Mecho and Saint Sarkis

This is an abridged translation of Hamasdegh’s story titled “Mecho”, who was fourteen years old when his poor father Loleg Ovan died leaving behind “a dilapidated  cottage, a cherry wood-wipe, a widow and a cow with and adorned back”. After his father death, Mecho, already restless became undisciplined  kid of the village causing havoc and theft in the village and left school preferring spending time in nature, grazing their cow and hunting. But one day Mecho experienced a life altering event Hamasdegh describes it an abridged translation below. Vahe H. Apelian

“It was spring. The waters of the springs were overflowing, flooding the streams. The trees were spreading their roots further into the soil. The seeds were germinating. There was life and movement everywhere.

Everyday, amidst this abundance, Mecho would be seen seated on his cow crossing the bridge into the pasture.

On a warm spring day, Mecho, while pursuing a bird, entered uncle Soukeg’s vegetable garden. His attention got distracted from the bird when he saw uncle Soukeg’s wife bathing her little daughter Louseg right in front of their summer cottage. Mecho did not understand why he hid behind the bushes and did not understand why he kept looking at the naked girl crouched over her heels much like Venus in a washtub.

Mecho was the prince of the nature but in his entire universe no other being had seized his attention the way  Louseg did in her nakedness.

Mecho forgot the bird, forgot his cow and came out from the bushes.

Mother and Louseg suddenly realized that Mecho, standing erect next to the trees, is watching them fixated.

- “Hey Mecho, what are you doing here?” said the mother.

Mecho was not speaking. He had become speechless. While Louseg, shy, crouched further as if shivering.

Louseg’s mother was astonished. She saw fire in the eyes of the lad kindled by her daughter’s nakedness. 

-  “Get out of here, Mecho”, she shouted. 

Mecho was not moving.

- ‘Get away’ – said the mother angrily-and went straight towards him. Mecho with single leap jumped over the fence and disappeared in an instant much like an apparition that just had appeared. 

The following day, Mecho again took his cow to grazing next to uncle Soukeg’s vegetable garden. He saw uncle Soukeg tending the garden with his sleeves tucked onto his arms. Close to him, next to the potato sack, Louseg was standing helping her dad plant potato.

Uncle Soukeg saw Mecho jump over the fence but did not scold him.

-“Hey Mecho, what are you doing here? Come and give a hand.”

Mecho approached Louseg. They looked at each other and both blushed. 

Louseg was a little girl, thirteen years old. Mecho saw in her nature as a whole with its its dawn and its dusk. He saw in her a bit of the wild pigeons, foxes, hares he hunted.  He saw in her a bit of the cow he grazed and a little of the sky above. Her eyes were as beautiful as a newborn calf’s eyes. Her voice was even more tender than the sounds the wild pigeons made when they suddenly took wing from the gorge and swiftly flew and rested on the rocks of Saint Sarkis mountain. Her eyebrows were even darker than the feathers of a crow fallen on snow. Mecho felt something strange in him every time his hands touched Louseg’s hands in the potato sack.

Mecho was restless much like the seeds of wheat under the soil bursting to come forth under the sun.

Louseg had become Mecho’s sun.

Mecho no longer took his cow into the valley to graze.  Every day with his cow he went  close to uncle Soukeg’s vegetable garden. He left the cow on the harvested dry fields and he hid behind bushes looking at uncle Soukeg’s vegetable garden. His cow had realized that Mecho no longer took care of it and remained thirsty under the sun in the open dry field. Mecho no longer rested his head against the cow when both used to take a break under the shadow of a tree in the lush valley.

Mecho did not want to graze his cow anymore but wanted instead to work in uncle Soukeg’s vegetable garden. He would till the soil from dawn to dusk, plant potato, take care all the work of their vegetable garden. For his hard work Mecho would not ask for anything, other than being close to Louseg.

One day Mecho came out of the bushes when he saw Louseg  pass by. This time he had an owl in his hands.

- “Louseg” uttered Mecho to attract her attention.

Louseg looked at the owl in Mecho’s hands and approached him. 

-“why have you caught this owl? ” asked Louseg as she approached him to see the owl closely.

Mecho started telling Louseg about the mysterious powers of the owl as she remained mesmerized by what Mecho was telling her when suddenly her mother rushed from their cottage.

Mecho fled away as soon as he saw her coming toward him.

- “Girl, what are you doing here? I have been calling your name for so long that my voice got hoarse. Have I not told you not to speak to that crook? Had I caught him I would have broken his knees. Get home and clean the dishes” said the mother as she scolded her daughter.

Louseg henceforth avoided Mecho if she happened to see him. Mecho was a thief, the whole village knew that, and her mother would get angry should she been seen talking to him.

It was Saint Sarkis day. Those who had been fasting in preparation of the feast lucked up on that year’s Saint Sarkis day. Although it was a bit cold, but it was sunny and the snow was glittering under the sun’s rays. The young girls and boys of the villages nearby were heading up the Saint Sarkis mountain.

- “Who is that ?”  the villagers asked each other when they saw someone from far following them alone.

- “Maybe he is a beggar” said someone

- “What beggar ? He is Sarig’s son Mecho”, corrected another

- “I bet he has come to steal the candles of Saint Sarkis”.

Mecho trailed them from far much like an uninvited mourner following a casket. Mecho was an unofficial pilgrim. His clothes were not new. The fez he wore was tarnished with oil over its long use. He had stuffed straw in his shoes for warmth.  When he reached the site, he saw pilgrims buying candles to lit, pigeons to sacrifice. Pilgrims lit a candle or sacrificed a pigeon and then kneeled at the alter site, crossed and prayed to have Saint Sarkis fulfill their wishes. 

That evening Mencheg’s wife alerted her husband that she heard sounds coming from the roof. 

-“Who would be out  on this bitter cold night ?” said Mencheg to his wife. “Don’t you hear the winds are howling?”

It was Mecho. He had stolen Mencheg’s prized pigeon and  was braving the cold bitter night to  offer his sacrifice to Saint Sarkis before Saint Sarkis left with the howling winds riding his horse.

“O~h great Saint Sarkis. I offer this pigeon as my sacrifice. I do not want richness.  Grant me the strength, and the graciousness of your horse to be a laborer in uncle Soukeg’s garden.”

The following day  Kel Ghougas headed towards the Saint Sarkis mountain to see the animals he had trapped. When he reached the mountain top, not far from the Saint Sarkis alter he saw a frozen body. 

It was Mecho’s.”