated by “The Snake and the Fish” (Armenian fairy tale), because the little fish released by the poor fisherman-laborer, who was punished for this by the owner, pays him handsomely and helps get rid of the monster.
"Arev and Krag" ("Sun and Fire")
Once upon a time, long before the Flood, when there was darkness and cold on the earth, the first tribe of people lived in a cave on Ararat. Strong men treated children and the elderly badly, since they could not hunt, and gave them only the bones of dead animals. And among them grew Krag and Arev. Once on a hunt a young man defended a girl from a tiger, and when she looked at him with grateful eyes, Krag's face glowed like fire. Arev also lit up his glow, shining so that the earth finally lit up, and the darkness receded. When the young people returned to the cave, it was flooded with the light coming from them, and the truth was revealed to everyone. However, she seemed to many too terrible. So, women looked at each other and young girls, and envy arose in their hearts, and the old leader saw young and stronger hunters around him, looking at him with a grin, not so powerful as in youth, a torso. It was decided to kill Arev and Krag, but the tribal elders understood that it was better to hunt when it was light, and the heat coming from Krag would protect them from the cold during the winter cold. Then they threw Arev to the sky from the top of Ararat, and it became the Sun, and the unfortunate Krag was chained and taken with him from the cave to the cave, so that he would warm their homes.
Tales by Hovhannes Tumanyan
Many Armenian fairy tales, for example, "Barikendan", have come down to us in literary processing. Its author was one of the most famous Armenian poets of the 19th century Hovhannes Tumanyan. He not only made oriental tales, for example, “The Shoes of Abu Hassan”, accessible to the understanding of our children, but also adapted Western European under our language.
Now you know that “The Snake and the Fish” is an Armenian tale of patience, which has a limit, and you are also familiar with the beautiful story of the unfortunate Arev and Kraga, who brought people the truth that turned out to be unnecessary.