Khosrovidukht of Goghtn

Two Armenian women poets, Sahakdukht of Siunik (Սահանդուխտ Սյունեցի) and Khosrovidukht of Goghtn (Խոսրովիդուխտ Գողթնացի), flourished in the eighth century. No doubt there would have been other women poets before and after them, but their works have not survived. As her name implies, Khosrovidukht was the daughter of Prince Khosrov of Goghtn (now in the territory of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic) and sister of Vahan of Goghtn. She wrote this poem in memory of her brother after his martyrdom in 738.

The translation is by Diana Der Hovanessian and Marzbed Margossian (Anthology of Armenian Poetry, New York: Columbia University Press, 1978)

More Astonishing

More astonishing to me
than the lyrics made for you,
more amazing than the music composed
for your death,
is the sound of the sobbing mourning
you, Lord Vahan, chosen of God.

Let me be inspired in that clear part
of my soul, to compose songs for you too,
but not songs that mourn;
but joyous, exhorting praises for your work,
blessing you, servant of Christ.

Although you found your labor,
and your ascetic self-denial
which is so terrifying to my body's nature,
more rewarding than praises,
let me praise, oh blessed Vahan, lover of Christ.

Let those outsiders
who built upon vanity
go down in defeat.

Let your soul rest in divine light,
oh blessed Vahan, chosen of the free.

Brave martyr, it was while performing
unselfishly against the nations of the south
that you were fixed forever
as an immortal and blessed ruler of Goghtn.

Զարմանալի է ինձ

Առաւել յորդորէ այս զհոգւոյս մասունըս,
Յօրինել քեզ երգս ո՛չ զղջականըս,
Այլ հոգևորըս, և ուրախարարըս,
Յորդորականըս, և ներբողեանըս,
Ո՜վ երանելի տէր Վահան, ծառայ Քրիստոսի։

Զարհուրեցուցանէ զքոյ ճգնութիւնդ
Զմարմնոյս բնութիւնըս.
Իսկ դու առաւել գտար.
Ո՜վ երանելի տէր Վահան, սիրող Քրիստոսի։

Արտաքնոցըն ըզգաստքըն
Ստեղծիչ բանք սնոտեացն ի պատրութիւն.
Իսկ քոյդ սիրայնոյ՝ աստուածարեալ և ոգեշահ․
Ո՜վ երանելի տէր Վահան, ընտրեալ յազատաց։

Որպէս քաջ նահատակ,
Պատրաստեալ ի պատերազմ,
Կատարեցեր զընթացըս քոյ,
Արիաբար՝ յազգացն հարաւայնոյ,
Դասաւորեալ ընդ անմարմնականսն.
Ո՜վ երանելի տէր Վահան, Գողթնեացն իշխեցող։

“More Astonishing” - “Sharakan” choir, voals - Armenuhi Seyranyan | "Զարմանալի է ինձ" - "Շարական" անսամբլ, Մենակատար՝ Արմենուհի Սեյրանյան:

By Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian

Armenian Legends and Poems

Some scans from Zabelle Boyajian’s Armenian Legends and Poems

Creative Writing

Arts Council England generously funded a series of arts "Studios" for the Armenian Institute during the (first) Covid period. Through the magic of Zoom, we were able to gather students from Istanbul, France, the US as well as around the UK with workshops on animation, storytelling, dance, music and creative writing.  Director and actor, Jelena Budimir was our wonderfully supportive writing tutor, giving us a series of exercises to carry out, aimed at improving our skills and prompting ideas to explore.  This short selection shows the range of responses to the challenges set by Jelena.  Each person tried every exercise and all enjoyed listening to the work done within the group.  Inspired by Jelena, we hope to continue with a creative writing group in the near future. 

