Yasmin and the Serpent Prince
Yasmin and the Serpent Prince is a Persian folktale published in 1974 by author Forough Hekmat, about a human maiden who marries a youth in snakeskin, loses him due to her breaking his trust, and goes after him at his mother's home, where she is forced to perform hard tasks for her.
The tale belongs to the international cycle of the Animal as Bridegroom or The Search for the Lost Husband, wherein a human princess marries a supernatural husband or man in animal form, loses him, and goes on a quest to find him. It is also distantly related to the Graeco-Roman myth of Cupid and Psyche, in that the heroine is forced to perform difficult tasks for a witch or her mother-in-law. According to scholarship, many variants of the cycle are reported to exist in Iran, and the usual form of the animal husband is that of a snake or serpent.
Summary
Long time ago, in a Persian city, a merchant named Hajji Muhammad lives with his five daughters, the youngest, named Yasmin, the one he loves best of all. One day, he has to go on a journey, and asks his daughters what they want as gifts. The four elders want extravagant garments and shoes, but the youngest asks for a clustered bunch of grape-like pearls and a starred, two-pointed diamond.Hajji Muhammad goes on his journey and, after doing his business, buys the presents for his four elder daughters, but has trouble finding Yasmin's request. His quest is interrupted by a violent storm, so he takes shelter in a castle in the middle of a plain. He enters the castle and notices that the garden is full of silver and gold trees.
This mysterious garden seems like a vision of paradise: flowers made of precious gems, stream of milk and honey flowing from the trees, and many melodies coming from the trees. He ventures deep into the garden and finds the branch of pearls and diamonds. He goes to pluck it, but a roar behind him interrupts his action. The merchant turns around and sees a large snake, of a bright green colour.
The merchant explains to the green snake that the branch is supposed to be a present for his youngest daughter, Yasmin. Noticing that the merchant seems too interested in the branch from his garden, the green snake makes a deal with him: he shall get the branch, but, in return, his youngest daughter is to be given to the serpent as his wife. The merchant is a bit alarmed by the proposal about his daughter, about any potential danger. The snake assuages his fears and they seal a written pact.
The merchant returns home with the branch, jewels and presents for his daughters. Time passes, and he forgets about his promise to the snake, until one day, a knock is heard at the door. It is the snake, come to take his wife, as promised. The merchant goes inside to tell Yasmin about his promise. Yasmin agrees that promises must be kept, but, hoping to delay - and even discourage - the snake about the marriage proposal, she says the snake must prepare a feast for 40 days, where the finest dishes and drinks are to be served, and every guest must be showered with gems.
The animal agrees with the conditions and takes a three day leave for wedding preparations. The snake returns after three days on a golden coach and takes them to the wedding feast, in the same garden where Hajji Muhammad found the pearl-and-diamond branch. Yasmin, the bride, stays silent all the time.
After the feast ends and the guests rest, the snake and Yasmin retire to a spacious apartment. Yasmin, then, breaks her silence and asks the snake about his true identity, since it cannot be a mere animal, due to his magical powers. The serpent makes her promise not to tell his secret, and, casting a spell on himself, sheds its snakeskin. He reveals that he is Prince Baharam, son of the Shah of Demons, who has come from the World of Darkness to the world of man, interested in the good qualities of human people, in contrast to the wickedness and base interests of the demons.
They live as husband and wife for two years, him a snake by day and a prince by night. However, she begins to miss home, and longs to show that her husband is truly human. One day, she asks Baharam about how to destroy his snakeskin. She insists to know and he tells that the skin needs to be burned with shells of pistachio nut. She delights at the answer, but feels torn between keeping his secret and destroying the snakeskin.
Some time later, she decides to visit her family, and her husband warns her not to reveal his secret. Her sisters inquire her about her life in the snake's castle, and a gossiping aunt begins to pry more and more into her life, so much so that she reveals the snake is human underneath. Her aunt suggests she burns the snakeskin, so that he remains human at all times, and gives her some pistachio nuts.
