Shahmaran! (AKA Sahmaran)
Hello readers,
Last night in my dream I wrote a very good poem, though
when I woke up, I cannot recall it regardless how much I tried.
While I was seeing the dream I was aware that it was a really good one
and that I should not forget it... It was kind of an anxious dream...
Though, I woke up fresh and clean from that poetry...
yes this is a lousy excuse for you not getting a poem...
Instead you get a story... How about that...
Today I will give you a story of an Anatolian myth from my take...
I hope you enjoy it!
This myth is about the snakes!
Yes...Snakes....
They are accepted as evil animals normally in most Anatolian cultures,
though most of the cultures snakes are also respected....
The reason is the following story....
That has been told from generations to generations..
from one ear to the another!
The story I will tell to you is about Shahmaran, or in local tongue it is called "Şahmaran"
It is like this... (From my take...)
Once upon a time there lived a man called Adem,
Adem was coming from a very poor family, he made his living by collecting wood, from the
mountains and farming his small, land..
He had a one room house made of earth...
A bed and a fireplace is the only highlights in the house...
He got nothing....
Adem was of the earth making his life of the earth...
He was a simple, yet a wise man...
Content with what he have,
he always gave
god gratitude !
There was only one wish of Adem, from God.
A beautiful girl named Sima,
Sima was the most beautiful girl in the Village....
Her name ment beautiful face...
Adem struck in his heart the first time he saw her in the village,
when he was selling his wood in the market...
Adem was poor, his father and mother was passed away and went to
the heaven of his dear god...
He had no one in this life except for his dreams....
In his small life he lived in his small mind...
Dreams and real life was intertwined for him..
One day when he was chopping wood in the mountains while dreaming of Sima,
he heard a noise....
A hissing sound...
Adem dropped the wood and grabbed his axe tightly...
Though Adem was not scared at all...
The noise was like a snake sound yet instead raising an alarm in Adem...
It kind of enchanted him like looking to the beautiful hazel colored eyes of Sima...
He followed the sound with eyes in love...
The grasp of his hand softened,
the axe fell "THUMB!"
even this was not effective to wake up Adem...
he followed the hissing sound coming from up above from the mountain side...
Adem came to an opening in the trees,
he walked to the centre and further ahead behind a big boulder covered with
spring flowers of kind....
he saw her .....
a queen of such beauty...
The queen had a crown on her head made from precious stones of earth which Adem never seen...
the stones on the crown shined and glittered in many colors...
there were three crescents made of gold on the crown...
The crown was on the head of the most beautiful women he has ever seen...
He can only see above her waist behind the boulder...
She had dark hair wavy like the storm on the sea
Her eyes were as blue as the skies full of stars under a full moon...
She had small erect boobs with nipples which were stealing the show from the size of the boobs.
Her skin was pale white as it had never seen a light of the day...
She said..."don't come close"
Adem stopped..
She said "listen to me carefully Adem"
Adem was stunned....How did she know his name ?
He was not able to respond in words back to her...
It was like all of a sudden his tongue refused to work for him...
In his mind Adem was shouting "How do you know my name?, Who are you?'
Adem was listening and watching this girl mesmerized, like under the spell...
Don't get me wrong, not in a nasty way...because all Adem was thinking about when it comes to the women was "Sima".
The girl continued
" I know whom your heart seeks!!!"
"The one you seek seeks you too!!!"
"She will be yours !!!"
"But you have to do as I say to you!!!"
"If you do this you will marry her.."
"She will give you a son!"
"But there is one thing I will ask of you!"
"Your son will find me in the future! and will be my groom!"
"I saw him in my dream one day! He stole my heart! He is my love!"
"You need to make love to Sima, so that my heart can have a relief of love!"
Girl took her crown from her head and removed one of the stones from its resting place and throw it to Adem..
"Take this. Sell it on the market!"
"If anybody asks you where you get this, tell them you found it on the mountains!"
"Its really important! You cannot tell anyone about me!"
"Otherwise they will think that you are mad!"
