Tradition / Region: Georgian Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Cow
The Myth
There once lived a poor peasant whose daughter was called Conkiajgharuna, the girl in rags. After her mother died, her father remarried, and the new wife treated the child with cruelty. Each day she gave the girl poorly baked bread and sent her out alone to tend the cow, burdening her with harsh and endless tasks.
But the cow was no ordinary animal.
One day, while the girl sat weeping in the fields, the cow spoke and asked why she was sad. When Conkiajgharuna told of her suffering, the cow said, “In one of my horns there is honey, and in the other there is butter. Take from them, and do not grieve.”
From then on, the girl secretly fed herself from the cow’s horns and grew strong and healthy. Her stepmother, seeing this, grew jealous and suspicious. She gave the girl even harder work, yet the cow continued to help her, guiding her and protecting her as best it could.
When the stepmother’s own daughter tried to win the cow’s favor, she failed through harshness and disrespect. Enraged, the stepmother decided that the cow must be killed.
Before its death, the cow spoke once more to Conkiajgharuna. It told her, “When I am dead, gather my bones and bury them. Whenever you are in trouble, come to my grave and cry, ‘Bring my steed and my royal robes.’”
The cow was slaughtered, and the girl buried its bones as instructed.
Later, when her stepmother and stepsister went to church and left her behind in misery, Conkiajgharuna remembered the cow’s words. She went to the grave and cried out. At once, from the buried bones appeared a fine horse and splendid garments. Clothed in beauty, she rode forth, dazzling all who saw her.
Though she returned afterward to her ragged life, the cow’s gift endured. When she lost a golden slipper, it led the king to seek her out. She was revealed, and in time she became his queen.
Thus the cow remained her protector even after death — feeding her in life, guiding her in hardship, and from its buried bones lifting her from rags to royalty.
Gallery
Sources
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive