Latest / Sandman Stories Presents / EP 319: Armenia- Husband or Wife, Which? (Seklemian)

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EP 319: Armenia- Husband or Wife, Which? (Seklemian) · Sandman Stories Presents

• 0:25
  Welcome back listeners to Sandman Stories Presents, a
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  folklore podcast where I read you to sleep or until the next
• 0:30
  story. I'm your host, Dustin.
• 0:33
  And if you want more Sandman that's too spicy for the main
• 0:36
  feed, go ahead and check out the Patreon.
• 0:38
  You can get the whole catalog for free.
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  And a big thank you to Oliver for joining at the free tier.
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  All listenership is appreciated. OK, and trigger warning on this
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  one. There is talk of murder today.
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  We are back in the book of Armenian folk tales written down
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  by AG Cyclomian. Today's story has a silly royal
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  who seeks to blame all women kind for the crimes of one that
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  he himself encouraged. OK, let's begin.
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  Husband or wife which a Goldsmith and his wife lived a
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  happy life in perfect harmony and love in all the land.
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  They were considered the best version of conjugal love.
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  It was their custom not to put out the light in their house,
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  but to let it burn all the night.
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  One night as the king and queen were looking in from their high
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  window at the sleepy city, they noticed the goldsmith's light
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  twinkling in the distance and his well known matrimonial love
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  became the subject of debate between the royal couple.
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  The king insisted that it was on the account of the husband's
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  virtue that he and his wife are in such perfect harmony.
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  The queen insisted that it was on the account of the wife's
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  virtue. There upon they decided to make
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  a test and find out the truth. On the following day the queen
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  sent one of her hands maids to the Goldsmith saying that she
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  had fallen in love with him and would become his wife if he
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  killed his current wife. Not I, answered the Goldsmith.
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  I will not part from my wife for all the world.
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  I am content with what heaven has assigned me.
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  I will not exchange my wife for 1000 Queens.
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  On the following day, the king sent a servant to the
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  goldsmith's wife, saying that he had been charmed with her beauty
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  and wanted to make her queen if she would kill her present
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  husband. Really.
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  Is it really true? Exclaimed the woman.
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  It is true, answered the servant.
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  Well then, said the woman, I will kill my husband this very
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  night. When you see our light has gone
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  out tonight, know that I've begun to murder him.
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  The servant brought word to the king, who ordered his men to be
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  ready and to go to the rescue of the Goldsmith if the light was
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  really put out. In the evening the Goldsmith
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  came home after supper. The husband and wife had a nice
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  talk as usual, and the husband, putting his head on the lap of
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  his wife, fell asleep. The woman slipped A noose around
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  his neck, blew out the candle, and began to pull on the rope.
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  The poor Goldsmith was strangled before the King's men came to
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  the rescue. This murder of one of his
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  favorite subjects grieved the king so deeply that he
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  thereafter hated all women from the depths of his soul.
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  He could not sleep that night, and early in the morning he
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  called his Prime Minister, saying, Today I will go hunting.
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  You must put all the women in the country to death, old and
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  young, before I come home this evening.
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  The Prime Minister had an aged father, to whom he went and
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  repeated the King's terrible order.
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  Do not obey it, said the old man.
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  I shall be responsible. Go and hide yourself for a
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  couple of days from the anger of the king.
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  In the evening the king came back from hunting and seeing the
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  women of the realm still alive, was enraged and called his Prime
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  Minister into his presence. The old man appeared before the
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  king, standing on his crutches. Where is your son?
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  Said the king. I went to first cut off his
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  head, then those of the women. Long live the king, said the old
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  man with his trembling voice. Permit me to tell you of an
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  experience of mine, and then put your command into execution if
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  you choose. Speak, said the king, who at the
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  same time gave orders to the soldiers to be ready to butcher
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  the women. I was Prime Minister during your
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  father's reign, said the old man.
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  One day we went hunting. I was led astray by game and
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  came near a village on the other side of the forest.
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  Soon I was overtaken by an unknown horseman, who took hold
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  of me, lifting me up from the back of my horse, and placing me
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  before him on the saddle of his own horse, bound me with rope
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  and tied the reins of my horse to the back of his own.
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  To struggle on my part was useless, because he was very
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  strong. Soon we arrived at the cemetery,
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  where we dismounted. For a while.
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  He looked here and there and then stopped at a certain place
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  and began to dig and ordered me to shovel the earth after him.
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  We dug 2 graves. We mounted again and dismounted
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  at the foot of the castle wall. He bound me carefully to the
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  saddle of his horse and himself climbed up the wall.
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  After a few minutes, from the top of the wall he threw down
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  the headless corpse of a man who had just been murdered.
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  He came down and placing the corpse on my horse, took it and
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  myself to the graves we had dug. I was horror stricken and
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  thought that one of the graves must be for the corpse and the
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  other for me. But to my surprise he united me
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  and asked me to help him bury the corpse, which I did.
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  Then he turned to me and said, I know who you are, you are the
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  Prime Minister of the state. Now listen to me and go and tell
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  the King my story. I am a woman and have boundless
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  love for my husband. This vile Prince, whose body we
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  have just now buried, having fallen in love with me, killed
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  my husband so that he might win my love.
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  But I vowed by the sacred love I bore my husband to kill the
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  murderer and bury him under my husband's feet.
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  Now that that is accomplished, I vowed next to kill myself so
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  that I might be buried by the side of my husband.
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  For the love of heaven, bury me in this grave and tell my story
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  to the king. This, she said, stabbed herself
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  with a dagger and fell dead at my feet.
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  I buried her in that grave near her husband.
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  Here you have the example of a faithful and brave wife.
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  If the unfaithful wife of the Goldsmith gave you occasion to
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  order the death of all of the women of the realm, let this
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  woman be the means of saving her sex from general slaughter.
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  Why shall many good women die because of the wickedness of one
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  woman? Thereupon the king revoked the
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  order, and only the goldsmith's wife was put to death.
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  The end. Thankfully that was a short one.
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  I felt like this was all the fault of the Royals just looking
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  to mess with people's lives. Hey, let's have a test.
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  It might screw up their lives, but Oh well.
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  If they hadn't gotten involved, the Goldsmith might still be
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  alive. I like how the Prime Minister
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  and his father were both smarter than the king and it doesn't
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  feel good punishing any gender for one thing that somebody in
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  that gender has done just silly. There are 9 more stories so I
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  should be done with this book by 2027.
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  And as always, thank you for listening to me and the podcast.
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  Shout out is to a rather new show hosted by the Amazing under
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  Baki. Second Guess Everything is a
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  true crime pod that Alex really digs into and does the research
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  for. She provides a wonderful story
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  woven from a bunch of different sources.
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  So go and check her out. She's awesome.
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  And the listener shout out is to Saint Croix on the US Virgin
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  Islands. It's the biggest of the Virgin
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  Islands and I would love to go there.
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  And if I could, I would love to see the Moko Jumbies performing
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  live. And I was able to look up a
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  Crucian dictionary. So I say to my listener on the
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  Big Island, Tankya and see at the Big Bashment, thank you and
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  see you at the big party.