"Once you sell the stone go to Sima's Father and ask his permission to Marry her!"
"If he tells you that he does not have a daughter to give for a poor man, than give him some of the money!"
"Marry her! and once you have a son! Teach him your trade!"
"He should come alone to collect wood in these mountains!"
"If you don't do as I say you will loose everything that is blessed to you!"
"Now take the stone, put it in your pocket, go back to your home and sleep"
Adem kneeled down to pick the stone up....
As he raised his head the girl disappeared..
He put the stone in his pocket...Went back to his home under a spell...
Next morning, Adem woke up in his bed...
He was disoriented
It was like he fell in a sleep and saw a weird dream...
As he was leaning on his side to wake up
he felt a hard thing in his pocket.
When he put his hand in his pocket he found a stone...
He took out and find a shiny crystal that produce all kinds of sparkle and light..
It was the most beautiful gem he ever saw....
A voice told Adem to sell this gem in the market...
He went to the market and rushed into the jewelers shop....
Jeweler asked Adem; "what are you doing in my shop!, I don't have any money for beggars!"
Adem responded "I am not begging, I found a gemstone in the mountains, I want to sell it to you!"
All of a sudden jeweler's eyes shined with profit...
When he see the gemstone Jeweler's eye shined triple as much...
He said I give you one sack of gold for this....
A voice in Adem head told him "ask for three sacks"
Adem said " I won't sell except for three sacks"
Jeweler was surprised but he gave what Adem asked.
The voice said to Adem in his head "Now go to Sima's house"
Adem runned in the streets of village to the house where Sima is living...
He found himself infront of her house..Sima's father was sitting on the porch smoking his hooka...
Sima's father asked "What are you doing infront of my house poor man?"
Adem responded "My name is Adem....I came here....."
Adem was anxious his voice was shaking...
Sima's father "spit out...why did you came here for! I don't have money to feed poor!"
Adem responded "no.. no.. I don't want your money..."
At that moment, curtain behind the windows moved and Sima appeared..
She smiled to Adem...
Adem had some courage..."Sir... I am here to ask your permission to merry your daughter!"
Sima's father, surprised with the poor man's request looked back to him scanning from feet to head, like saying to him "I don't have girl to give to a poor man"
Adem continued "Sir don't worry, looks might be deceiving I have money! I am a hard worker and I will take good care of your daughter!"
Adem said "Please accept this sack of gold as my good will offering to marry your daughter!"
Sima's father stunned with this unexpected event. He was speechless..
He called Sima...
Sima came next to him...
Sima was the apple of his father's eye...His father loved his daughter deeply...
Father aske Sima "My beautiful daughter this man asks to merry you!, Does he have your heart?"
Sima responded in a shy manner looking first to Adem than to the ground "...yes..."
Father looked Sima, than to Adem than to the sack of gold...
He turned back to Adem and said "Son... my daughters heart is with you!"
"All I can do is to accept your offer and give you my blessings"
"Than he said, Son you seem very poor, yet you bring this money to merry my daughter!"
"it shows me that any money any material you have will be less valuable than your love to my daughter"
"son you also came to me and ask my permission and blessings, which shows your good intentions and respect"
"I accept your sack of gold with only one condition!"
"you will use this gold to make a great wedding for my daughter"
The wedding of Sima and Adem take 40 days and 40 nights with 40 gold coins in the sack...
Everybody was merry and happy...
Adem bought further land and made a bigger house with the second sack of gold for his beloved wife..
One year later...Sima's belly started to grow...Adem was so happy....It was like a dream..
His black and white lonely life became colorful and happy.
He was happy, content and grateful....
Sima was also very happy and content as well...She was waiting for her baby...
However, there was something very strange....
there were snakes every where around the house in the field....
though none of the snakes were harming to Sima and Adem...
Instead the snakes protected their crop from pests such as critters and mice...
As strange it is one day when Sima is filling water jugs from the river two wolves appeared behind her...
She was so scared and thought she will be eaten by the wolves...
