Animals

Wolf and Dog. When creating animals, God gave the wolf a sense of smell and the dog strength. The wolf attacked a buffalo, wanting to tear it apart, but could not. The wolf went to God and asked for strength instead of smell. God took the sense of smell from the wolf and gave it to the dog, and gave the dog's strength to the wolf.

At first, wolves lived near humans, and dogs in the forest. One day, dogs begged the wolves to let them stay near humans. The wolves felt sorry for the sick dogs and allowed them to live near people. Humans liked the dogs very much, and the dogs no longer wanted to return to the forest. To this day, wolves ask dogs:

— Are you healthy now? Come back!

And dogs howl in response, saying they haven't recovered and want to stay near humans.

Dog. At first, there was no bread in the world. One day, a hungry dog began to howl incessantly, looking at the sky. It howled so much that a grain fell from the sky to the ground. The grain sprouted, grew, and filled the field with wheat. The dog's owner harvested the field, threshed the ears, and ground the wheat. Since then, the world has been filled with bread.

Once, the sky was very close to the earth. A woman used an ear of wheat to wipe the dirt from her child and threw it into the sky. The sky grew very angry and cursed the wheat, decreeing it should no longer produce ears. The curse came to pass: the wheat lost its ear and remained as a bare, empty stalk. Famine struck the world. Dogs began to howl and whine from hunger, asking the sky for bread. The sky felt sorry for the dogs. It commanded the wheat to have a small ear on its stalk. Bread returned to the world, but humans stole the dogs' portion and ate it themselves.

The Monkey was once a human who worked as a painter. Before starting work, the person never crossed themselves nor prayed. God grew angry, cursed them, and turned them into a monkey. To this day, the monkey's nails are blue, a remnant from its time as a painter.

Cat. While in Noah's Ark, the lion suddenly sneezed, and a cat fell out of its nose. That is why the cat resembles the lion.

Snake. The snake once had wings. One day, God called it and said:

— Fly and tell the dead: when your shroud wears away, return home.

The snake flew and said:

— When your gravestone wears away, return home.

Then it returned to God. God asked:

— Did you say it?

The snake replied:

— Yes, I said it.

God asked:

— What did you say?

The snake replied:

— I said: when your gravestone wears away, return home.

God grew angry, cursed the snake, and said:

— May earth be your food and crawling on your belly your movement.

From that day on, the snake lost its wings, began to crawl, and eats the earth.

The Snake and Man

A snake and a man were once friends and lived in peace and harmony. One day, the man's son killed the beautiful wife of the snake king with an axe. Since then, snakes have become enemies of humans and always seek revenge.

During the Great Flood, a mouse found shelter in Noah's ark; it gnawed and pierced the ark. Water began to pour in. Noah was angry at the mouse, and it fled and hid in a corner. Noah asked all the animals to plug the hole in the ark, but no one could. The snake came, curled up, spread itself over the hole, and blocked the water flow. When the flood passed, Noah offered the snake a reward for the good service it had performed. The snake stuck out its tongue and demanded human blood. The swallow, which was sitting on Noah's foot, attacked the snake and bit its tongue. Since then, the snake's tongue has remained split in the middle. The snake then attacked the swallow and bit its tail. Since then, the swallow's tail has remained split in two. Two drops of blood fell from the snake's bite; one fell on Noah and became a louse, and the other fell on the ground, became a flea, and flew away.

The snake king lives on Masis and has a precious crown on his head. Once every seven years, all the surrounding snakes come to visit him. Once, the snake king decided to go for a ride in his fiery chariot. On the way, the chariot touched a mountain and split its peak into two parts. From that day on, the mountain with the split peak is called “Odzasar” (Snake Mountain). Seven snake brothers live on Odzasar, who are bonded by great love. If six of them are killed, the last remaining snake will follow the killer and will certainly avenge its brothers.

The snake king, who has two horns on his head, also lives on Odzasar. Every day at noon, when it is very hot and the sun pours fire from the sky, the snake king gathers all his subject snakes, forms groups, descends from the mountain heights to the spring, drinks water, and climbs back up to Odzasar.

Snakes also live on Mount Aragats. Once every two years, the snakes of Mount Masis form a large army and fight against the snakes of Mount Aragats.

