The Merchant Ambartsum's Children

Once upon a time, there lived a man named Ambartsum. He was a very wealthy merchant: he owned shops in the bazaar and earned a lot of money. Ambartsum had a wife and two children—a son and a daughter, both extraordinarily beautiful.

Ambartsum also had a sworn brother, also a merchant, named Petros, who lived in Istanbul. Ambartsum lived happily with his family, traveled to Istanbul, traded goods, and brought back merchandise from there. He gave his children a good education, hiring teachers for them. It should be noted that his children—the brother and sister—loved each other so much that they could not bear to be apart for even an hour.

But one day, tragedy struck—the merchant's wife passed away. He grieved deeply, fell ill from sorrow, and felt that his final hour was approaching. He called his children and said:

"My children, always remain loyal and devoted to one another. My son, take over the trade from me, do not be lazy, or you will lose our wealth and become a pauper within a year. Load a caravan of camels with goods and go to the city of Istanbul to my sworn brother Petros. He will help you in your trade."

The son and daughter buried their father with all honors, giving away much money to the poor. The time came for them to part ways and fulfill their father's wish—to travel with the goods to Istanbul to meet Petros. The sister wept for a long time, not wanting to let her beloved brother go.

"What can we do?" said her brother. "It pains me to leave you alone as well. You know what? Let's commission a painter to make our portraits. I'll leave mine with you, and I'll take yours with me. When I feel sad, I'll talk to your portrait."

Then the brother hired an old woman to live with his sister and help her around the house. He tenderly bid farewell to his sister and, loading the camels, set off for Istanbul. Whether a long or short time passed, only he could say, but eventually, he arrived at his destination. He found the merchant Petros, told him of his parents' passing, and, on behalf of his late father, asked for his assistance and support.

Petros welcomed him as his own son, fed him, gave him drink, helped him sell his goods, and then took him to an audience with the king. When the king's son saw the son of Ambartsum, he wanted to befriend him. He began visiting him every day at Petros's shop, inviting him to his palace, feeding him, and spending entire days in his company.

A whole month passed this way. One day, the son of Ambartsum said to Petros:

"Uncle, it's not right for me to spend every day with the king's son. We should invite him to our place as well."

"Very well," said Petros, "we'll prepare a feast." The next day, Petros laid luxurious carpets from the royal palace to his house so the king's son could walk on them, and prepared a lavish banquet.

The son of Ambartsum went to the king's son and invited him to visit.

"I would be delighted," said the prince, "but I must first ask my father and mother for permission."

The king replied to his son:

"Very well, go, but take the vizier with you and do not stay overnight." The king's son went to visit Petros's house, feasted there all day, and by evening began to prepare to leave. The son of Ambartsum begged, pleaded, and persuaded him to stay the night. Finally, the prince agreed. Servants brought luxurious bedding, and everyone lay down to sleep, but not immediately: the prince was worried that the king would be angry with him; the vizier had eaten too much and tossed and turned; and the son of Ambartsum could not sleep because he was overwhelmed with unbearable longing for his beloved sister.

He took out her portrait, lit a candle, and began to quietly speak to it. The king's son saw the portrait of the girl and immediately fell in love with her—she was so beautiful! The vizier also saw the portrait and could not take his eyes off it. In the morning, the prince rose sad and sullen, sat at the table, but touched nothing.

"Why are you so sad?" asked the son of Ambartsum. "Why won't you try the food? Are you ill?"

"No, I'm healthy," replied the prince. "But I'm sad because you call me a friend yet keep secrets from me."

"I have no secrets from you, why are you upsetting me?" replied the son of Ambartsum.

"Yes, you do," said the prince. "You have a fiancée, and you hid it from me."

"I have no fiancée," the son of Ambartsum said in surprise.

"What about the portrait?"

"That's a portrait of my sister!"

He took out the portrait and showed it to his guests, and the prince and the vizier were completely captivated.

The prince returned to the palace in a daze, gloomy and sullen, and soon fell ill from longing. No doctor, no healer could help him.

"Tell us, what's wrong with you?" the king and queen pressed.

"Arrange a marriage for me with the daughter of Ambartsum," said the prince. "Or I will die."

"What?" the king and queen were astonished. "Are there no royal daughters in the world that you want to marry the daughter of a simple merchant?"

"I don't need royal daughters. Either I marry the daughter of Ambartsum, or I won't live."

There was nothing else to do. The king sent for Petros and the son of Ambartsum and arranged for his sister to marry his son.