At that moment..a hoarde of snakes boiled from the soil in front of the wolves and scared away the wolves..
weird it was but all the snakes were friendly with them..
days passed months passed....
and the day of birth arrived....
Sima gave a birth to a baby boy....
A handsome baby boy......
Adem and Sima named him "Cemşab"
He was born with birth mark on his chest right on top of his heart with three crescents...
Adem and Sima were so happy....
They raised their son with happiness and joy....
Snakes were protecting and caring for Cemşab as well..
After a while this friendly relationship with the snake became normal for them..
They called the snakes "maran"...
Maran know their place and Adem, Sima and Cemşab know their place...
They helped one another...
As Cemşab become a boy Adem started to teach his son how to harvest wood from the mountains
without harming the trees, just like he has been told to do...
Cemşab learned what his father taught him...
Now he was a young handsome man.... His father and mother were old people now...
His father always told Cemşab that he will give him the last sack of gold he has when he grew up and come to the age to marry...
His father told him that he will make his wedding with this sack of gold..
One day when Cemşab was playing outside with his friends Sima became very sick of old age....Adem was so sad and devastated by his wife's sickness.
Whatever he did he cannot help Sima...
When Maran cannot see Sima and Adem around, snake entered the house...
Snake saw Sima lying down on the bed sick....
To heal Sima snake bite her leg...
Adem saw this and thought snake is attacking Sima
he cut the snake from his tail with his knife without hesitation....
however, snakes medicine turned to poison when Adem cut his tail...
His wife started to detoriate from the poison...to save her Adem started to suck the poison from the wound which, poisoned him as well..
Both Adem and Sima died at the same time....with the same poison...
just because of a terrible misunderstanding...
In the meantime Cemşab was playing with his friends in the mountain....
They found a cave that is full of bee hives, that have lots of honey..
the boys wanted to get all the sweet nectar...Cave was like a well and going deep into the ground...
They gathered branches and burned them to scare the bees to get the honey...
Two boys lowered Cemşab to the cave..
Cemşab collected the honey and send it to his friends with the rope...
Although his friends betrayed Cemşab to get all the honey...
They took the honey and left him in the bottom of the deep cave....
Cemşab trying to find another way out went deeper in the cave,
He came to an opening where he saw a stream of light coming between the rocks...
With his hands he opened a larger hole to reach the light...
As he struggled rocks gave a way to a larger opening
where there is light and a heaven like garden....
There were lush green trees meadows and light giving mushrooms like lamps,
with Awe Cemşab was looking around him.....
All of a sudden he saw something moving behind him with hissing sound....
As he turned back, he saw the most beautiful women smiling back to him....
Black hair like the storm, blue eyes like the skies with many stars under a full moon....
a pale white skin, a beautiful face....
Cemşab was struck the first time he saw her....
The girl started to talk....
"Welcome to my kingdom said the voice....
my name is Shahmaran, I am the queen of Maran's....
I was waiting for you....
You are going to be my groom...."
Shahmaran came behind the boulder....
as she pass the boulder Shahmarans below the waist become visible for a glimpse of time, a snake tail converting into legs as she move towards Cemşab...
Shahmaran was completely naked.....
She came close to Cemşab then,
She tore Cemşab's shirt and looked to his birth mark....
Than she showed him her crown and her birth mark on her heart...
She said "we were ment to be together....
Cemşab and Shahmaran..
Our story was written in the stars..."
Cemşab and Shahmaran started to kiss one another passionately,
they touched one another, enjoyed each others bodies, and they started
to make love with intense joy, wet, soft, like diffusing into one another...
Their love making took 40 nights and 40 days....
In the end they were exhausted by intense ecstasy and relief.
As they were very tired both of them fell a sleep....
Cemşab and Shahmaran woke up next morning....
Cemşab said to Shahmaran "my love, its been more than month, my old mother and father must have been so worried, I need to go and see them"
Cemşab continued "I have to tell them to get ready for my wedding with the most beautiful girl in the world"
Shahmaran responded "Cemşab I have to tell you my little secret before you go!"