  • Intro - Jelena

  • Nouritza 00.53 - 11.22

  • Jelena    11.23.-11.45

  • Stephen 11.46 =12.59

  • Jelena    13.00 - 13.16

  • Sara     13.17 - 21.40

  • Jelena    21.41 - 21.55

  • Tatevik   21.56 - 23.27

  • Jelena    23.28 - 23.33

  • Susan     23.34 - 25.18

  • Jelena     25.19 - 25.31 

  • Karen     25.31 - 34.59

  • Jelena     35 - 35.02

Susan Pattie’s storyboards

Steven Master’s storyboards

Sasna Tsrer: Children’s Workshop

A fun programme of 5x1hr sessions for kids from ages 7-11 explored episodes from the epic Sasuntsi Tavit, or Sasna Tsrer with Vergine Gulbenkian. Vergine Gulbenkian has been a performance storyteller for 30 years working in a variety of settings including theatres, village halls and international festivals. In the past 10 years she has worked extensively with children in schools and, more recently, online.

“It was a delight sharing Sasna Tsrer with this group of wonderfully creative young people. Each of them, in their own unique way, brought a new life and vigour to this epic with their vivid retellings, and we all felt this was just the beginning of the journey.”, says Vergine about the sessions.

We at AI enjoyed the sessions and seeing the excited faces of children, immersing themselves in the wonderful stories of how Great Mher found his Hreghen - his wonderful, fiery, magical horse, how wise Armaghan was freed from the White Dev or how Lisping Tavit was tongue-tied when he met his match - the gorgeous warrior princess Khandout Khatoun.

Each session was built around an episode from the epic, with engaging activities drawing on the young people’s imagination, working with visualising, sequencing, self-expression, and listening.

LEO

DAVID

Get in touch with us if you are a parent and interested in similar events as we are working on our children’s programme for the next months.

Digitising Surmelian

Our Eastern Armenian language class was coming to a close for the evening and Nelli asked, “Are there any books that you could recommend about the Armenian Genocide?”. Our teacher, Gagik answered that one of the best is Leon Surmelian’s I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen, a memoir of a young boy living through the times of the Armenian Genocide. It was a bestseller when it was first published in 1945, but had not been republished since 1946. However! The Armenian Institute had a plan to republish it. This plan involved a number of volunteers each being given a chapter of the book and typing it up.

“Have you considered OCR?”, I asked.

The first OCR, or Optical Character Recognition device was invented in 1870, with many subsequent devices for assisting the visually impaired, and converting text to telegraph codes. However, it’s safe to say that OCR in its more modern form has been around since the 1970s, scanning printed text and converting it to digital form. With technological advances since the 1970s, it should be pretty good by now, wouldn’t you think?

After a little test, I found myself with the 1946 British publication and a scanner, in the Armenian Institute office under the Gulbenkian Hall, next to the beautiful St Sarkis church. Some hours later, I had scans of all 224 pages.

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That looks pretty good to me, but I’m not a computer.

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It turns out that computers are not as good as I thought at reading printed text. The text on opposing pages and the angle of the text was confusing the computer. But with a little bit of work cleaning the images, I got this.

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That’s better! It captured the text nicely. But we’re still seeing a few oddities. You can see that where a word was broken across two lines, in the case of “mem-bers”, it could become two words. It even saw a space in the middle of “arrested”. These kinds of issues are common with older fonts. Modern OCR performs much better with modern computer fonts.

But I was pleased with the results. As you can see from the screenshots, my word processor was highlighting misspelled words, so it was quick to go through the book and fix those. You might have noticed that there were a number of spaces before punctuation marks such as commas and full-stops. Again, a word processor is pretty good at searching for all instances of spaces before punctuation.

That spellchecking even helped me to spot a number of misspellings in the original book.

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When reprinting a book, there is a desire to remain true to the original text. However, it’s safe to say that blatant misspellings such as those above, were not the intention of the author. This brought me into a more grey area of reprinting a book. It became obvious to me that the English language has changed quite a lot since 1946. One of the common changes that occurs in English is that where two words are often found together, they become hyphenated. And after that they often become one word. 

