History Literature / TheLiarFolktale

"The Liar" is a famous old UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}}n folk tale. The story begins with a King, who being bored one day decides to issue a challenge to all people in his kingdom. The challenge is that whoever can tell him the greatest lie he has ever heard will receive an apple made of solid gold. People from across the kingdom and from all walks of life traveled to the King's castle to tell him their lie, and yet the King, who had heard just about every grand lie in his lifetime, was not impressed by any of them. Just as he was about to end his contest without declaring a winner, however, a peasant walked into his throneroom carrying a cauldron. The peasant claimed that the King owed him a pot of gold and that he had come to collect. The King denied this claim and called the peasant an outrageous liar. The peasant said that if the King thought he was such a big liar, then he deserved the golden apple. But the King had grown fond of his golden apple, so he declined and said that it wasn't an impressive lie. The peasant, however, retorted that if he were not a liar then he deserved the pot of gold the king "owed" him. The King, caught in this dilemma, had no other choice but to award the peasant with the golden apple and declare him the greatest liar in the kingdom.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The king intends to win by just “believing” each lie told to him. It works for a while, but then he comes across a specific kind of lie tailor made to make this strategy fail.
* MortonsFork: The peasant catches the king in this: either call his lie and lose the competition and the golden apple, or say the peasant is telling the truth and give him a pot of gold. Either way, the king is humiliated and parts with some valuable treasure.
* TemptingApple: The king offered to give a golden apple to the biggest liar in the kingdom. Eventually a peasant wins the apple by using by stating that the king owed him a pot of gold. [[XanatosGambit If the king denied it, then the peasant would win the lying contest. If the king didn't, well, he'd have to give the peasant the pot of gold.]] So the king parted with the golden apple instead.

* XanatosGambit: The peasant's plan was bound to succeed no matter which choice the King made.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard

"The Liar" is a famous old UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}}n folk tale. The story begins with a King, who being bored one day decides to issue a challenge to all people in his kingdom. The challenge is that whoever can tell him the greatest lie he has ever heard will recieve an apple made of solid gold. People from across the kingdom and from all walks of life traveled to the King's castle to tell him their lie, and yet the King, who had heard just about every grand lie in his lifetime, was not impressed by any of them. Just as he was about to end his contest without declaring a winner, however, a peasant walked into his throneroom carrying a cauldron. The peasant claimed that the King owed him a pot of gold and that he had come to collect. The King denied this claim and called the peasant an outrageous liar. The peasant said that if the King thought he was such a big liar, then he deserved the golden apple. But the King had grown fond of his golden apple, so he declined and said that it wasn't an impressive lie. The peasant, however, retorted that if he were not a liar then he deserved the pot of gold the king "owed" him. The King, caught in this dilemma, had no other choice but to award the peasant with the golden apple and declare him the greatest liar in the kingdom.

* ConsummateLiar

* ThatLiarLies

Retellings of the tale are easily found in just about any book of Armenian folktales. {{Animated Adaptation}}s have been made of the folktale as well, one by Soviet Armenian animation studio Animation/ArmenFilmAnimatedShorts entitled "Who Will Tell a Fable?" (in this version the stakes were made higher, the prize of the contest was half the kingdom), and more recently, it was adapted at the hands of Armenian-American cartoonist HaykManukyan, and can be viewed [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Crtu--GkS_I here]].

* HowDoYouLikeThemApples

* RoyalsWhoDoNothing: The king apparently is so bored he feels the need to organize outlandish contests.

* RoyalsWhoDoNothing: THe king apparently is so bored he feels the need to organize outlandish contests.

!!Tropes in "The Liar": include:

''The Liar'' is a famous old UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}}n folk tale. The story begins with a King, who being bored one day decides to issue a challenge to all people in his kingdom. The challenge is that whoever can tell him the greatest lie he has ever heard will recieve an apple made of solid gold. People from across the kingdom and from all walks of life traveled to the King's castle to tell him their lie, and yet the King, who had heard just about every grand lie in his lifetime, was not impressed by any of them. Just as he was about to end his contest without declaring a winner, however, a peasant walked into his throneroom carrying a cauldron. The peasant claimed that the King owed him a pot of gold and that he had come to collect. The King denied this claim and called the peasant an outrageous liar. The peasant said that if the King thought he was such a big liar, then he deserved the golden apple. But the King had grown fond of his golden apple, so he declined and said that it wasn't an impressive lie. The peasant, however, retorted that if he were not a liar then he deserved the pot of gold the king "owed" him. The King, caught in this dilemma, had no other choice but to award the peasant with the golden apple and declare him the greatest liar in the kingdom.