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Yasmin And The Serpent Prince

  • ️Sun Nov 17 2024

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/YasminAndTheSerpentPrince

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Yasmin and the Serpent Prince is an Iranian tale first published in 1974 by author Forough Hekmat in Folk Tales of Ancient Persia, which she first heard during her childhood in Shiraz.

A merchant named Hajji Muhammad has seven daughters, the youngest Yasmin the most beautiful of them. One day, he leaves on a journey and his daughters ask him to bring presents for them, Yasmin asking for a rare cluster of pearls. Hajji leaves, buys gifts for his elder daughters, but cannot find Yasmin's gift. One day, he enters a lush garden in a palace and finds the cluster in a bush. When he goes to fetch it, a large green serpent stops Hajji and demands to know the reason for his presence. After getting an explanation, the serpent makes a written deal with Hajji: the cluster for Yasmin as the serpent's bride. Hajji agrees to the deal and goes home with the luxurious gift.

Later, Hajji forgets about the deal with the serpent, until the creature himself knocks on their door, intent on fulfilling the merchant's vow. Yasmin tries to delay her marriage by asking the serpent bridegroom to arrange for their wedding and shower the guests with jewels. After a while, the serpent bridegroom fulfills Yasmin's request and they marry. When they retire to their chambers, Yasmin asks the serpent to introduce himself: he removes his snakeskin and says his name is Baharam, the son of the Shah of Demons, who has come to live among humans and abandon the cruelty and wickedness of his homeland.

Yasmin and Baharam live in a luxurious palace, but as time passes she begins to feel bored and asks him how to destroy the snakeskin: with pistachio nuts. Some time later, Yasmin returns home to her father and is hounded by her sisters and a curious aunt, who goads her into revealing her husband's secret. Yasmin is reluctant at first, but is eventually convinced to burn his snakeskin. Back home to Baharam, while he is asleep, she removes the snakeskin from a chest and burns it. The next day, Baharam asks where his disguise is, and learns Yasmin burnt it so they could be together. Baharam despairs, since he now has to return to the Land of Demons, but advises Yasmin where she can find him again. Thus, he vanishes and takes with him the palace and the garden, leaving Yasmin in the desert.

Lost in the desert, Yasmin makes a long journey home where she mourns for her lost husband for six months, until she decides to go after him by searching for the Land of Demons. After donning some iron apparel (garments, shoes and canes), she wanders a long time until she stops to rest by some mountains. When she wakes up, she finds herself in a land covered in darkness, where the water, the trees and the people are of a dark colour. Yasmin learns from a servant she is in the Land of Demons, and realizes she is close to Baharam than previously thought.

Yasmin finds a servant fetching water for Baharam and asks for some to drink. She drinks some water and drops her ring inside it. Inside the palace, Baharam goes to wash his hands with the water and finds his ring, which means that his human wife is near. Baharam goes to meet her outside, carries her in his arms and takes her inside the palace of demons by changing her to objects in order to fool his stepmother, the Queen of Demons, who can still sense a human scent nearby. After a while, Baharam ends the charade and introduces Yasmin to her as a lost "Child of Adam" (which means she is human).

The Queen of Demons notices Yasmin is too beautiful, and begins to hate her on the spot. The next day, she starts to force tasks on her: first, to wash a black piece white and a white piece black; second, to use a sieve to fill seven jars with water; thirdly, to separate heaps of mixed seeds; fourth; go to the Queen of Demons's sister and ask for a box called "Give-And-Take-Box". With her husband, Baharam's powers and advice, Yasmin prevails every task throw her way and gets the Box in safety.

Finally, Baharam divulges that his stepmother wishes to marry him to a cousin of his, despite already being married to human Yasmin. The couple plan their escape, aware of the demons that will attend the wedding. After the ceremony, Baharam leaves in secret, takes Yasmin and some needles, salt and water, and both flee under the cloak of night. The next day, the Queen of Demons learns the couple has escaped and orders an army to apprehend them and bring them back. On the road, Baharam and Yasmin realize they are being chased, and quickly throw the objects behind them: the needles to form a forest of thorns, the salt to create a sea of salt, and the water to create a sea. The couple successfully ellude their pursuers, establish themselves in a city and have three children.