Yasmin goes home to her husband. While Baharam is asleep, she leaves the bed, gets the snakeskin from a chest, and takes it to kitchen to burn it with the shells of pistachio nuts. The next morning, Baharam awakes and asks his wife about the snakeskin. Yasmin answers that she burned it. He despairs at the fact and tells that he needed his scaly disguise, but now he has to return to the Realm of Darkness, back to his people. Yasmin throws herself at his feet and begs for forgiveness. He chastises her, and says that, to find him again, she has to walk towards the West, for 7 years, in 7 iron suits, 7 iron shoes, and with 7 iron canes. Baharam goes to the garden, chants a spell and vanishes, the castle and everything along with him, leaving Yasmin lost in a desert.
Despite the hunger and thirst, Yasmin traverses the desert back to her father's house. He welcomes her and lets her grieve for her lost husband. After six months, she decides to begin her arduous quest toward the Realm of Darkness. Her father commissions the iron garments and the iron canes, and she sets out. For seven years, she walks and walks, wanders high and low, until the seventh iron dress and the seventh iron shoes are worn, and the seventh iron cane is nothing but a stump in her hands. Tired of the long journey, and not knowing if she has arrived, she lies down to sleep.
After a whole day and night, she wakes up and notices she is in a meadow, full of animals of a black colour. Even the trees and flowers are black, and light does not seem to reach that land. She asks a passing man with black horns on his head whose meadow it is. The horned man says it belongs to Prince Baharam, the son of the Shah of Demons. She goes to drink a bit of the black water, and sees a slave-girl coming to get water.
The slave-girl says she is fetching water for her master, the prince. Yasmin sees a nearby castle made of black stone, and has an idea: she asks for the slave-girl to drink a bit of the water, and drops her wedding ring in it. Inside the castle, the slave-girl drops the water on Prince Baharam's hands and the ring falls out of the jug. He recognizes it and asks the slave-girl if anyone was outside. She says a woman is resting by a tree when she left to fetch water. Baharam goes outside and finds his wife Yasmin. They embrace, after seven long years, and rejoice in each other's presence. Baharam warns her of the danger the demons pose, and suggests he changes her appearance to keep her safe, until they find a chance to escape.
Baharam turns her into a golden needle and brings her home with him to the castle. Despite the magic disguise, the prince's stepmother smells a "Child of Adam" in their castle. Afraid of being found out, Baharam changes the needle into a broom, then into a piece of wood, and lastly into a spray of flowers to throw her off the human's scent, but to no avail. He then decides to introduce Yasmin to his stepmother, the Queen of Demons, as a weary traveller from the world of man. The queen of demons begrudgingly accepts her as a guest.
The next day, the Queen of Demons gives two pieces of cloth to Yasmin, and orders her to wash the white one black and the black one into white. Baharam chants a spell to change the colours. The next task is for her to fill seven clays jars with a sieve - her husband casts a spell on the sieve to fill the holes. The third task is for her to separate a heap of mixed seeds - Baharam summons a swarm of ants to separate the grains.
The last task is for Yasmin to go to the stepmother's sister and get from her the "Give-and-Take-Box". Baharam advises her to compliment a thorny branch by saying it is a rosebush; to compliment a dirty river by saying it is rosewater; to give the animals their correct fodder, open all closed doors and shut all open ones in his step-aunt's house, get the box and do not open it, and escape. Yasmin follows the instructions to the letter, gets a little black box from the step-aunt, and hurries back to the castle of the Queen of Demons. The step-aunt commands the doors, the dogs, the donkeys, the river and the thorns to stop her, but, due to her kind actions, she leaves unscathed.
Now at a safe distance, she tries to peer into the box. The lid opens up and a swarm of flies escape from it. Baharam appears to her, casts a spell and the flies go back to the box. On their journey back to the castle, Baharam tells her that his stepmother planned his wedding to his cousin, and the castle will be swarmed with demons that will kill Yasmin, so they must hurry and escape that night. He then asks her to get them a bag of needles, a box of salt and a jar of water.
That night, the demons are coming to the castle to Baharam's wedding. At midnight, Baharam excuses himself and goes to see Yasmin. They sneak out to the stables and ride his horse away from the castle. The next morning, the Queen of Demons discovers the pair's flight and commands an army of giants to go after them.
Baharam and Yasmin are riding on the prince's black horse and hear the approach of the giants. Yasmin throws the bag of needles behind them, which turn into a forest of thorns to deter the giants. Next, they throw the box of salt, turning the desert into a sea of salt. Lastly, they pour out the contents of the water jug, and a vast sea appears between them and the coming giants. The pursuers try to cross the sea to get them, but sink and drown in it.
