“ BARSSEGH. I tell you, hand out my money or I will lay your note before the court immediately! I would only like to know where you are going to get the dowry for your daughter. You will pay over my money to your son-in-law, will you, and give me the go-by?
OSSEP. Give yourself no trouble! Even if you should beg me now, I would not keep your money. To-morrow at this time you shall have it, and then may the faces turn black of those who still look at you.
BARSSEGH. I want it at once.
OSSEP. Then come with me. You shall have it. The sooner a man is rid of a bad thing, the better it is. ”

“ Gorgis arose and looked out of the window and said, "These are women, not men," and they opened the door.
Chandud-Chanum came to David and said: "You kissed me first for the fatigue of your journey, a second time for yourself, and a third time for God's sake. Why did you kiss me a fourth time? You are the son of your father and I am the daughter of mine. It has been said: Take to yourself a wife that you may have a son who is like his uncle. Do you think you have brought me the heads of the giants Hamsa of Lori and Schibikan of Chorassan, that you kiss me a fourth time?" ”

“ OSSEP. Now, is it not true? One must help the other, for one alone cannot accomplish much, be he ever so strong and ready to work.
SALOME. Oh, yes! and you are the one ready to work and I am the lazy one, I suppose.
OSSEP. For heaven's sake, do not fly into a passion like that!
CHACHO [
to Salome
] . That was nothing more than a figure of speech. Who is accusing you of laziness?
OSSEP [
sitting down
] . Tell me, can we count ourselves among those persons who can give their daughter 10,000 rubles for a dowry? Are we able to do that?
SALOME. Eight thousand is surely not 10,000. ”

“ OSSEP. Am I not providing for her, you wicked woman? Have I not presented three or four young persons to you as sons-in-law? For that matter, they would still be very glad to take her. They are young, clever, and industrious, and, moreover, persons of our condition in life. But who can be reasonable and speak to you? You have got it into your head that Nato's husband shall be an official, and there you stick. It is not your daughter's future that makes your heart bleed, but your own ambition.
SALOME. What more can I say to you? ”

“ As long as the wagon is not upset the way is not mended.
The water that drowns me is for me an ocean.
The Armenian has his understanding in his head, the Georgian in his eyes.
The ass knows seven ways of swimming, but when he sees the water he forgets them all.
The wound of a dagger heals, but that of the tongue, never.
A good ox is known in the yoke, a good woman at the cradle of her child.
Love ever so well, there is also hate; hate ever so much, there is always love.
A shrewd enemy is better than a stupid friend.
To rise early is not everything; happy are they who have the help of God. ”

“ I have just 2,000 rubles on hand; if you wish I will give them to you to-morrow.
OSSEP. Good; I will be very thankful for them. But what do you say to that shameless fellow? Have you seen him? Have you spoken with him?
GEWO. Of course. I have just come from him.
OSSEP. What did he say? Will he really give nothing?
GEWO. If he does not lie, he will settle with you alone. Let the others kick, he said. Go to him right off, dear Ossep. Before the thing becomes known perhaps you can still get something out of him.
OSSEP. Come with me, Gewo. Yes, we must do something, or else I am lost. ”

“ As the King had no son, he sent the youth in place of a son to the King of the West to demand his daughter, according to agreement.
He went on and on—how long it is not known—and saw someone with his ear to the ground listening.
"Who are you?" the youth asked.
"I am he who hears everything that is said in the whole world."
"This is a brave fellow," said the youth. "He knows everything that is said in the world."
"I am no brave fellow. He who has pierced a steel shield with a steel spear is a brave fellow," was the answer. ”

“ Where is Ossep? What does he think about it?
SALOME. He is busy, but he will be here directly. He says, and insists upon it, that he will allow our daughter to marry no one but a business man.
CHACHO. He is right, my child; a good business man is worth much. Yes; is not one who has money in his pockets the best?
SALOME. Oh, how you talk! What business man is to be compared with Alexander Marmarow! Is there any business man worthy to untie his shoe-strings? His politeness alone is worth more than ten business men. ”