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When reading Shakespeare, I expect many differences in linguistic style, so some archaic spellings are expected. However, in a modern text such as this, such archaic spellings can be jarring and can distract the reader from the story being told. This leads us to consider what should be kept in “period” language, and what should be updated to enable a more readable text. Does that original spelling add anything to the text, or does it just make it feel dated or more difficult to read?

Similarly, some words are spelled differently these days:

In English-speaking countries, we would now say “Ramadan”, not “Ramazan”. Is there a benefit to using Surmelian’s spelling? It is presumably, based on the pronunciation that he was familiar with as a child. But at the same time, “Ramazan” could confuse a reader.

What do you think? Do you feel that the 1946 spellings are important? Or do you feel that they might distract, or prevent acceptance amongst new readers? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Another spelling issue worth noting is that the book that I scanned was a 1946 British printing. This had a benefit in that Surmelian had some time to make small edits to his text since the first edition. Unfortunately, as you might expect, it also meant that British English spellings were used. For example, “harbor” had been changed to “harbour”, and “color” to “colour”.

In reprinting this book, we felt that it was important to make use of American English spellings, as that was the chosen language of the author.

One of the trickier spelling mistakes to spot is where a word is a real word, but should be spelled differently. A word processor will not help spot these. The phrase “taught like tightly drawn copper wires” should have used the word “taut”, not “taught”.

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Among these, I’m particularly fond of “Benediction cassock“. I suspect that Surmelian wrote this correctly — after all, he spent time living with monks — , but that a copy editor didn’t recognise the word “Benedictine” and “corrected” it.

All these little challenges were a lot of fun to work through, and there was still proofreading to do. I generated PDFs of the book and these were shared around Armenian Institute staff and volunteers. While the team read the book and sent any errors they found, I was at last able to read it for pure enjoyment. And I have to say that I did enjoy reading it.

Now the book is available again in print and as an ebook. So please read it yourself, enjoy it, and if you find any errors, I would love to hear about them.

By Stephen Masters

Frik – Protest | Գանգատ

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Frik (c. 1230 - c. 1310) was a prominent medieval Armenian poet. The little we know about his life has reached us through indirect allusions in his poetry. He was born into a well-to-do family but became bankrupt through injudicious business partnerships with people who supplied the invading Mongol army with provisions. Love and joy pervaded his early poetry, but after his reversal of fortune his poetry tackled social issues and inequalities, sometimes calling God to account. Many people have tried – all unconvincingly - to explain this poet’s unusual name or the names of his father (Tagvosh) and paternal uncle (Dodona). In the early 13th century, the letter ‘f’ was a relatively recent addition to the Armenian alphabet and ‘Frik’ was one of the first recorded personal names containing this letter and its associated sound which had been absent in Armenian until the 11th century. 

Below is an excerpt from a long poem by Frik entitled “Protest”. The translation is by Diana Der Hovanessian and Marzbed Margossian (Anthology of Armenian Poetry, New York: Columbia University Press, 1978).

Աստուած արդար և յիրաւի,

Եւ ողորմած յամենայնի.

Հանդէս ունիմ բան մի վիճի,

Թէ դու լսես քո ծառայի:


Just and truthful God,

compassionate to all,

I wish to protest,

if you will listen to your servant.


Այս է զարմանք հիանալի,

Որ կու լինի վերայ երկրի.

Եւ հիացումն ազգի ազգի,

զՈր տեսանեմք ի յաշխարհի:


There are too many paradoxes,

too much to ponder

on your earth,

too much to wonder at.


Գէմ մէկ Ադամ էր ի դրախտին,

Եւ մէկն Եւայ իւր նմանին.

Եւ մէկ բարբառ համազգային,

Մինչև կերեալ պտղոյ ծառին:


Արդ այս բանս է հիանալի,

Եւ առաւել զարմանալի.