Now safe at last, the prince and Yasmin ride to the city where her father trades as a merchant, and spend the rest of their lives in happiness. Yasmin and Baharam have three children: Mehr, Raasti, and Aashti.
Analysis
Tale type
The compilers compared the Iranian tale to Armenian tale Habrmani and to the Graeco-Roman myth of Cupid and Psyche, stories that belong to the international cycle of the "Animal Bridegroom". According to Inge Höpfner, Iran registers many variants of the cycle.In his Catalogue of Persian Folktales, German scholar classified the tale as his type AaTh 425B, Der Tierbräutigam: Die böse Zauberin. Marzolph's typing corresponds to type ATU 425B, "The Son of the Witch", of the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index. Type 425B is considered by scholarship to correspond to the ancient Graeco-Roman myth of Cupid and Psyche, that is, the supernatural husband's mother forces the heroine, her daughter-in-law, to perform difficult and impossible tasks for her.
Motifs
According to Swahn's study on Animal as Bridegroom tales, a characteristic motif that occurs in the "Indo-Persian" area is the heroine using a ring to signal her arrival to her husband, when she finds his location.The heroine's tasks
One of the heroine's tasks is to sort out a heap of mixed grains. According to Swedish scholar, this motif appears in Mediterranean and Near Eastern variants of type ATU 425B, "The Witch's Tasks".Another motif that appears in the tale type is that the heroine must travel to another witch's house and fetch from there a box or casket she must not open. German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther remarked that these motives are "the essential feature" of the subtype.
The heroes' magic flight
The heroine and her supernatural husband escape in a Magic Flight sequence, that is, the characters either throw magic objects to delay their pursuers, or change into other forms to deceive them. Although this episode is more characteristic of tale type ATU 313, "The Magic Flight", some variants of type ATU 425B also show it as a closing episode. German literary critic Walter Puchner argues that the motif attached itself to type 425B, as a Wandermotiv.According to Marzolph's index, Iranian type 425B concludes with the episode the "Magic Flight": by throwing objects behind them, the heroes create magic obstacles, e.g., a pack of needles becomes a field of needles, salt creates a plain of salt, and the water creates a sea or a river.
Variants
Iran
Sabzkaba and Shakarkhava
In an Iranian tale published by professor with the title "Сабзкаба и Шакархава", a poor woodcutter finds a snake near a sack of flour. He wants to kill it, but the snake introduces himself as Sabzkaba, and wishes to become his son. One day, Sabzkaba asks his father to ask for the hand of the governor's daughter, Shakarkhava. Her father demands his prospective son-in-law arrive with a great wedding retinue. He does and the governor consents to their marriage. Sabzkaba takes off his snake skin and shows himself to his wife as human, warning her that no one must burn his skin, otherwise she might not see him again. One day, Shakarkhava is visited by her relatives, and one of her sisters burns the snakeskin. Shakarkhava, in despair, sees her husband disappear, so she commissions seven pairs of iron shoes, seven iron dresses and seven iron canes, and goes on a quest for him. She passes by seven springs, where she meets many girls complaining that their father Sabzkaba has disappeared because of Shakarkhava's fault and wishing harm on her. On the seventh spring, she asks for a bit of water to drink and tosses her ring inside the jug. Her husband Sabzkaba recognizes the ring and brings his wife to his house, where he warns her his family is made of divs. He convinces her to suckle on his div mother's breast to warm up to her. The div mother forces her to cry on the floor and sweep it; to wash a black cloth white; and to take a sieve to the div's sister. One day, the div family organizes a wedding and forces both Sabzkaba and Shakarkhava to hold one candle on each of their fingers during the ceremony. Later that night, they kill the wedding couple and escape in a Magic Flight sequence, as they are pursued by Sabzkaba's relatives, his uncle, his father and lastly his mother: they first turn into a broom and a bundle of sticks, then into a garden and a garden-keeper ; thirdly, a mill and a miller and finally into a cypress tree and a dragon coiled around it. Sabzkaba's mother reaches them and threatens his wife with a sword, but he kills her before she does any harm to the human girl. Marzolph sourced this tale from Khorasan, and, according to Osmanov, the tale was collected in Morad.The Akhund