Compare with Cupid And Psyche, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Beauty and the Beast, The Feather of Finist the Falcon, Pintosmalto, The Enchanted Quill, Graciosa and Percinet and other tales related to the Aarne-Thompson-Uther type ATU 425, "The Search for the Lost Husband".

Tropes:

  • Amazing Technicolor Population: In the Realm of Darkness, Yasmin notices the sheep are black, and meets a horned denizen and a maidservant that are black-coloured.
  • Amicable Ants: Baharam uses his powers to summon a swarm of flying ants to separate a heap of mixed seeds for her.
  • Animate Inanimate Object: On the path to the Queen of Demons's sister, Yasmin encounters a clump of thorns and a pool of dirty waters; inside the house, open doors she must shut and closed doors she must leave open.
  • Animorphism: Baharam, the son of the Shah of Demons, can turn into a large serpent by wearing a snakeskin.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: Baharam advises Yasmin to compliment the clump of thorns, compliment the pool of dirty water by saying it's full of rosewater, give the correct food for a dog and a donkey, and open closed doors and shut open doors. Doing so sways them to Yasmin's side when the Queen of Demons's sister commands them to attack the girl.
  • Curiosity Is a Crapshoot: After her husband Baharam tells her not to open the "Give-And-Take-Box", Yasmin gets curious and opens the lid a little. Suddenly, a swarm of flies begins to buzz around her. Baharam appears to her and closes the flies inside the box again.
  • Dark Is Evil: The Land of Demons, or Realm of Darkness, in the west, is entirely black. According to Baharam, its inhabitants are crude and moved by envy and wickedness.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Yasmin causes her husband's vanishing by following her aunt's suggestion, loses her husband, and goes after him in the very dangerous Realm of Darkness. Once she is there, she is subjected to hard tasks by her stepmother-in-law. With her husband's help, both escape from there, and achieve their happy ending.
  • The Hedge of Thorns:
    • The Queen of Demons orders Yasmin to go to her sister and ask for a box called "Give-And-Take-Box". Baharam advises her that on the way to his aunt, she will find a thorny bush she is to compliment by saying it contains roses.
    • During their escape from the Land of Darkness, Baharam and Yasmin drop a pack of needles that create a forest of thorns to hinder the army of demons chasing after them.
  • Impossible Task: Baharam's stepmother gives Yasmin impossible tasks for her to fail, but with Baharam's magic powers, she prevails: to wash a black cloth white and a white cloth black; fill seven jars with a sieve; separate a heap of mixed seeds; go to the Queen of Demons's sister's house and ask for a box (unaware the path is fraught with dangers).
  • Interspecies Romance: Yasmin, a merchant's human daughter, is courted by a large green serpent. Later, the serpent reveals himself to be a humanoid person named Baharam, son of the Shah of Demons.
  • Objectshifting: Baharam tries to protect his human wife Yasmin by changing her shape into a needle, a broom, a piece of wood, a vase of flowers, and a pin.
  • Obnoxious In-Laws:
    • Yasmin's aunt presses the girl too much and she reveals the secret of her husband's snakeskin. The aunt then convinces her to destroy it, which leads to their separation.
    • Baharam's stepmother, the Queen of Demons, begrudginly accepts Yasmin, unaware of her relationship to Baharam, and forces her on difficult tasks.
  • Rule of Seven:
    • Baharam tells Yasmin for search for him for seven years, wearing seven iron suits, seven pairs of iron shoes, and in seven iron canes.
    • The Queen of Demons forces Yasmin to fill seven jars with water with a sieve.
  • Rule of Three: During their escape, Yasmin and Baharam throw behind them three objects to deter the pursuing demon army: needles, salt and water.