ŞAHMERAN

the legend of Şahmeran is one that comes from the land of Mesopotamia. It has been told and retold in Turkish cities such as Adana, Hatay and Mardin for hundreds and hundreds of years. The name "Şahmeran" actually comes from the Persian name "Şah-ı Meran," which means "the shah of the snakes." Şahmeran is a snake from the waist down, but from the waist upwards, a beautiful woman. She meets a young man named Tahmasp in a cave where thousands of other snakes are sleeping. Tahmasp cannot hide the fact that he is attracted to her, although he does not see that she is a snake from the waist down. Tahmasp remains in the cave for days on end, listening to Şahmeran tell incredible stories about the world and humanity. He is rapt, but when Şahmeran has told him everything and there is nothing left to tell, Tahmasp decides that he misses the outside world and leaves. Even though Şahmeran doesn't like this idea, in the end, she accepts it.

So Tahmasp returns to the land where he lives. But one day, the king of that land becomes very ill. One of the king's assistants who is quite evil tells the king that the only treatment that will help him is to eat a piece of meat from the body of Şahmeran. The search begins for anyone in the land who might know Şahmeran. Tahmasp, who is at a hamam, is identified by soldiers who spot snake scales dotting his body, so the soldiers bring him to the king's evil assistant. As it turns out -- not surprisingly -- the wicked royal aide's real aim is not to make the king better, but to hear the secrets of the world straight from the mouth of Şahmeran. He orders that Tahmasp be tortured until he reveals the location of Şahmeran's cave, and this is exactly what happens. So the assistant and the soldiers go to the cave, where they find Şahmeran, who reveals her great secret, saying: "Whoever tears off a bit of flesh from my tail and eats it will find himself endowed with all the secrets of the world. But whoever takes a bit of flesh from my head and eats it will die at that moment." With these words barely out of Şahmeran's mouth, the villainous assistant cuts the half-snake, half-woman into two pieces, and rips a bit of flesh from her tail. Tahmasp, out of horror at what has happened, bites into a piece of flesh from Şahmeran's head so that he will die immediately. But what happens instead is that the king's evil aide dies on the spot while Tahmasp appears completely unaffected. Thus it turns out that what Şahmeran had told the king's assistant was a special plan to see that her lover, Tahmasp, inherited all her knowledge, while her enemy went to his death. However, in the wake of Şahmeran's death, Tahmasp is so bereaved that he isolates himself away from the rest of humanity.