In a variant from Luristan with the title The Akhund, collected from teller Khudâbas of Bahârvand, an akhund finds a cucumber floating in the river, brings it home and eats it. The man becomes pregnant and gives birth to a turtle. After some time, the animal pleads his human father to ask for the hand of the princess in marriage. Despite some reservations, the akhund goes to the king's palace and the vizier welcomes him. The man declares his intentions, and the king, advised by his vizier, asks the turtle suitor performs some tasks first: to provide seven camels loaded with gold and jewels. He does and he marries the princess. After the wedding, the turtle husband takes off his turtle shell and becomes a handsome man, but insists to his wife that she can never tell anyone. One day, the human wife wants to visit his family, so he transforms her into a needle, pins it into his hat, becomes a dove and flies away to his relatives. In the case they are found out, the husband instructs the girl to press his mother's breast and to force her to swear on mother's milk and father's pain not to harm her. She does exactly that, but his mother forces her to do impossible tasks: she sends her to his aunt to get a mortar to crush some kashk and to wash a blackboard white. She accomplishes it with her husband's guidance and help: he warns his wife the task is a trap, and gives her a sleeping potion to throw at his relatives at his aunt's house. Lastly, the turtle prince's mother betroths her son to another bride and prepares their wedding. The youth tricks his family by killing the bride, and putting his human wife in her place with the false bride's clothes. The couple turn into a pair of doves and escape. His family discovers the body of the false bride and pursue the couple. To distract them, the princess and her husband shapeshift into a calf and a shepherdess, and a flower and a tree. Finally, the turtle prince delivers his wife to his father-in-law and becomes a pomegranate growing on the back of his hand, as a final trick on his aunt and mother. The collector noted that The Akhund was essentially "the same as" the Iranian tale Le Sultan Serpent, also of type ATU 425 and collected from Khorassan by Adrienne Boulvin.The Serpent Sultan
Researcher Adrienne Boulvin published an Iranian variant from Meched. In this tale, titled Le Sultan Serpent, a poor thorn-gatherer lives with his three daughters in a village in Iran. He earns his living by gathering thorns and selling them in the village. One day, the man goes to the desert to gather thorns, when a large serpent appears to him. The serpent introduces himself as "Serpent Sultan", who has fallen in love with the thorn-gatherer's youngest daughter and demands her as his bride, or it will kill the man. The thorn-gatherer returns home and explains the situation to his youngest daughter. She decides to go with the serpent to save her father, and accompanies the serpent to the desert. The serpent guides the girl to a hole; she enters and sees a grand mansion. They live together as husband and wife, but, in the nights, the serpent gives the girl a soporific drink to make her sleep. Some time later, the girl complains to the serpent that she misses her family. The serpent allows her to visit her family, but warns against listening to any words her sisters say. The girl is happy to visit her sisters, who also advise her to avoid drinking the potion she is offered. That night, she returns to the underground mansion and is given the drink. She pretends to drink and, pretending to be asleep, sees that her serpent husband takes off the serpent skin to become a handsome man. The next morning, the girl asks the serpent how to burn his snakeskin. He tells her the skin can be burnt with onion peels and garlic peels, but warns her that if his skin is burnt, she will have to wear seven iron shoes and walk with seven iron canes. In a certain afternoon, while her husband is away, the girl burns the snakeskin. She waits him to return, but he never does, so she goes after him with iron shoes and iron canes.She walks for years until she comes across a stream flowing through a verdant meadow, and some chickens and roosters nearby. Feeling hungry, she asks a hen-keeper for some eggs, but he refuses her request, on the basis that none shall eat the Serpent Sultan's eggs. She sees some cows nearby and asks the cowherd for some of their milk, but the cowherd also refuses. Finally, the girl sees a maidservant coming to fetch water and asks for some to drink, but the servant refuses. The servant brings the water to her master and tells him about the thirst girl at the fountain, and Serpent Sultan orders the servant to go back and fulfill the girl's request. The servant obeys and gives the girl water to drink, and the girl secretly places her ring inside the water jug. The Serpent Sultan recognizes the ring and brings his wife in. He warns her his family is composed of divs which may devour her once they learn he married a "descendant of Adam", so he will pass her off as a servant.