Թէ մէկ Ադամ և յԵւայէ

Ո՞րքան ազգեր ծնան յերկրի:


From one Adam and one single Eve,

who spoke one common language,

when the fruit of Eden was eaten, came

so many nations unfriendly to each other.

So many tongues. How astonishing!


Տէ'ր, ոչ խնդրես վըրէժ յայտնի,

Եւ ոչ ցուցանես ակն ամենի.

Գիտես մարմինք եմ մըսեղի

Գեմ արձան չեմք զինչ պըղընձի:


Why do you forgive some, and forgive our grief?

Lord, you do not ask for the obvious vengeance.

And you do not stop the stride of evil

You know we are bodies made of flesh, not of iron.


Մէկն ի պապանց պարոնորդի,

Մէկն ի հարանց մուրող լինի.

Մէկին հազար ձի ու ջորի,

Մէկին ո'չ ուլ մի, ո'չ մաքի:


Here, a prince by birth,

there, a beggar from the start.

A thousand horses and mules for one to drive;

and the other without a single goat.


Մէկին հազար կապիճ ոսկի,

Մէկին ո'չ փող մի պըղընձի.

Մէկին հազար հատ մարգարտի,

Մէկին ո'չ հո'ւլնիկ ապիկի:


This man with boxes of coins,

that one without a copper cent.

One, with strings of pearls, 

another, without a glass marble.


Զդաւվլաթն համէ` թէ ո՞ւր լինի,

Եւ զբաղդն ցոյց թէ ո՞ւր գըտւի,

Որ ի շուրջ գամ տասըն տարի,

Եթէ շալակ մ'ինձ հանդիպի:


Who doles out authority and power?

Where is luck found?

I will walk ten years for a drop.

By Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian

Shakespeare in Armenian

The famous Armenian actor Bedros Atamian (1849-1891) as Hamlet.

The famous Armenian actor Bedros Atamian (1849-1891) as Hamlet.

My first encounter with Shakespeare was through Hamlet. I was 5 years old. There were two Hamlets in my Armenian kindergarten. There were a further three Hamlets among my parents’ acquaintances. In all the time that I have lived in the country of the Bard I have yet to meet an Englishman called Hamlet.

What is the reason for the popularity of Shakespeare’s tragic figure – or at least his name – among Armenians in Armenia, in the former Soviet Union, and also in Iran?

According to some reports Shakespeare and his plays were first mentioned in an Armenian book published in the late 1600s. In his autobiography published in 1792, Joseph Emin (Յովսէփ Էմին), one of the pioneers of the Armenian liberation movement, mentions Shylock and Othello. Emin also knew David Garrick and refers to him in one of his letters to Elizabeth Montagu.

The first piecemeal attempts to translate Shakespeare into Armenian were made in the early 1820s in India. Excerpts were translated from The Two Gentlemen of Verona and A Midsummer Night’s Dream followed by Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Caesar.  Translations of complete plays started appearing in the 1850s with the publication of The Comedy of Errors in Smyrna in 1853. There followed a plethora of Armenian intellectuals, novelists and poets who tried their hand at translating Shakespeare’s most popular plays. By the end of the 20th century there were no fewer than 6 translations of King Lear and 5 translations of Hamlet with fewer renderings of other plays.

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Among all the existing translations, those by Hovhannes Massehian (Յովհաննէս Մասէհեան) are considered to be by far the most refined. Born in Teheran, Massehian entered the Persian diplomatic service and served as Minister Plenipotentiary in Berlin and London before becoming the first Iranian Ambassador in Japan.

Hovhannes Masehian in Persian diplomat’s uniform

Hovhannes Masehian in Persian diplomat’s uniform

In 1916 he represented Persia at the Shakespeare tercentenary celebrations in London. Massehian began translating Shakespeare in the early 1890s and continued publishing the plays into the 1920s. Altogether he produced translations of 9 Tragedies and 5 Comedies, strangely avoiding the Histories.  

