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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Fairy Tales & Fantasy
- Subject: Fairy Tale / Folk Tale
- Published: 02/04/2015
The Snake-Woman and the Carob Tree
Born 1967, M, from London, United KingdomThe Snake-woman and the Carob Tree
Once upon a time there was a young man who lived in a little village in Palestine. He fell in love with a very beautiful girl, a neighbour from his village, and wanted to marry her, but the norms and traditions of the village dictated that he should marry his cousin instead. The unfortunate young man tried to explain to his mother that his heart was fixed on another girl making it impossible for him to marry his cousin. But his entreaties were to no avail, because the decision was in the hands of his father, who had made an agreement with his brother that the children should marry when they were of age.
The two lovers were saddened by their fate.
The wedding day came, but in spite of the huge celebrations, the young man felt like the corpse at a funeral. He tried to behave like other husbands to his cousin, but he could not. Whenever he came close to her, he would feel as if he were committing a crime. The image of his beloved was always in his mind. He spent lengthy nights without sleeping. He would sit on his bed, talking quietly to his God, weeping, asking to be rescued from a marriage that seemed so unjust to him and his cousin. God Almighty responded to his pleadings and the wife fell from an olive tree and died.
A while after that tragic death, his family could no longer prevent him from marrying his true love.
The young man felt so happy. He embraced life with optimism. The first few months of their marriage passed in unalloyed joy. One day, the bride announced her pregnancy to her husband and the whole family, using the traditional words "The Crown Prince is coming." The happy husband took great care of his wife and even braved his mother’s disapproval by helping her with the housework. The wife gave birth to a baby boy and gave him the name "Joseph" after his paternal grandfather. The baby boy was handsome, like his namesake in the Koran and the Old Testament. The grandparents were overjoyed; they held a feast, slaughtered a sheep and invited their neighbours to celebrate.
It was the custom for farmers to spend the summer on their lands living in simple huts that they built themselves. The newly-wed couple chose to build their hut under the carob tree in an area called "Al-Sharib", which means the drunk man. They spent happy moments resting together in the shade of the tree during the day, and contemplating the clear summer skies at night. Each day the couple fell more deeply in love. When the man watched his wife unbraid her long golden hair, he felt as though he were standing before a mermaid from Paradise.
The husband built a hammock for the child, hanging from the carob tree. The mother went there every hour or so to breast feed the child. But once, as she approached the child, she uttered a scream that shook the mountain and resounded in the valley. A speckled snake had slid down the branch and wrapped itself around the infant's body.
Although snakes cannot hear well and have poor sight, their forked tongue enables them to sense and recognise their surroundings. The snake sensed the mother approaching and gave a high pitched hiss that woke the young boy and made him cry. The snake started to unravel itself and withdraw to the branch above the hammock. Without paying attention to the danger, the young mother rushed to her son, taking him in her arms and carrying him to safety. The husband, who had heard the scream, ran towards them in alarm.
What followed was something that no-one could have anticipated. A large black Cobra appeared from the branch of the tree, slid down the trunk and lunged towards the speckled snake, her mouth open wide. The two snakes fought, each trying to kill the other as if they had old scores that needed to be avenged. The contest continued for almost an hour, during which the couple watched, hypnotised.
Finally, the Cobra managed to kill the speckled snake and emerged as the victor. Then it withdrew gracefully to a hole among the rocks near the roots of the carob tree.
The couple could not bear to spend another night in that place so they took their child and went back home, where they told their story to the whole family. But their story was received with different responses; some believed it, while others treated it as fantasy. Among those present was the sheikh of the village. When the husband finished telling the story to the men, the sheikh took him aside and asked him some questions about the two snakes. After hearing the answers, the sheikh said "My son, not all snakes are harmful. They fear us more than we fear them. There is a way to live in peace with snakes…and that is to make a pact of non-aggression." Explaining what he meant by a pact, the sheikh taught the man some words to recite the next time he saw the snake. They repeated the words together, to make sure that the young man had memorised them correctly. Then the man asked "Do you think, my sheikh, that I will see her again? And would I dare to go there one more time?" The sheikh answered "You must go, and don't be afraid. And don't take any weapon with you, because you are coming in peace. You are safe as long as you recite the words I have taught you."
