ahskhahdahnkuh mahyruhn eh ahmehn pahreekee, dzouloutiounuh chahreekee

(Honest) work is the mother of all blessings, laziness of misfortune.

There is a story entitled the “The Eternal Apple,” written by M. Gohrhoun that illustrate this proverb.

There was a man and a woman. They owned a small patch of land with grape vines.
They diligently cared for their vines and lived off the land.

They had children. They loved their children and showered affection and care on them.

Beside the vineyard and their children, they kept a nightingale. Every evening,
after they finished work, the parents returned home , hugged their children,
loved then, embraced them, then approached the nightingale,
and fed her seeds and water. Then the nightingale would sing sweet songs.

One day the farmer noticed that the nightingale was sad and didn’t eat any seeds.

“Sweet nightingale, why are you sad? You are not eating any seeds.” said the farmer.

The nightingale replied, “What shall I do, I also have a father and mother. You never
say, go and see your father and mother and satisfy your thirst to enjoy their company.”

“If that is your desire,” said the farmer, “then I’ll open the door of your cage.
Go and see your parents and communicate to them my family’s good wishes.”

The nightingale promised to return quickly and flew happily out of its cage and soon found its
dear parents and family. The nightingale’s parents showered their love and affection on their
child. After a few days, they sent the nightingale back with a gift of an apple seed for the farmer.
The nightingale kept the seed firmly in her beak and flew past green forests and over fragrant gardens.
As the nightingale winged past white swanlike clouds, they began to speak to her.

“Dear nightingale, why are you so hurriedly flying past us? Stay with us a bit and sing your sweet songs.”

“No, I can’t. I gave my promise to the vine keeper to return as soon as possible,” said the nightingale.

The fragrant gardens and the blooming rose bushes addressed the nightingale.

Where are you going so fast, sweet nightingale? Come down and stay with us and sing your sweet songs.”

“No, I can’t. I have given my word to the vine keeper,” said the nightingale, who continued her flight.

Soon the nightingale reached the vineyard. She flew down and settled next to the farmer and delivered the apple seed.
The vine keeper became happy seeing the nightingale and spoke the following.

“Since you have not tricked me and promptly returned in time, from this day on, live freely without staying in the cage.
Make your nest in or near the vineyard among the bushes.”

The vine keeper accepted the apple seed from the nightingale. He planted it in a sunny part of his vineyard.
The dedication and loving care by which the vinekeeper, his wife and child nurtured the apple seed is noteworthy.

After some years the apple seed sprouted and gradually developed into a miraculous tree
the likes of which the world has never seen. It eventually began to give a few apples. The apple tree was so beautiful and bewitchingly fragrant that passersby could not help but admire it and stare in amazement.

Evenually the king of that country heard about the miraculous apple tree.

“You won’t believe it, father king. A humble vinekeeper has a truly amazing apple tree which makes
all your royal fruit trees pale in comparison.”

The king ordered that a sample fruit from the apple tree be brought to him.

The humble vinekeeper picked his sole fragrant apple and brought it to the king. The king and his retinue
were dumbstruck with amazement when they saw the apple.

“Words are not adequate to describe this amazing apple,” said the king. “Wait, let me cut off a piece and taste how delectible it is,”
said the king. He cut off a half and began to eat it.

He hardly ate a morcel before he began to choke, turned purple and died. The palace guards surrounded the vinekeeper.
They were about to kill him because they thought he poisoned the king. The vizier, however, stopped them and spoke.

“Since the king has died by eating the poisoned apple of the vinekeeper, let he and his wife eat a piece of the same apple so that they die too.”

Guards were dispatched to fetch the vinekeeper’s wife. The guards were begged and beseeched to spare
the lives of the wife and have pity on the children. But how could they hear such imploring when they received an unequivical
order. An order is an order. The vinekeeper and his wife were forced to eat the remaining half of the apple.
Everyone was anxious to see them die. But, contrary to their expectation, the vinekeeper and his wife, after eating the apple, became younger
and healthier instead of dying.

The palace residents were amazed by this apparent miracle. They ordered the vinekeeper to reveal the secret of this
strange apple. The vinekeeper was also amazed by the events and insisted he knew nothing about the apple. He related how he received the seeds for the apple tree from a nightingale. The palace residents ordered the nightingale be brought to the palace. They implored the bird to reveal the secret of the apple.

“This is an eternal apple,” said the nightingale. “Whoever eats that apple without having worked to grow it
will be poisoned when they taste its flesh. But the opposite is true. Whoever works diligently and cares for the tree
to produce the fruit with honest labor will be rejuvenated by eating the fruit.” Thus, after speaking, the nightingale left the palace with the vinekeeper and his wife.