Serpent Sultan's div-mother suspects something is amiss with the newest servant, and begins to hound her. First, the div-mother gives the girl a piece of black felt and orders her to wash it white. With her husband's help, the girl delivers a whitened piece to the div-mother. Next, she orders the girl to pay a visit to the div's sister and get a box from her. Serpent Sultan intercepts his wife and advises her how to traverse the way to his aunt: his wife is to close open doors and open closed doors; give the correct fodder for two animals ; open a closed bed and close an open bed; ask his aunt for the box, then, while the aunt is away in the kitchen with a butcher's knife, the girl is to get the box and escape. The girl follows the instructions to the letter and escapes from the aunt's house with the box, despite the aunt commanding the dog, the camel, the beds and the doors to stop her.
Lastly, the div-mother marries Serpent Sultan to his cousin. As a last task, the div-mother orders the girl to wash the carpet with her tears and sweep it with her eyelashes. The Serpent Sultan also fulfills this task. Later, she orders her to serve as living chandelier for the ceremony, as the div guests eat pieces of her flesh. Serpent Sultan spreads a dough around the girl's body to protect her from the candles and the voracious div-guests. During the ceremony, the Serpent Sultan feels sorry for the girl, seeing her in that state, and decides to escape with her that same night. He kills his cousin, takes the girl, and both ride away on horses. His div-family goes after them; Serpent Sultan throws behind him some needles and prays to God for the desert to be filled with needles. Next, he throws behind a bit of salt, and prays that it covers the whole desert. At last, he throws behind a water jug and creates a lake between him and his wife and the div-family. His div-mother asks him how they can cross the lake. Serpent Sultan replies that they just have to step on the reflection of the moon and the stars on the surface of the lake. The div-family believe his words, step on the lake and sink to the bottom of the lake. Serpent Sultan and the girl return to their mansion and live happily.
The Daughter of the Woodcutter and her Serpent Husband
Russian Iranist collected in Shiraz, in the Sivandi language, a tale he translated as "Дочь дровосека и её жених-змей". In this tale, a poor and old woodcutter has three daughters. One day, he prepares to find some firewood, so he takes off his shoes to go to the oven, and when he turns around, a snake is lying on his shoes. The woodcutter asks the snake to get off his shoes, but the snake tells the man to give him one of his daughters. The woodcutter goes back home and tells his daughters about the situation. The elder two refuse to marry the snake, but the youngest offers herself. The snake gives him means to buy better clothes for his daughter; he buys a fine dress, then gives her away to the snake. The snake and the girl go down a tree hole and enter a beautiful patio, then the snake takes off the snakeskin and becomes a handsome youth named Шафѝ Гýли Зард. Some time later, the nameless heroine wants to visit her family. She goes back home and shows her sisters the belt from her husband's snakeskin kaftan. Her sisters suggest to burn it. The girl returns to her husband and, while he is in the bath, she tries to burn the snakeskin. Her husband smells the burning and stops her actions, warning her that, to find him again, she is to walk in seven pairs of iron shoes.Some days later, the girl repeats her action: she throws the snakeskin in the fireplace and burns it. Shafi Guli Zard comes out of the bath and tells his wife that they will be separated now. Suddenly, an eagle flies into the patio, and says that Shafi Guli Zard's aunt awaits for him. The youth jumps onto the eagle's wings and flies bacl to his aunt. When he arrives, his aunt tells him she expects him to marry a person named "Фатма Ханум". Shafi Guli Zard chooses to follow his aunt's orders, since she is a div and might eat him.
Meanwhile, his wife, who has been following the eagle's shadow, reaches the castle of Shafi Guli Zard's aunt and cries a bit near a fountain, when she sees a servant fetching water. She asks for some and drops her ring into the jar. Her husband takes her in and passes her off as another maid. She is given the mocking name of Fatma-Pleshak, and made to be the servant of the false bride. Shafi's aunt takes the girl to a yard and orders her to water the yard with her tears. She goes to Shafi to tell him about the task. Her husband reproaches her, but prays to God and invokes Solomon's help to command a wind to sweep the floor and a cloud to rain on the yard. Next, the div-aunt gives a shater to the girl and orders her to wash it in the oven until it becomes white. Shafi repeats his magic command and fulfills the task.