The Merchant of Venice was the first Shakespeare play performed in Armenian in 1866. The popularity of this and other plays soared among audiences in the 19th and 20th centuries wherever there was an Armenian theatre, and most particularly in the Caucasus and adjacent regions, which somewhat explains the ubiquity of Armenian Hamlets in these areas.

 By Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian

A Bouquet of Medieval Poetry

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Armenian medieval poetry is particularly vibrant, presenting a rich tapestry of religious hymns, love songs, beautiful depictions of village life and jokular songs. Its traditions go back to pre-Christian times, with Goghtan Songs and continue through the era of Sayat-Nova.

Here are my picks from some medieval poems. I chose a few uplifting ones, full of heroic tales, jokes, sunshine and love for you to read, ranging from Goghtan Songs  to Naghash Hovnatan.

We are grateful to Movses Khorenatsi for writing down some of the Goghtan Songs․ They are snippets of epics about ancient gods, kings and queens, and one of my favourites is the story of Artashes and Satenik – a fairy-tale about the brave king and the charming princess.

Artashes (Artaxias), reigned around 200 BC, when the Alans invaded Armenia. The Armenian forces managed to capture the Alanian prince, refusing to release him. This poem below is the Alanian king’s speech to Artashes, demanding the return of his son:  

I speak to you, oh brave Artashes,
For you have defeated the brave Alan people;
Come, listen, to the bright-eyed Alan princess
And return the youth.
For it is unbecoming of heroes
To destroy the liveliness of other great warriors
Or to take and keep them in enslavement,
So that two valiant peoples
Are consigned to perpetual enmity.

Քեզ ասեմ, այր քաջ Արտաշէս,
Որ յաղթեցեր քաջ ազգին Ալանաց,
Ե՛կ հաւանեա՛ց բանից աչագեղոյ դստերս Ալանաց՝
Տալ զպատանիդ.
Զի վասն միոյ քինու ոչ է օրէն դիւցազանց՝
Այլոց դիւցազանց զարմից բառնալ զկենդանութիւն.
Կամ ծառայեցուցանելով ի ստրկաց կարգի պահել,
Եւ թշնամութիւն յաւիտենական
Ի մէջ երկոցունց ազգաց քաջաց հաստատել:

Illustration by Zabel Boyajian (Source)

Illustration by Zabel Boyajian (Source)

After seeing the Alanian princess Satenik, Artashes falls in love and tells their king that he will conclude a treaty and return the prince if he’s allowed to marry her. The Alanian king demands in exchange ‘’thousands and tens of thousands upon tens of thousands for the maiden of the brave Alan people’’ instead, and the Armenian king abducts Satenik:

King Artashes mounted his handsome black horse,
And taking out a red leather rope studded with golden rings,
And crossing the river like a sharp-winged eagle,
And throwing his red leather rope studded with golden rings,
Cast it upon the waist of the Alanian maiden,
And this hurt the delicate maiden's waist,
Quickly taking her back to his camp.

Հեծաւ արի արքայն Արտաշէս ի սեաւն գեղեցիկ,
Եւ հանեալ զոսկէօղ շիկափոկ պարանն,
Եւ անցեալ որպէս զարծուի սրաթեւ ընդ գետն,
Եւ ձգեալ զոսկէօղ շիկափոկ պարանն
Ընկէց ի մէջք օրիորդին Ալանաց.
Եւ շատ ցաւեցոյց զմէջք փափուկ օրիորդին,
Արագ հասուցանելով ի բանակն իւր:

 

Illustration by Zabel Boyajian (Source)

Illustration by Zabel Boyajian (Source)

Of course, they married, and had a wedding so big and rich that gold rained on Artashes and pearls on Satenik. The king and queen lived happily ever after and made Armenia peaceful and prosperous, and all we have to remember them are these exciting and poetic passages.