The next day the young man could not find the courage to go back to Al-Sharib by himself. Instead, he spent the whole day in the company of his wife and his son Joseph. On the third day, however, he decided to return to the carob tree. With each step of the way, he rehearsed what he planned to say to the snake, fearing that he might forget something.
The young man reached the carob tree when the sun was at its peak, the time at which snakes are most active. He approached the shadow of the tree slowly. Suddenly, he saw her, stretched over one of the low hanging branches. He stopped still, unable to take another step. The snake dropped from the branch and slid towards him. The moment he saw her approach, he wanted to run away, but he remembered the sheikh saying "don't be afraid". The snake approached one arm's length from him and wrapped her body in circles, raising her head vertically, as the Cobra does when she senses danger. The man froze. He tried to gather the courage to speak the words he had learned from the sheikh. But he saw something that silenced him completely. The snake transformed itself into a young girl, with long black hair and lucid green eyes. Her face was exquisite...but her body was covered with scales, like snakeskin. She sat gracefully on a rock and raised her eyes with their fine lashes to him. The young man tried to run away, but his legs refused to respond and he was trembling with fear. The woman-snake did not move and perhaps this encouraged him to speak. So he said "Hadd Allah ma bayni wabaynik – May God's limit be between you and me. Go to your own place, blessed creature. Peace be to you and I ask you to give me peace. This is a covenant between you and me. I will not harm you, provided that you promise me the same." Before he had completed his words, the girl said "I promise" , transformed herself back to the body of a snake and returned quietly to her home near the roots of the tree. Our man ran away as fast as he could, without looking behind him.
He arrived home totally exhausted. His face was blanched by shock, or as we say in Arabic, “Asfar mithl limon” .. "yellow like a lemon." His wife asked him "What is wrong with you, my husband? Why are you in this state of mind? Tell me what has happened." But the man didn't have the ability or the desire to talk. All he could do was to indicate his wish to sleep. The wife put the mattress and pillow on the floor and brought a blanket.
The man tried to sleep but how could he when the image of the woman-snake was haunting him? The wife called upon her father and mother in law and they all gathered around him but he pretended to sleep to avoid talking to them. They discussed his case and all agreed that the only person who could help was the sheikh, a man who was well known for his religious devotion and his ability to see things that others missed.
They sent for the sheikh who came very quickly. When he entered the room and saw the young man still trembling with fear, he asked everyone to leave the room. When they were alone, the sheikh said “Speak son, what has happened to you?" The young man pulled himself from under the blanket and sat straight, wrapping the blanket around his body to keep warm. He told the sheikh what had happened in detail. The sheikh said "Don't be afraid my son. As long as you have given her your promise of peace and she has accepted it and has promised to abide by it, then you and your family are safe. No harm will come your way. As long as this pact is kept in your family, from generation to generation, she and her descendants will abide by it until the Day of Judgement. But... “and here, the face of the sheikh turned to an expression of fear and the man sensed danger "But what, my sheikh?" The sheikh continued, warning "But don't ever do what is forbidden, because then you will do great harm to yourself." The man asked the sheikh "What is the forbidden thing that you are talking about?" The sheikh answered "Don't fall in her net. She will try to seduce you, as she seduced our father, Adam. Whenever you feel weak before her, just remember that. And don't tell anybody about what happened between the two of you. That is a secret that you should only tell at the right time to the right people. Don't incite her anger by your words or your actions, because she will take revenge... Now I have warned you, so don't forget that."