"Give her to my son in marriage, for he cannot live without her," the king requested.

They, of course, gladly agreed.

"Long live the king," said Petros. "Take this girl as your daughter-in-law, you won't regret it. She is intelligent, educated, and modest."

Heralds announced the engagement of the king's son to the merchant's daughter, and the king threw an unprecedented feast. The vizier learned of this engagement and began to think of how to disrupt the wedding and marry the daughter of Ambartsum himself. He devised an evil plan. He went to the king and said:

"Long live the king. Do you know that the girl you are arranging for your son is of ill repute?"

"I'll have your heads for deceiving me! The daughter of Ambartsum is a girl of ill repute."

The brother was astonished by these slanders against his sister and said:

"Long live the king. Give us time. Let your vizier prove that my sister behaves badly, or I will prove that she is a model of virtue. Once you have the proof, then decide whom to execute—us and my uncle or this traitorous vizier."

The king agreed. The treacherous vizier immediately ran to a scribe and ordered a forged letter, supposedly written by the brother to his sister, in which the brother allegedly asked her to welcome the vizier as an honored guest. Taking this letter, the vizier went to the city where the girl lived; found out where Ambartsum's house was located, and gave the letter and the request to the servants.

The girl read the letter and said to the servants:

"Return this letter to the one who gave it to you and tell him I will have him killed if he dares to cross the threshold of my house. This letter is a forgery; my brother did not write it."

"Didn't my father teach me? I'll figure out who wrote it, my brother or a stranger." Enraged, the vizier decided not to give up. He waited for the old woman who lived with the girl, threatened and bribed her into secretly stealing a ring from the girl. And so, when the girl was washing her hair and took off her ring, the old woman quietly took it and later handed it to the vizier, who, without wasting a moment, galloped off to Istanbul.

Only the next day did the girl notice the ring was missing. She suspected the old woman, but she did not confess. Meanwhile, the vizier had already reached Istanbul.

"Long live the king!" he shouted as he ran into the palace. "Here is the ring of that girl you arranged for your son! If the girl behaved properly, would she let a strange man into her house, would she give him her ring?"

The king summoned Petros and the son of Ambartsum and said to them:

"Well, whose ring is this?"

"This is my sister's ring," admitted the son of Ambartsum. But he thought to himself: "Could my sister have become bad in just a month? It's hard to believe! But the ring is hers!"

He asked the king for five more days, dressed in black, got into a black carriage, and went to his sister. He stepped out of the carriage at his house, and as his sister approached him, he spat in her face, turned around, and left. The sister learned from people what misfortune had befallen her brother, how the king had arranged her marriage, and how the king's vizier had slandered her.

She visited all the respected houses in the city, and the townspeople wrote and signed a document for her: "This girl is of exemplary behavior, there is none purer or kinder in the world."

"Drive the horses as fast as you can," she told the coachman. "I will pay you whatever you ask."

She reached Istanbul by evening. She entered a church where an evening service was being held. She saw a woman praying and weeping bitterly.

"Why are you crying?" she asked the woman.

"I am crying because tomorrow my husband, the merchant Petros, and his young friend, the son of Ambartsum, are to be executed because of a shameless girl."

"Listen, woman," the girl said to her. "I have no acquaintances in this city, let me stay the night."

"Come," said the woman. "It makes no difference to me." In the morning, the zurna sounded. The executioner was already sharpening his axe. Wailing rose in Petros's house.

"Don't cry," the girl comforted his wife. "God is merciful." The daughter of Ambartsum put on a thick veil and went to the king.

"What do you want?" the king asked her.

"Long live the king," the girl said with a bow. "Delay the execution for a few minutes and hear me out."

The king waved a handkerchief at the executioner. The girl placed a ring before him and said to the king:

"King, your vizier stole my ring. Here is its pair. Order him to return it."

The vizier exclaimed indignantly:

"I have never seen this girl before!"

"Ah, so! You heard this, king? And your people heard it too? How can you judge me if you don't even know my face! I am the sister of this unfortunate man you are about to execute. And here is a letter from the respected people of our city." The daughter of Ambartsum told everything: how the vizier had sent her a forged letter, how he had bribed the old woman, and how, having stolen the ring, he had slandered her before the king.

The king immediately ordered the release of the unfortunate men and the execution of the treacherous vizier instead. For forty days and forty nights, a grand wedding celebration was held in the royal palace for the king's son and the daughter of Ambartsum. Thus, they found their happiness. And you will find yours too.

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The Merchant Ambartsum's Children

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