In very ancient times, one of the Armenian kings had a beautiful daughter. There were many contenders for the beauty’s heart and they eagerly awaited the day when the time would come for her to marry.  And finally, that day came. From early morning, the gates of the king’s palace were crowded with suitors.

But her loving father left the choice with his daughter. He had no doubt that she would find a decent man with an honest soul. So the princess came down to meet them with a veil over her face and a basket in her hand.

To the young suitors, she handed out some flower seeds, lifted her veil, smiled sweetly and said without any pretense: “I’ll be happy to see you all again. In one year. With the flowers that will have grown from these seeds.”
A year passed and to a man, the young suitors gathered again at the walls of the princely palace. They brought pots with the most exquisite flowers. And with those flowers, they decorated the palace walls and even the footpaths and the arbors. The aromas of exotic flowers permeated through the palace.

The young men looked at each other’s gifts jealously – everyone wanted his flower arrangement to capture the imagination of the princess.

Over their quarrels, they did not even notice the girl who came from the garden, pensive and sad. She silently walked along the flowerpots and her face looked graver and graver with every passing second. Suddenly she stopped beside a young man who fumbled embarrassedly with his sleeve. At his feet was an empty flowerpot.

The other grooms burst out laughing. The servants of the princess exchanged meaningful glances. And she suddenly took the young man by the hand and loudly declared: “He is my choice.”

Some stood there open-mouthed. Others, shrugging their shoulders, whispered something to each other. And when one of the grooms asked sarcastically why the princess had made such a strange choice, she looked at the bewildered crowd of unscrupulous men and said quietly: “The seeds I gave you last year had been boiled thoroughly. They could never have given any flowers. I want a husband with a pure and sincere heart. Like the one I have chosen.”

Source:

• The 100 Legends of Ararat by Tzeh (n.d.).