Gospel Book, Minaturist Grigor, 14-15 century (Source)

Gospel Book, Minaturist Grigor, 14-15 century (Source)

Many people are familiar the name of Grigor Narekatsi (Գրիգոր Նարեկացի) (c. 950 – 1003/1011), a poet, a monk, a theologian – and the author of one of the most philosophical and confessional poems, Book of Lamentations (Narek). But along with deep and dark soul-searching, Narekatsi has a series of Songs, singing of the beauty and nature around him. I’ve picked ‘’A Birthday Melody’’ (Մեղեդի ծննդյան), as it’s such glorious description of female beauty - Virgin Mary in his case. Reading this, you feel you are observing a joyful Renaissance artwork, painted in deep, vibrant colours, describing her eyes of laughing seas, pomegranate and laurel cheeks, mouth as rose petals and gold, blue and red silk gown…

What I also love about this is Narekatsi’s playful use of alliterations, using the letter ‘ծ’ almost to make us hear the laughter of the morning sea and the woman he celebrates.

Here is a snippet from the modern Eastern Armenian translation, and you can read the full original and Aram Tolegian’s excellent translation here.

Ծավալվել են աչքերը ծով
Առավոտվա ծովի վրա ծիծաղախիտ,
Ինչպես երկու փայլակնաձեւ արեգակներ.
Շողն է նման լուսացնցուղ այգաբացի:
Թափվում էին այտերից վառ՝
Դափնեվարդի ու նռնենու ծաղկաթերթեր.
Գեղաշիտակ իրանից սիրտն էր կարկաչում
Հուզավարար կենսատու սեր:
Կամար կապած թեւերը գիրգ՝
Երգում էր նա ախորժալուր ու գեղգեղուն,
Ելեւէջներն հյուսում իրար.
Շարժվում հանդարտ ու ճեմում էր թիկնեթեկին:
Բերանն երկթերթ, շրթունքներից վարդն էր կաթում.
Լեզվի տավիղն էր քաղցրերգում հուզումնահորդ.
Շողում էին նույն կենսավառ
Սիրով չքնաղ ու գինեթույր
Ծամերն իրենց գիսակներով խոպոպավոր:

Nerses Shnorhali, Poems, 1644 (Source)

Nerses Shnorhali, Poems, 1644 (Source)

Nerses the Gracious or Nerses Shnorhali (Սուրբ Ներսէս Դ. Կլայեցի կամ Ներսէս Շնորհալի) was an incredibly important presence as the Catholicos of Armenia in the 12th century, a poet, a musician, a theologian and a writer.

He is considered the founder of the Cilician school of poetry, and is also famous for his fun and playful riddles for children. There is a very childlike, innocent quality in his hymn I picked – “Morning Light” (Առաւօտ լուսոյ). Its simplicity and music are so enticing; he made the hymn even more interesting by fitting it into the Armenian alphabet – every verse, comprising of 3 lines, starts with the next letter. Here is a short snippet with translation from Anthology of Armenian Poetry. You can read the whole thing here and of course listen to the hymn here.

Առաւօտ լուսոյ,
Արեգակն արդար,
Առ իս լոյս ծագեա:

Բըղխումն ի Հօրէ,
Բըղխեա ի հոգւոյս,
Բան քեզ ի հաճոյս:

Գանձդ ողորմութեան,
Գանձիդ ծածկելոյ
Գըտող զիս արա:

Դուռն ողորմութեան,
Դաւանողիս բաց,
Դասեցո վերնոցն:

Ascending sun, ascending light,
Awakening the morning,
Almighty justice, let dawn light in me.

Born of the Father,
Brighten my soul.
Bring forth the word.

Christ Jesus,
Compassionate,
Concealed treasure.

Doorway of mercy,
Door to the heavens,
Disclose the true light.

Hymnal, Adam and Eve, Constantinople 1678 (Source)

Hymnal, Adam and Eve, Constantinople 1678 (Source)

My next poet is Nahapet Kuchak, the bard of Van, our first ashough (minstrel) who lived in the 16th century and changed the course of Armenian poetry dramatically.

