Fern Flower
Published on July 14, 2024

Shakhmaran

  • Sahmaran

Regions of expansion

Turkey 1
Türkiye

Description

A creature from Turkish mythology. It looks like an extraordinarily beautiful woman who has a snake's tail instead of legs. She lives in another world, controls snakes and can share knowledge.

According to a legend that went among the Turks:

Once upon a time there lived in the city of Tarsus a poor man named Kamasb. One day the boy went to the nearest forest. During his travels, he found a cave with a well filled with honey. When he looked into it to get some sweet liquid, he accidentally discovered a mysterious hole in the wall of the well. Therefore, he decided to explore the passage. As a result, he reached an incredibly beautiful land inhabited by thousands of snakes.

Their ruler turned out to be Sahmaran, an extraordinarily beautiful woman who had a snake's tail instead of legs. Of course, the couple fell in love, and the boy decided to live in a foreign country. He lived like this for many years, and the snake queen introduced him to the secrets of herbalism. After a while, Kamasb decided to return to his loved ones. The woman let him go, but on condition that he would not tell anyone about her existence.

The boy managed to keep his secret for a long time, but when the king of Tarsus fell ill and it turned out that his only salvation was to eat the meat of a snake woman, Kamasb decided to break his word. So Sahmaran was captured and killed so that the king could feast on her body.

Shakhmaran in popular culture