Lastly, the girl is to go to the house of the div-aunt's sister and ask for the self-cutting scissors and the self-playing tambourine. Her husband instructs her to compliment the crooked and twisted scenery on the way there, and to give the animals their correct food. Finally, his aunt sets the heroine as candleholder to Shafi Guli Zard's wedding to Fatma-Khanum. She cries out that her hands are burning, and Shafi Guli Zard answers that his own body is burning. After the ceremony, his aunt conspires with her sister to devour the human girl, Fatma-Pleshak, the next morning. Shafi Guli Zard and the false bride enter the bridal chambers. At midnight, he puts some cotton on the wedding bells to muffle them, goes to Fatma-Pleshak and they escape in the dark of night.
The div aunt and her sister devour the wrong person, and the wedding bells alert them that the couple have escaped. They race after the couple to enact their revenge. Back to the couple, as soon as they see the divs after them, Shafi Guli Zard prays to God and calls out to Solomon for a forest of thorns to appear behind them to hurt their pursuers, then a salt swamp and for the salt to penetrate their wounds, and finally for a vast sea to appear behind them to separate the couple from their pursuers. After the sea appears, the divs on the other side ask him how he traversed it. Shafi Guli Zard tells them to place some millstones around their necks and to wade until they reach the other margin. The divs take the millstones, enter the sea and sink to the bottom. Shafi Guli Zard stays a bit longer to check if they indeed drowned; murky, dirty water begins to pool at the surface. Shafi Guli Zard and his wife celebrate that their pursuers are no more and return home.
Shafi Guli Zard
In an Iranian tale collected in Fars province with the title "شفی گلی زرد", a snake appears to an old man in the desert and demands one of the man's daughters in marriage. The man returns home and asks his daughters which will go to the snake: the elder five refuse, but the youngest, suspecting something more about the snake agrees. Thus, the girl is prepared and dressed in fine garments and given to the snake, while the snake repays him a hefty dowry in jewels and gold, and the man departs. The girl keeps suspecting the snake is more than it appears, they enter the snake's abode through a crevice, and she finds a lush garden inside with a large mansion in the distance. The snake comes out of the snakeskin to show his true form as a handsome human youth, and, despite some initial reluctance, reveals his origins: he is Shafi Guli Zard, son of the Shah of the Paris, who an ugly black woman wants to betroth to her even uglier daughter. He alternates between both places so they will not suspect anything, and asks his human wife to keep the secret; if not, he will depart and she has to wear out seven pairs of iron shoes in search for him. Some time later, she begins to miss her family, and pays them a visit in her parents' house, adorning herself with garments and jewels and joined by her husband, who camps outside the house in a tent. Her mother is surprised at her presence, but her elder sisters mock her for being a snake's wife that has come to poison them. Fed up with their mockery, she shows then jewels and ornaments her husband gave her, questions how her spouse can be a snake if he can talk, and finally reveals her husband is Shafi Guli Zard, son of the Shah of the Paris. On hearing this, Shafi Guli Zard shows himself and abandons his wife.The girl puts on seven pairs of iron shoes and goes after him, passing by mountains and deserts. She meets a shepherd on the journey, then wanders off until she finds an old woman who takes her. However, the old woman begins to force her on hard tasks as her servant. One day, the old woman gives her a black cloth and orders her to wash it white in the water. When doing the task, Shafi Guli Zard appears and asks why she went after him. The girl says she would never break her promise, but her sisters made her do it, and Shafi Guli Zard explains the old woman is Elala Zangi, who betrothed her daughter to him. He also chants a spell and turns the black cloth white. Days later, Elala Zangi orders the girl to go to her sister's house and fetch from there a pair of self-cutting and self-sewing scissors. Shafi Guli Zard intercepts her and advises her how to proceed: she is to compliment a hedge of thorns and say it is a needle, compliment a pool of sewage and say it contains water like honey and oil, exchange the fodder between two animals, open a closed door and close an open one, get the scissors from the ledge and flee. Following his instructions, she reaches the old woman's sister's house, gets the scissors and rushes back. The old woman commands the door, the animals and the scenery to stop her, but they stay their hand. After this success, Elala Zangi still forces her on more hard tasks, which are done with Shafi Guli Zard's help.