There are snakes that are guardians of the house; they live in the same house as people and not only do not harm them but also ensure the house's wealth and success.

A rich peasant had many fields, mills, and livestock. The reason for this wealth and success was a black snake that lived in his house and freely roamed all corners of the house. The peasant also had a small, only son. One day, the snake and the child were playing together in the house. The boy grabbed the snake's tail and squeezed it very hard. The snake, writhing in pain, tried to free its tail from the child's hand, but failed. In desperation, it bit the child's little hand. The child let go of the tail and was poisoned by the bite. The snake, realizing the grave consequences of its bite, fled and curled up in a corner of the house. The child, suffering from the snake's poison, died. The peasant, desperate with the grief of his son's death, took a billhook and struck the snake. The billhook hit the snake's tail, cutting it off. The snake fled from the house, left the village, and went to live in the nearby rocky areas. Time passed, the peasant's luck turned, failure followed failure, and he became poor. One day, he consulted with his wife, saying, “Let's go and invite our snake home, bring it back so that our luck may return.”

They went among the stones, called out to the snake. The snake replied, saying:

“I know that my coming is pleasant for both you and me, but it is impossible. When you look at me, you will always remember the death of your child, and when I look at you, I will remember my cut tail. We can no longer live together in peace and harmony.”

A person can become a snake through magic, and when the magic is removed, he becomes a person again.

An old woman had a very kind son. The boy, several times, by giving his last pennies, saved animals from naughty boys who were torturing them, saving their lives. One day, on his way home, he saw village boys holding a snake and torturing it. He approached, gave the rest of his money to the boys, saved the snake, put it in a jar, and brought it home. The next day, when he went to the forest for wood, the boy took the snake in the jar to the forest. At noon, when he sat down to eat by a cool spring, he took out the snake and gave it a piece of bread with his own hand. The snake suddenly turned into a handsome young man and told him that he was a king's son, that magicians had kidnapped him and turned him into a snake. The magic would be broken if a person gave a piece of bread to the snake with his own hand. And so, the old woman's son had naively broken this spell and turned the snake into a human.

There was a king who had no children. No matter how many doctors he brought, none could help. In despair, he dedicated himself to hunting. One day, he saw a snake wrapped around her little pups, cuddling them. The king sighed deeply in his heart and complained to God, asking if he was not even worth a snake to have children. Time passed, and a son was born to the king—half snake, half human. The king ordered that this “Odzamanuk” (Snake Child) be taken and thrown into a pit outside the city. They did so, but on the advice of doctors and wise men, they took a girl once a week and threw her into the pit so that the Snake Child would eat her and grow. The turn came to a poor man's daughter who had a stepmother. In a dream, the girl was advised to take three jugs of milk, a knife, wrap herself in buffalo skin, and climb down into the pit with a rope. When the snake called from below, saying, “Come out of the buffalo skin so I can eat you,” the girl had to say three times: “Come out of that snake skin so I can bathe you with milk.” The snake would tear because of this. The girl would then have to cut the rope with a knife, climb to the bottom of the pit, get out of the buffalo skin, and bathe the boy with milk.

The girl did just that; the snake tore apart in anger, and a handsome boy came out of the snake skin, whom the girl bathed with milk. The king, queen, and all the courtiers rejoiced, took the girl and the boy out of the pit, had a wedding, and married them off.

Prince (Ishkhan) fish. At one time, only one type of black fish came out of the Chran River, which harmed those who ate it. A man named Ishkhan lived in those parts, who had left his worldly life and become a hermit. Ishkhan made a fish out of wood and threw it into the water. Time passed, and a new, wonderful, and delicious fish began to come out of the same river, which was named “Ishkhan” after the hermit.

The turtle used to be a thief and a greedy miller who took high fees. He took an excessively high fee from a poor man, and the angry poor man cursed him, saying:

The poor man's curse was immediately fulfilled; the miller turned into a turtle with a 'kot' (a measuring vessel) on his head.

The frog used to be a pregnant bride. The father-in-law noticed that the bride, without being shy of anyone, took and ate whatever her heart desired. He got angry at the bride and spat in her face. The poor bride immediately turned into a frog out of shame and entered the water.