Tonight, we’ll read an Armenian folktale titled “The Betrothed of Destiny”. It comes from A.G. Seklemian’s 1898 “The Golden Maiden and Other Armenian Folktales”. This particular story features a fearless, strong heroine. When Snoozecast first published this story back in 2020, we realize now that we had misspelled the author’s last name as “Sekelmann”.

Abraham Seklemian was an Armenian-American editor and author. He and his wife migrated to the United States seeking refuge from Turkish oppression. They settled in California, and he was the first editor of an Armenian-American bilingual daily newspaper that still publishes to this day. It is the only bilingual daily newspaper in the country, publishing five times a week.

The author grew up hearing classic tales that were recounted by memory, as the custom was for the villagers in his homeland to gather during long winters to recite tales.

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