Next, she is to clean up the yard for his upcoming wedding, which is done by Shafi Guli Zard summoning a raincloud after praying to God. Finally, the girl is placed on a platform and forced to hold ten candles on her fingers to illuminate Shafi Guli Zard's wedding to Elala Zangi's daughter. During the ceremony, the candles are melting in her hands, and she complains her hands are burning, while Shafi Guli Zard says it is his life that is. At midnight, Shafi Guli Zard takes the candles from his human wife's hands and escapes with her.
The Box of Strike and Dance
In an Iranian tale titled "قوطی بزن و برقص", a man in the city of Saba has three daughters, each living their lives. His middle daughter is married to a person named Malik Ibrahim, who is the son of the king of demons and slept in dragon skin at night. One day, her sisters convince her to ask her husband how to destroy the dragonskin. The girl goes to ask her husband the question. In a fit of fury, he slaps her so hard she passes out. When she wakes up, Malik Ibrahim answers her: burn the dragonskin in onion peels and garlic peels, with a sprinkle of salt. Her sisters, who were eavesdropping on their conversation, follow the man's words and burn the dragonskin the next day. When Malik Ibrahim comes home the next day, he cannot find it, and chastises his wife, telling her she will only find him after she wears down seven iron canes, seven iron shoes, seven iron veils, and seven iron boxes, then disappears. After he vanishes, the girl cries for her loss, then buys the iron objects and begins her quest. The girl finds a demon on the way, and a mysterious voice advises her to toss an iron box to the demon and flee. This happens successively with six other demons, until her iron garments are finally worn out, and the girl reaches a village next to a river.She sees an old woman fetching water near a garden and a mansion, and asks for some to drink. The old woman gives her the jar to drink, and she secretly drops her husband's ring inside it. The old woman brings the water to Malik Ibrahim, who recognizes the ring as the one he gave to a girl in the city of Saba, and fears for her, since she may be eaten by the demons. He exits the house and meets his wife. The girl kneels at his feet and asks for his forgiveness, since she was fooled by her sisters' envy. Malik Ibrahim turns her into a pin and hides it in his clothes, then goes back home. Despite his attempt to hide his wife, his demon family can sense a human's scent, so he turns the pin back into a human, and make his relatives promise not to harm her.
Despite making them promise, his demon family plan to kill the human girl, but know that Malik Ibrahim would come to her rescue. Since Malik Ibrahim is set to be married to his cousin, another demoness, they will celebrate the wedding for a whole week. During this time, his human wife cries copiously for her situation, until one day, his mother orders the girl to take a box called "box of strike and dance" to his aunt's and ask for a similar one from her. Malik Ibrahim advises her how to procceed: open a closed door and keep it ajar with a rock, exchange the fodder of two animals, enter his aunt's house, get the box near a window and underneath a bowl, flee the house, and do not open the box. The girl begins to walk toward to his aunt's house and decides to take a peek inside the box: she opens the lid; small-sized dancers and musicians spring out of it and begin to dance and play music. She repeats a magic spell her husband taught her, and Malik Ibrahim appears to her. He commands the dancers and musicians back into the box, and chastises her.
After the incident, the girl walks to the aunt's house, by following her husband's orders, and reaches the door. Malik Ibrahim's aunt welcomes the girl and enter into another room to sharpen her teeth. While the aunt is distracted, the girl sights the second box, steals it and flees from the house. The aunt notices the girl escaped and commands the animals and the door to stop her, to no avail. The girl delivers the second box to her mother-in-law; the demon family is surprised she survived, and realize Malik Ibrahim was behind it. Finally, their wedding happens, and Malik Ibrahim marries his demoness cousin. On the wedding night, he kills her, takes his human wife and some jewels and changes them both into a cloud and part of the sky. The next morning, the demon family notice Malik Ibrahim and his cousin are sleeping late, and open their door: his cousin is there, dead, while he and the human girl are nowhere to be seen, so they chase after them through the air, but cannot finds them, save for a cloud and a piece of the sky. Realizing the cloud and the sky were the couple, the demon family send another duo to scout for the fleeing couple. This time, Malik Ibrahim turns himself into a fountain and his wife a drinking cup. Again, his demon relatives cannot find them. At last, Malik Ibrahim and his wife reach a city, and spend their lives there.