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Anahit
(Armenian Folktale)
The Queen Who Made the King Get a Job
- Yes, she should be using the crank on the other side of the well to draw up water, but I liked the visual of her letting the rope go. ↩
- This point was part of the Communist Russia version – choosing the suitor is an important part of traditional Armenian culture. Communist Russia was more egalitarian in its attitude towards women, it would seem. ↩
- Nazar is the name given to him in one version – in the other, it’s Vaginak. That name caused giggling in too many of my friends, so I stuck with Nazar. ↩
- This “yay proletariat”-ism also comes from the Russia version. ↩
- The original gag for Petros was him saying, “I don’t get it, why is Tyler Durden the bad guy?” but it seemed too dated a reference (and too many people saw the movie instead of read the book). ↩
- Petros is my favorite character in this. ↩
- Armenians are quite serious about their clothing, and weaving is a big part of that. ↩
- No version explained why she encouraged him to go check out the kingdom, apart from him generally seeming disconnected from the common man. ↩
- The Russian version has a very long scene where he comes to a temple, and the priest is built up as this super cool guy who wouldn’t hurt a flea – people lay out bricks for him to step on so he wouldn’t touch the ground, that sort of thing. He then promises the incognito king a job, and traps him in a dungeon. ↩
- In the other version, she and the horse break down a wall hiding the cave dungeon, but I liked the visual of her busting down the door much better. ↩
- That’s legit how the story ends. I think it’s sweet. ↩
Art Notes
- There may be some inaccuracies with the style of dress – I found a fair bit of conflicting info on Armenian dress styles. I think Anahit probably should be wearing some form of apron in the early scenes, but I had no time to go back and redraw them.
- Petros is holding a book upside down in the poster image.
- Anahit (sometimes spelled Anait) is also the name of an Armenian fertility goddess.
- There actually is an animated princess movie of Anahit! It came out in 2014, and was posted online in its entirety by the animation studio that made it, so I think it’s okay to link:
I can’t understand it, but seems to take some liberties: Anahit’s uncle is a schemer in league with a shadowy devil creature, her horse gets a flaming mane, there’s a talking dog…?
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