Apples of Immortality: Folktales of Armenia

Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1968. First Edition. Large octavo with red boards in white, yellow and red pictorial jacket; 319 pages; illustrations; 25 cm. Very good (-) with clean pages and tight binding; bottom of spine bumped; jacket very good (-) with some light wear/chipping to edges and mild scuffing; now in archival mylar. Hardcover. ISBN: 0403980011

"This collection of forty tales from the rich oral tradition of Armenia was taken down from the lips of unlettered peasants in the highlands of that ancient country, notably in the villages around Mt. Ararat, where the author spent his childhood. The English translation of these popular tales as they are actually told in Armenia is a unique attempt, and requires a special knowledge of regional dialects. Professor Leon Surmelian has that knowledge; he is an Armenian lyric poet and a master of English prose." -- Jacket copy.

Contents: Wonder tales: Apples of immortality; The swineherd; Rose-maiden; Tale of the lad with golden locks; Magic candlestick; The bird-peri; Jan-Polad: steel-monster; The red cow; The peasant's son and the forty robbers; Zulvisia; Tale of the laughing fish; The woodcutter; Tale of the hunter's son; Sun-maid and dragon-prince; Alo-dino and the nightingale of a thousand songs, Hazaran Bulbul; Brother-lamb; Tale of a boy's dream; Tale of the wizard; Faithful wife; The boy who did not want to die; Tale of the one-eyed giant; The fox, the wolf, the bear, and the emerald-bird; Shrewish wife; Habermany, the serpent-prince. Tales of everyday life: Halva vendor; Slandered sister; There are women and there are women; The king's rose; Wise weaver; The goat; The old hag; The lame man, the beardless man, and the one-eyed man; Clever bride; A man must stretch his legs to fit his quilt; The liar; Death of little Kikos; Three brothers; The man who knew how to divide a chicken; Mighty Dezhiko; Father Slik goes to paradise.