Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 22, 1911.djvu/512

 476 Collectanea.

Armenian Folk-Tales {continued). 7. The Dreamer}

There was, and there was, a father, a mother, and a son. One evening the son goes to sleep. In the morning he rises, and says to his mother, — " Mother, I have dreamed a dream, but I will not tell it to you."

" Why will you not tell it to me ? ", the mother asks. He only repeats, — " I will not tell." The mother gives her son a good beating.

Then the son goes to his father, and says, — " Daddy, (Tato), I have dreamed a dream. I would not tell it to my mother, and I will not tell it to you." The father also beats the son. The son is vexed, and goes away. He goes a day's journey. He meets a traveller, and says, — " Greetings." " God give you a good day," replies the traveller. " I have dreamed a dream," says the youth. " I would not tell it to my mother, I would not tell it to my father, and I will not tell it to you." He goes on his way.

He goes on until he meets a Prince. He accosts him, and says, — " Prince, I have dreamed a dream. I would not tell it to my mother, I would not tell it to my father, I would not tell it to the traveller, and I will not tell it to you." The Prince seizes the youth, and casts him into a dungeon in his palace. The young man gets hold of a knife, and digs a hole through the wall, which lets him into the chamber of the Prince's daughter. He sees the Princess fill a bowl with food, cover it with a lid, and leave the room. The young man goes and opens the lid, and cleans up the bowl, fills his belly, (satisfies his hunger), and returns to his dungeon.

One day passes like this ; two pass ; three pass ; four pass. The young man eats up the Princess's food, and she doesn't know who takes it. Then, one day, the Princess puts butter in the bowl, and hides behind the flour-bin. The young man enters, and takes some bread and eats it. The Princess springs from her hiding-place, seizes him, and asks, — "Who are you?"

He replies, — " I have dreamed a dream. I would not t^U it to my mother ; I would not tell it to my father ; I would not tell it ^ This is the fifth story in Manana.