Once upon a time, a miller well known for his boundless work ethic exhausted himself so much that he barely crawled out of the mill and fell to the ground. The mill was full of grain. But the miller was too weak to get up and go to the market to buy food so he could eat to regain his In his dream, he was visited by the goddess of fertility Anahit, who often admired the noble work of the miller from the heavens. The goddess said to him: “Out of the flour in your mill, I created a tree that will bear sweet fruit made of bread and flour. Go out into the courtyard and turn left, there you shall see the tree.”
So said the goddess Anahit and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
The rest of the night, the miller had not slept, waiting impatiently for morning to come. He was hoping against hope that the prophecy in his dream would turn out to be true. At the break of dawn he rose to his feet, left the yard and, lo and behold, the bread tree was standing on the bank of a turbulent river. It was the pshat* tree, which stretched its silvery velvet leaves to him and he saw its golden fruit, sprinkled with fine flour. The miller ran to it, dropping to his knees…
Such is the story of the bread oleaster tree. It is no coincidence that the tree is so widespread in Armenia and the people are so fond of it. After all, it is the fruit of their legends and a symbol of perseverance and hope.
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