THE LEGEND OF SAHMARAN
TRANSLATED BY
ŞİRİN AKİBA , ÖMER AKGÜL,M.ŞİRİN GÜLER,TUĞBA AKYOL,SARA DEMİR
DRAWN BY
ŞİRİN AKİBA,NAZLI AKDOĞAN
TEACHERS
SEMİRE YÜCEL,SİBEL BİLGİN,HATİCE KORKMAZ
Once upon a time,there was a young man whose name was Tahmasp.He was tall and handsome.He was a son of poor family and he was working as a wood cutter.One day,He and his friends found a well which has full of honey while they were walking aroud forest to collect wood.They decided to take the honey.So,Tahmasp climbed down the well.But,when the honey was over,his friends left him in the well and went away there.When he lost all his hopes,he saw a hole and expanded there by using his knife and then he passed into a large place.While he was waiting in despair,he fell asleep.
When he woke up,he saw thousands of snakes around him.The snakes were looking at him.when they noticed he was moving,they started to approach him. He thought,he would be killed by them and he felt so helpless that he closed his eyes and began to beg God.He just waited for a while.At the end,he gathered his courage and opened his eyes.He saw a beautiful young woman who was a half human and a half snake.He was suprised and didn’t say anything.The young woman said ‘’Don’t be afraid.We won’t hurt you.I am Sahmaran and I am the queen of the snakes.You are our guest.Now, you should have a rest.We will talk tomorrow.’’ and she went away.Tahmasp thought,he was dreaming of them and he closed his eyes and fell asleep again.
In the morning, when Tahmasp woke up he saw Sahmaran was sitting around a breakfast table.The breakfast was very richful.Then,Sahmaran invited him to the table. Tahmasp was suprised and impressed by her.He couldn't take his eyes of Sahmaran.They had breakfast together and Sahmaran told him stories about the history of mankind.Tahmasp liked the stories and enjoyed while listening to her. Day after day, they fell in love with each other.
After a very long time, Tahmasp missed his family and wanted to go his own world.Sahmaran didn't want to send him away.After a while, Sahmaran couldn't stand seeing him so sad and accepted to send Tahmasp away.Sahmaran told him:"I will let you go but you will promise that you won't tell my place to anyone."Then,she advised him not to have a bath with other people, otherwise his skin would turn into snake's scales and they could understand his secret.
Tahmasp returned to his own world and he
never told his secret for many years.One
day, the king of the country became ill.The
king's soilder said that the only cure was
eating Sahmaran's meat.Then,he ordered
everyone to go to the bath in order to find
out the person who knew her place.
At first,Tahmasp didn't want to go to the
bath because he wanted to keep the secret
of Sahmaran.But, then, he had to gave
up.When the soilders threw him into the
water,his secret came out.Tahmasp's skin
turned into snake's scales.
After that, the soilders caught him
immediately.They tortured him in order to
learn the place of Sahmaran.In the end, he
was forced to tell her place.
Then, the soilders went to the well and they
captured Sahmaran quickly.Tahmasp felt
shameful when she saw Sahmaran.But
Sahmaran told him not to blame
himself.Sahmaran told them:"Listen to me.I
will give you my secret.Whoever eats my tail
will get my wisdom and whoever eats my
head will die at that moment.
Then,the bad soilder cut Sahmaran into
three pieces.Sahmaran died there.After
that,the bad soilder ate a piece of her tail
because his real aim was not to cure the
king.In contrast his real aim was to get the
wisdom of Şahmaran.Tahmasp was so sad
because his lover died because of him.He
wanted to die as he betrayed
Sahmaran.So,he ate a piece of her head.
However, nothing happened to Tahmasp.Instead the bad soilder died as soon as he ate the tail and Tahmasp became a wise man when he ate a piece from her head.So,Sahmaran's plan worked.All her wisdom got into her lover.Tahmasp couldn't stand the sorrow of losing Sahmaran,so he left the country and started to wander from mountain to mountain.After that day, the legend of Lokman Hekim came out.
They say,Snakes know Sahmaran was killed
by humankind.For this reason,all the snakes
of the world became the mortal enemies of
humankind.