“ Hripsime was not a little excited, and that was just what I wished. When she once began she could no longer hold in: her words gushed forth as from a spring, and the more she spoke the smoother her speech.
"Do you know?" I began again, "that I have been standing a long while before this deserted yard, and cannot recall whose house stood here, why they have pulled it down, and what has become of its inhabitants? You are an aged woman, and have peeped into every corner of our city: you must have something to tell about it. ”

“ Is there anyone who does not know the scoundrel? Go to the brokers, and they will tell you many he has thrown out of house and home by fraud and hunted out of the city. Have you ever seen how a bird-catcher lures the birds into his net—how he whistles to them? That's the way this John gets the people into his traps. To-day he will act as if altogether stupid. To-morrow he is suddenly shrewd, and understands the business well. ”

“ As a people the Armenians cannot boast of as vast a literature as the Persians, their one-time conquerors, but that which remains of purely Armenian prose, folk-lore, and poetry tells us of a poetic race, gifted with imaginative fire, sternness of will, and persistency of adherence to old ideas, a race that in proportion to their limited production in letters can challenge comparison with any people. ”

“ OSSEP. Whatever she tries to do is only half done: music, languages—she has only half learned. Tell me, what can she do? Is she able to sew anything? or to cut out a dress for herself? Yes, that one seems like a European girl! Ha! ha! Five times I have been in Leipsic, and the daughter of the merest pauper there can do more than she can. What have I not seen in the way of needlework! I gaped with admiration. And she cannot even speak Armenian properly, and that is her mother tongue! Can she write a page without mistakes? ”

“ SALOME. Do you not know that married people often have little quarrels?
CHACHO. That I know a hundred times better than you. And only a blockhead takes a dispute between man and wife seriously. That is true; but that you two have already had time to get used to each other is also true.
OSSEP. Sit down, dear aunt. Tell me, rather, whether a wagon can be moved when one ox pulls to the right and the other to the left. ”

“ OSSEP. I am a man; do you understand me? If I tell you that I can give no more, you should believe me.
CHACHO. We believe it, truly; we believe it, but we must say to you, nevertheless, that the dowry that a man gives his daughter means a great deal. ”

“ You have altogether too long a tongue, and are only the daughter-in-law of the cobbler Matus.
KHALI. And what better are you? You are a gardener's daughter, you insolent thing!
SALOME. You are insolent, yourself! Do not think so much of yourself—everyone knows that you have robbed the whole world, and only in that way have gotten up in the world. ”

“ OSSEP. In our line of trade only a few persons carry on their business with their own money. Most of us have to borrow. When I sell goods to one, I pay my debt to the other. I sell goods to the third and pay to the fourth; and so it goes in a circle, like a wheel drawing water, until one falls in the hands of a man who draws the needle out of the knitting and everything falls in pieces. Who is in a position to fight against such conditions? One must pay the store rent and the clerk's salary, and beside that the interest on the working capital. ”

“ Now I believe, indeed, that these chairs, this sofa, this mirror, your coat, your cane—in a word, every article that you call yours—represents some person you have robbed. Take my bones and add to them. Make the measure full. You have made your conscience a stone and will hear nothing; but I tell you, one day it will awake, and every object that lies or stands here will begin to speak and hold up to you your villanies. Then you can go and justify yourself before your Maker. Shame upon him who still calls you a human being! ”

“ Mother of God, plead for my Nato!
OSSEP [
enters, right
] . Where has Nato gone?
SALOME. Just across the way, to the store. She needed some music.
OSSEP. These are fine times for me! And a girl like this is to become a good citizen's wife!
[Sits down on the sofa.
SALOME [
coming near
] . That is what I say, too, dear Ossep. [
Lays hand on his shoulder
.] Are you not sorry? Is it not too bad about her?
OSSEP. I am still more to be pitied; but who pities me? SALOME. Shall we really give her to a business man for a wife?
OSSEP. And what else? Is a merchant such a bad fellow? ”

“ If the stuff does not go off or spoils on my hands or the price falls, what shall I do? You know that our capital consists of only a few kopecks. We spend as we earn. If I run after the rubles and lose the kopecks thereby, who will give me something to eat?' concluded the poor wretch, as if he scented some evil.
"But could he free himself from that Satan of a Hemorrhoid Jack? Like a leech he had fastened himself on his neck and demanded that he should buy the goods.
"'Now, Sarkis,' he began again, 'the thing is settled. I am to send you in the morning manufactured goods, tea, and tobacco. ”

