UNLUCKY PANOSS

Once upon a time there lived a poor man whose name was Panoss. He was a kind-hearted man but any work he began ended in failure; that was why people called him Unlucky Panoss.

All he possessed was a pair of oxen, a cart and an axe. One day he harnessed the oxen to the cart, took his axe and drove to the forest for wood. In the forest Panoss thought "Now I must cut down a tree, then I shall have to take pains to lift the log and put it on the cart. What if I pull up the oxen and can under the tree so that it will fall right into the cart?"

No sooner said than done. He drove the oxen and cart under a big tree, got to the other side of it and began to chop. Only he knows how long he worked; then the tree came down with a loud crash right upon the cart and smashed all - cart and oxen, Panoss stood stunned. What could he do?'' He took his axe and started for home scratching his head.

On his way home while passing by a lake Panoss saw wild ducks swimming in it. He thought to himself "Well. I failed again, but I have to lake something home. I'll kill a duck and take it to my wife." As he thought so, he hurled his axe at the ducks. Squeaking and squealing the ducks took to their wings - some hid among the canes, others flew away. 

The axe fell into the deep lake. Panoss stood on the shore lost in thoughts. What to do? Finally, he took off his clothes, put them on the shore and entered the lake to look for the axe. He moved forward on and on, - the farther he went, the deeper the water got; he was afraid of getting drowned so he came back and got out of the water.

It so happened that while Panoss was in the far part of the lake a man was passing by. Noticing the clothes he looked right and left but saw no one, as Panoss was on the other side of the canes. The man picked up the clothes and went away. Panoss came out of the lake and saw his clothes were gone. He was stark naked. He thought "Dear me, what shall I do, where can I go naked?" He waited till darkness fell and took the road to the village.

As he approached the village he thought: "If I go home stark naked what will people think of me? I better go to my brother's house, borrow some clothes from him, get dressed and only then go home to my wife." So he took the path to his brother's house. That evening his brother had guests and they were having a feast. Panoss opened the door to see who the guests were.

Thinking it was the dog, one of the guests threw a bone. The bone hit him right in the eye and wounded it. Poor Panoss began howling with pain and turned back for home. The dogs were startled at the noise and attacked him on every side. Hearing the din people came out of the houses and saw a naked man running and dogs chasing him.

Without thinking twice they decided it was the devil incarnate. Shouting, swearing, cursing they pursued him into the forest. The dogs tore off one of his legs. And so poor Panoss naked, blind, limping got into the forest and was gone for good.

The next day new, spread in the village that Panoss had disappeared "Panoss has gone to the forest for wood but hasn't come back." The men of the village came together and went to the forest in search of Panoss. They found oxen and cart crushed under the weight of a tree but there was no sign of him. They searched here, they searched there, and at last they found the man who had picked up the clothes.

"Man, how did these clothes come to be here?" "Brothers, they were lying on the shore of the lake. As there was no one about I picked them home."

They went to the lake and looked for him all about. Panoss was nowhere. Everybody came to the conclusion that Panoss had drowned. They went to church and ordered mass for Panoss' soul and held a feast in his memory. His wife mourned and lamented over him, wept and sang his merits. After a while she married another man and went to live with him.

Armenian Fairy Tales
Embassy of the Republic of Armenia, Washington, D.C.