Similarities Between The Cherry Tree And The Epic Of Manas

A Cherry Tree and an Epic Similarly, the classic tale of George Washington chopping down his father’s cherry tree contributes to nationalism. This myth, as it has been proven to be, tells the story of six-year old George Washington who received a hatchet as a gift and damaged his father’s cherry tree.43 When Washington’s father discovered what he had done, he became angry and confronted young George about the tree who, famously, said, “I cannot tell a lie… I did cut it with my hatchet.”44 Washington’s father responded by embracing him and acknowledging George for being honest, saying that honesty was “worth more than a thousand trees.”45 Although this story about our first president is false it draws noticeable similarities to the Epic of Manas that are worth noting.
As stated above, Washington’s story was fabricated, but what about the Epic of Manas? One can accurately say that each country in the modern world has myths or legends that they can call they’re own. The idea of myths and legends serves as an attempt to find an explanation for these and those phenomena unclear for human and also they are “folk idea” of the history of every nation.46 The Kyrgyz history has its own very ancient origin, the most famous being the Epic of Manas, which has an almost half-legendary nature to it. For the Kyrgyz people, Manas stands as something more than a legend, he is a historical ruler put that Kyrgyz on the map.47 This argument can be strengthened by observing the influence Manas has on the country of Kyrgyzstan to this very day, as the Kyrgyz use various geographical places, which carry the name of Manas as evidence for his historicity although objectively there is no such connection.48 Notwithstanding, there is another part of this half-legendary nature that is part of the conversation: the legend