This film was comissioned by the USSR State Committee of TV and Radio.
A production of "Armenfilm" named in tribute to Amo Bekhnazaryan
If I tell anyone, they won't believe me.
Once I caught a talking fish
this...no, this big!
Atchoo!
Hear me out, kind man
Let me go back home to sea.
Wow, a talking fish!
inspired by Toomanyan's fairy-tale
Ha! Our whole family can talk
My father can talk, my mother can talk
And my grandpa says:
"Do a good deed and throw it in the water.
It won't be found wanting.
What goes around, comes around."
So, do a good deed -
throw me in the water.
I won't be found wanting
One day I'll be of use to you.
Sure you will! How exactly?
Anyone can talk.
But if you could, let's say, bark
I would put you on a chain to guard my house.
As it is, I can make nothing of you.
Off you swim!
And now I have nothing to eat, ek-ho.
Here I am! Why did you call for me?
Me?
You said "Ekh". Ekh is my name
I'm the great, powerful and kind wizard.
Ekh! Ek-ho! Ek-ho! ...
And that was my ek ... echo!
Now, tell me, what do you wish for?
I'll do anything, I can do everything!
What can a poor man wish for?
Got you!
You've got nothing to eat, right?
Here's a magic table for you
Whenever you're hungry, knock on it three times
One, two, three.
You like it?
When you are done eating and drinking
Knock three times again. Three, two, one
Thank you, kind Ekh.
I'll always remember you
Sure you will!
I wouldn't be Ekh if you don't remember
Wife!
My darling wife!
Oo, I forgot to tell you. There's one little condition
On the stroke of midnight I'll come to visit you
And will ask you riddles till dawn.
If you manage to answer them - the table is yours.
And if you can't, blame only yourselves!
You'll remember me until your dying day.
Kind people, let me stay with you tonight.
Oh, dear son. You'd better look for shelter in a different place.
At midnight will come a beast.
He'll destroy us and you
That's true, my son.
Well, there's still time before the clock strikes midnight.
We'll see what happens then.
Who's there?
It's me, the kind Ekh.
I'm here.
And I'm here too.
Who are you? Where did you come from?
From the other side of the sea.
How did you come here?
I straddled a lame flea and rode it here.
The sea is what? A puddle?
Might be a puddle, but an eagle couldn't fly over it.
Then it was a baby-eagle.
Could be, but the shadow of his wings covers a city.
Night descends on that city.
Well, the city must be tiny.
A hare wasn't able to run across that city.
It turns out it was a wee hare.
It was an ordinary hare. A coat came from that hare.
Where did it come from?
It came from the city, which the hare ran across and the shadow of the eagle fell across
and followed its nose.
Whose nose?
The nose of the coat which came from the hare in the city
which night descends on when the baby-eagle flies over it
sitting astride the lame flea.
What?!
What, what?
Astride on the lame flea, from the other side of the sea
which the hare can't fly over and the eagle can't run across
maybe not a sea, just a puddle in the middle of the city,
where the shadow of the flea fell across the hare and killed it.
The coat came from that hare and followed his nose.
Then the hare jumped back ...
Which hare?
The dead one. It jumped across the sea which you can't fly over or run across,
which the coat came from, which the shadow of the flea
fell across and killed the hare.
Not simply a hare, but an eagle!
Which hare, which eagle, which flea?!
Shall I repeat? So the flea from the other side of the puddle ...
Enough!
Hey wait! We still have plenty of time before dawn!
Son, you saved us from death!
Who are you? At least give us your name
My grandpa says: "Do a good deed and throw it in the water."
See, I turned out to be useful to you.
Script, Director, Animator, Producer: R. Saakyants