“ OSSEP. No, not another such miserable scoundrel! I expect every moment to be notified, and have no idea where I can get the money. Everyone I have asked to help me has refused me. I can borrow no more on my note, and I cannot sell my goods at half price. That everyone must understand. They all show their claws as soon as they find out the position I am in. Salome is to blame for all this; the 7,000 rubles she promised is the cause of it all. I would like to know who will pay them to him now.
CHACHO. You talk nonsense! You will make your daughter unhappy forever,
Ossep. ”

“ Isn't this a punishment of Providence, to bring up a daughter, spend a lot of money on her education, and when you have done everything, then hang a bag of gold around her neck, so that she may find someone who is kind enough to take her home with him? A pretty custom!
SALOME. Against the manners and customs of the world you can do nothing, however.
OSSEP. The devil take your manners and customs! If you hold so fast to old ways, then stick to all of them. Is it an old custom to wear, instead of Georgian shoes, little boots—and with men's heels, too? ”

“ DARTSCHO. Of course! What do you take me for? I stayed in the store as if nailed there, and when a new customer came in I repeated my demand. There was nothing left for him to do but to pay me, for shame's sake.
BARSSEGH. That pleases me in you, my son. Go on like that and you will get on in the world. Look at me! There was a time when they beat me over the head and called me by my given name. Then they called me Barssegh, and finally "Mr." Barssegh. When I was as old as you are I was nothing, and now I am a man who stands for something. ”

“ Your sister Champera swore to me that if we did not give 1,000 rubles more you would this very day betroth yourself to the daughter of Barssegh Leproink.
ALEXANDER. I wonder, Madame Salome, that you should credit such things. I marry Leproink's daughter! I refuse Miss Natalie on her account! forget her beautiful black eyes and her good heart, and run after money! Would not that be shameful in me! I must confess to you freely, dear madame, that my sister's way of doing things is hateful to me.
Fi mauvais genre!
But let us say no more about it. If only God will help us to a good ending! ”

“ David came and sat down, looked at the hand and opened it. In the hand he found a little lump of clotted blood. "The whole world is to him as a drop of blood, and he will hold it in his hand. If he lives he will do wonderful deeds." ”

“ BARSSEGH. I will show him now who I am. His whole business is just like a hayrick; a match is enough to set the whole thing ablaze.
DARTSCHO. I would not be sorry for ten matches! Tell me what I can do about it? The rest I know already.
BARSSEGH. Think of it! The fellow has snatched away a fine fat morsel from my very mouth. I had found an excellent husband for my daughter. For a whole week we carried on negotiations with him and everything was near final settlement when this Ossep came in and bid over us. On the very same day he betrothed his daughter to the man. ”

“ I have really no desire to try my hand with the tea and tobacco.'
"That he said to me, but heaven only knows! perhaps in his thoughts he was already counting the thousands he hoped to earn. Money has such power that my blessed grandmother always said that the devil had invented it. He had racked his brains to find a way to lead mankind into wickedness and did not succeed until he invented money. Then he was master of our souls. How many men money has deprived of reason! Sarkis was not of so firm a mind that he would be able to stand out against such rosy hopes. ”

“ I will give you all kinds of goods out of my store at a very low price, yes, very cheap. May the apoplexy strike me if I make anything out of you! I will sell you everything at cost price, and if you wish, will give you ten kopecks rebate on the ruble.'
"'No, my dear sir,' said Mairam, embarrassed. 'Can one sell a souvenir of the Czar, and one of such great value? We have no occasion to do it. We are no Jews, to sell off everything, to turn into money whatever comes into our hands. Are we such poor beggars that we cannot have something good and valuable in our chest? ”

“ He glanced about and saw David coming with a falcon on his hand. The graybeard cursed David and said: "Dost thou not fear God? Dost thou test thy strength on my grain-field? I have seven mouths to fill, and seven millet beds. Four thou hast destroyed, and three remain! If you are brave, go and get back your inheritance that extends from the summit of Mount Zözmak as far as Sechanssar. Mösramelik has taken it from you and draws wealth from it Go and get it back. Why try your strength on me?" ”