Once upon a time, in the big kingdom of Armenia , there was a princess whose name was Tamar.

She lived on an island in the middle of the Lake Van.

She fell in love with a sailor from the mainland.

Each night, he would swim across the dark expanse just to see her.She would light a fire to light his way across dark waters.

One day her father, King Artashes, discovered everything. He locked her away for the night and extinguished the light. The poor sailor lost his way in the darkness.

Before he drowned, he could be heard crying

"Akh Tamar!"

Some say that, even today, on dark nights, one can still hear him cryig out "Akh Tamar!" as he searches in vain for his love. Nobody can forget this story and from that time the island is called " Akhtamar" in rememberance of this sad love story.

The end