foolishness-and-blind-following

sahrahdz otzuh daktzour, kehzee guh khaiteh

Ehs eh hedzer, ehs guh puhndereh

There was once a smuggler who was very successful. He lived in a poor country of sheep herders and farmers. The smuggler conveniently lived near the border of a neighboring country that was prosperous. He was moderately wealthy and no one could figure out how he was so successful. There were only rumors that he made his money by smuggling.

He crossed the border every month riding a donkey laden with sheep’s wool. The border guards would carefully examine the merchandise and make him pay the taxes. There was one custom’s official that was particularly suspicious of him, but he was never able to find anything that would justify arresting him for smuggling. Many years went by and finally the suspicious custom’s official retired as did the smuggler.

One day the custom’s official paid a visit to the smuggler. He asked the smuggler if he could talk with him. They sat down together. The custom’s official gradually brought up the subject of smuggling. He said,
“My friend, I am retired and so are you. I have been suspicious of you for many years, but I never could verify if you were smuggling goods. Yet, I see that you have done very well for yourself. I promise you I won’t use any information you give me against you. But, please tell me, what were you smuggling into my country all those years?

The smuggler smiled. He said,

“You promise not to tell?”

“Yes, I swear on the grave of my mother.”

“I was smuggling a donkey a month into your country. Our donkeys sell at a premium price to your farmers.”

Khevuh uhsatz khelokuh havadhatz

People often make unsubstantiated statements that are speculative or outright false and unrealistic. Statements that cannot be verified with fact or authority should not be accepted. Yet, foolish persons easily accept baseless statements as true.

There is another proverb in Armenian, “Halebuh hoos cheh neh, santokhuh hos eh.”

An Armenian merchant went from his village in Armenia to Aleppo, Syria. On his return he told everyone that he saw an ass climbing up a staircase in Aleppo. On hearing this, a man remarked, “Our village is not Aleppo, but we do have a staircase (or literally Aleppo is not here, the staircase is here).” The implication is that if asses can walk up staircases in Aleppo, we have plenty of staircases (and asses) in our village to test your statement to see if it is true or not.