The Fables of Mkhitar Gosh
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Authors
Bayizian, Elise Antreassian
Bedrosian, Robert
Mkhitʻar Gōsh
Issue Date
1987
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Type
Book, Whole
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Abstract
Here is a curious collection of 190 items. Mkhitar Gosh is an Armenian Christian priest and doctor of the church who died in 1213. The introduction's last few paragraphs give a sense of his philosophy, with its emphases on order, obedience, clerical uprightness, and refusal to intermarry with Muslim overlords. Though these are almost all genuine fables, they seem to me seldom successful; they tend to be contrived. The strong tendency to allegorical or arbitrary interpretation does not make their case stronger. The fables are divided by subject matters, often with a comment to show the division points, which occur after #6 (celestial phenomena), #25 (trees), #35 (plants), #49 (beans, peas, and seeds), #61 (vegetables), #64 (mountains), #161 (animals), and the last, #190 (people). There are frequent fables of the Rangstsreit sort, in which two entities argue over precedence. Among the notable fables I found are these. The onion and garlic wanted to go along to a wealthy dinner party, intending to hide. They could not, and everybody else had to leave (#55). The cabbage boasted of its health-giving qualities, telling lies. Someone ate it and got sick. The cabbage's response to being called a liar: Who cares! I got into you, even if I leave you in disgrace (#61). A ram butted a tree and then complained against the tree for breaking its horns (#81). Goats seeing animals wagging their tails scolded them for not being modest, but their reason was really jealousy (#82). A mole asked a porcupine to send him his son as pupil and then asked the father to remove the son's coat, so that the teacher could kiss him. He ate the son instead (#111)! A quail with chicks saw a rooster thanking God and joined him, only to see the rooster then eat one of his chicks. The quail exclaimed that he now understood that the rooster gave thanks not out of reverence but out of greed (#117). The marriage of owl and eagle failed because either got laughed at half the day (#123). The raven priest refused to come to a celebration because it is only harder to put his black robes back on again if he takes them off (#134). A smart swallow harassed by mice put a cat's hair into her nest and was troubled no longer (#139).
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Publisher
Ashod Press
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Identifier
3969 (Access ID)