His poems are called hairens, which are quatrains with 15 syllables, and talk about love and yearning, homeland and exile.

I picked two of his love hairens, the first one probably being one of his most lyrical and tender works, creating an incredibly vivid image of love.

Ես աչք ու դուն լուս, հոգի՛, առանց լուս աչքըն խաւարի,
Ես ձուկ ու դուն ջուր, հոգի՛, առանց ջուր ձուկըն մեռանի։
Երբ զձուկն ի ջըրէն հանեն ՚ւ ի այլ ջուր ձըգեն, կու ապրի,
Երբ զիս ի քենէ զատեն, քան զմեռնիլն այլ ճար չիլինի։

I am the eye, you are the light, my love. Blind without light is the eye.
I am a fish, the water you, my love. Without water fish must die.
If you pull a fish from the river and throw it in another it will live -
but if I am parted from you, I'll die without hope of reprieve.

This next hairen - poem is wonderfully lyrical and exciting as well, talking about his beloved who he likens to an almond blossom, but he’s also full of earthly desires of sharing some wine and kisses with her too:

Ա՜յ իմ նըշենի ծաղիկ, ծաղկեցար ու դարձար ի նուշ.
Բերանդ է աղուշ մաղուշ, պըռկըներդ է ամրաւ ու նուշ.
Զարախդ որ յափիդ ունիս՝ դու խըմէ՛ որ ասեմ՝ Անո՜ւշ.
Պագնե՜մ զայդ բերնիդ բոլորն որ գինւոյն հոտըն գայ անուշ։

O my almost blossom, you bloomed and became delicious,
Your mouth is honey sweet, your lips rich as almond and dates,
Drink from the cup of wine you hold, that I may say sweet touches sweet.
O I shall kiss all around your mouth, whence comes the fragrance of wine.

Naghash Hovnatan (Source)

Naghash Hovnatan (Source)

Naghash Hovnatan  was an incredibly gifted artist and while we know very little about his life (he lived in Nakhichevan in the 17-18th centuries), we know that he was a poet, a musician, a minstrel, a painter and illustrator of manuscripts.

When rereading his works, I came across this playful poem – “Song About the Cat Playing Dead Who the Mice Want to Bury” ( Տաղ ի վերայ սուտ մեռեալ կատուին, զոր մկներն տանին թաղեն).

It’s so rare to read something so funny and different from our medieval poems, so this delightful piece is my final choice. The first verse describes the cat, who plays dead and the mice are celebrating, stealing food and baking bread. Then he moves to the cat’s perspective and in the rest of the poem we hear the cat plotting what it is going to do to the mice when he wakes up from his pretend death (make Karabakh slippers from their skin and drive the rest of  Marzvan!). And of course, if you read it aloud, it’s easy to guess that Hovnatan was an ashugh too and these are lyrics to a song. Read an except below and the whole thing here. 

Կատուն մեռաւ. ափսոս ու վա՜խ.
Մկներն այսօր խիստ են ուրախ.
Թէ որ յանկարծ վեր կենայ սաղ,
Մկներն կանէ արիւնշաղախ:

«Ես կատու եմ, ոտքս արագ,
Մկանց ես խիստ եմ հակառակ,
Ահա ամենքդ հասարակ,
Զձեզ առնելոց եմ խայտառակ:

Ես կատու եմ՝ մկան եաղի,
Սրտումս դրել եմ դաղի՝
Չարուխ շինեմ Ղարաբաղի,
Ով որ եկել է ինձ թաղի:

Իմ մուշտակս կարմիր նախշուն,
Քուրքչիներ ունեմ .........
Մեր թաւանին մկներն անհուն,
Ցերեկն քուն, գիշերն արթուն:

Մկունք բերին՝ ալիւր, եղ, խին,
Որ հոգոյս համար հաց թխին.
Հիմա կոխեմ ձեզ մէջ ցխին,
Ամենն սեւ անեմ ձեր գլխին»:

By Tato Ayvazyan, AI Director