Shahmaran continued "my beloved, I am the queen of the snakes, half of my body can convert into snake"
She added "I am half snake half human, will you accept me as I am?"
Cemşab responded "Yes my queen, my love is blind!"
He added "My queen I am half human and without you! Will you accept me as I am?"
Shahmaran responded smiling with love "Yes my King!"
Shahmaran continued "My dear Cemşab, I will show you the way out but you have to promise me that you will never tell the way back here to anyone! No human can know the domain of snakes except for you!"
Cemşab promised and learned the way back to human domain on the surface...
He climbed and climbed until he saw the sunshine again...
He runned back to his home to give the great news to his parents...
As he rushed back in the home...
He saw the tragic end of his mom and dad....
They were dead long before but their bodies were like they died an hour ago...
It doesn't took long for Cemşab to understand why they died as he found half cut snake
on the ground and in the hand of his dad.
His dads lips turned to green from the poison he sucked from his moms leg which was also green from the poison.
Cemşab was crying for his loss of mom and dad as well as for this terrible betrayal he had by Shahmaran "the queen of the snakes"
The village mourned for the loss of Adem and Sima and unfortunately they also learned the tragic story of Cemşab betrayed by the Shahmaran as he was mourning....
Cemşab put salt on his loss and on his heart....
He never turned back to Shahmaran to get his revenge...
He never spoke about Shahmaran to anybody and he was not aware that villagers learned the story of his love who is the queen of snakes
The word got out and came to right to the palace of the sultan, who is suffering from an illness,
that have no cure...
Many healers came and none could find a cure for the sultan..
Except for one healer....
who said that sultan can only be healed by a magical potion prepared from the queen of the snakes....
Healer also said that depending on which parts used two more additional potions can be made from queen of snakes one that can give great wisdom and ruling power and one that can give you a terrible death.
Healer also said "no one knows except for the Queen of Snakes, which part of her body is poison, which part of her is power of wisdom or which part of her is medicine"
The story of Cemşab came to the palace to the ears of Grand vizier.
Grand Vizier thought that if he could capture the "queen of snakes" he could have the three potions so that he could give the poisonous potion to sultan, power potion to himself so that he can kill him and be the sultan.
With a dark motivation Grand Vizier with the soldiers came to the home of Cemşab who was still mourning for his parents and over his broken heart...
Soldiers arrested Cemşab and made him tortures to learn the palace of Shahmaran...
In the end Cemşab with pain and the disappointment of his betrayal showed the Grand Vizier and the soldiers the palace of Shahmaran....
Soldiers captured the Shahmaran....
Shahmaran..feeling, heartbroken and betrayed by Cemşab told the soldiers and the Grand Vizier
"I am not going to fight with you, I already died now since you are led to here by him!"
"I will tell you how to heal your sultan"
"Though, I can only tell it to Cemşab but no one else!"
"Shahmaran, told to the ear of Cemşab, take my body and boil it in water and give it to the sultan, which will heal him, get my tail and boil it in the water and give it to the Grand Vizier.... get my head and boil it in the water and drink yourself..."
The soldiers cut Shahmaran into three parts....
Each part is boiled in separate cauldrons to make the potions,
Cemşab did as Shahmaran told him, first he gave the potion obtained from the body to The Grand Vizier whom wanted power....
Cemşab told Grand Vizier "this is the potion which is poisonous"
Grand Vizier took the potion and gave it to the soldier and told to his ear to give this to the Sultan
then Cemşab secondly gave the potion obtained from the tail,
Cemşab told "this is the potion which is giving great powers of mind and ruling"
Grand Vizier took the potion and drink it all at once....
As he drank the potion his eyes opened as big as plums and he choked to his death...
At that point he understood that she has nothing to do with what happened to his parents...
He felt a great regret...but it was too late now...
The sultan when woke up learned whom helped to heal him.... from the soldiers...
Sultan thanked Cemşab and made him his new Vizier..
Cemşab lived a life of regret until the end of his life
when he saw how Shahmaran saved him,
even she was betrayed by him.
(To be redacted tomorrow at some time! :)
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