Note: This is only a sample of the story. The story in full is available on Kindle
The Snake-Woman and the Carob Tree(Derar Ameer)
The Snake-woman and the Carob Tree
Once upon a time there was a young man who lived in a little village in Palestine. He fell in love with a very beautiful girl, a neighbour from his village, and wanted to marry her, but the norms and traditions of the village dictated that he should marry his cousin instead. The unfortunate young man tried to explain to his mother that his heart was fixed on another girl making it impossible for him to marry his cousin. But his entreaties were to no avail, because the decision was in the hands of his father, who had made an agreement with his brother that the children should marry when they were of age.
The two lovers were saddened by their fate.
The wedding day came, but in spite of the huge celebrations, the young man felt like the corpse at a funeral. He tried to behave like other husbands to his cousin, but he could not. Whenever he came close to her, he would feel as if he were committing a crime. The image of his beloved was always in his mind. He spent lengthy nights without sleeping. He would sit on his bed, talking quietly to his God, weeping, asking to be rescued from a marriage that seemed so unjust to him and his cousin. God Almighty responded to his pleadings and the wife fell from an olive tree and died.
A while after that tragic death, his family could no longer prevent him from marrying his true love.
The young man felt so happy. He embraced life with optimism. The first few months of their marriage passed in unalloyed joy. One day, the bride announced her pregnancy to her husband and the whole family, using the traditional words "The Crown Prince is coming." The happy husband took great care of his wife and even braved his mother’s disapproval by helping her with the housework. The wife gave birth to a baby boy and gave him the name "Joseph" after his paternal grandfather. The baby boy was handsome, like his namesake in the Koran and the Old Testament. The grandparents were overjoyed; they held a feast, slaughtered a sheep and invited their neighbours to celebrate.
It was the custom for farmers to spend the summer on their lands living in simple huts that they built themselves. The newly-wed couple chose to build their hut under the carob tree in an area called "Al-Sharib", which means the drunk man. They spent happy moments resting together in the shade of the tree during the day, and contemplating the clear summer skies at night. Each day the couple fell more deeply in love. When the man watched his wife unbraid her long golden hair, he felt as though he were standing before a mermaid from Paradise.
The husband built a hammock for the child, hanging from the carob tree. The mother went there every hour or so to breast feed the child. But once, as she approached the child, she uttered a scream that shook the mountain and resounded in the valley. A speckled snake had slid down the branch and wrapped itself around the infant's body.
Although snakes cannot hear well and have poor sight, their forked tongue enables them to sense and recognise their surroundings. The snake sensed the mother approaching and gave a high pitched hiss that woke the young boy and made him cry. The snake started to unravel itself and withdraw to the branch above the hammock. Without paying attention to the danger, the young mother rushed to her son, taking him in her arms and carrying him to safety. The husband, who had heard the scream, ran towards them in alarm.
What followed was something that no-one could have anticipated. A large black Cobra appeared from the branch of the tree, slid down the trunk and lunged towards the speckled snake, her mouth open wide. The two snakes fought, each trying to kill the other as if they had old scores that needed to be avenged. The contest continued for almost an hour, during which the couple watched, hypnotised.
Finally, the Cobra managed to kill the speckled snake and emerged as the victor. Then it withdrew gracefully to a hole among the rocks near the roots of the carob tree.
The couple could not bear to spend another night in that place so they took their child and went back home, where they told their story to the whole family. But their story was received with different responses; some believed it, while others treated it as fantasy. Among those present was the sheikh of the village. When the husband finished telling the story to the men, the sheikh took him aside and asked him some questions about the two snakes. After hearing the answers, the sheikh said "My son, not all snakes are harmful. They fear us more than we fear them. There is a way to live in peace with snakes…and that is to make a pact of non-aggression." Explaining what he meant by a pact, the sheikh taught the man some words to recite the next time he saw the snake. They repeated the words together, to make sure that the young man had memorised them correctly. Then the man asked "Do you think, my sheikh, that I will see her again? And would I dare to go there one more time?" The sheikh answered "You must go, and don't be afraid. And don't take any weapon with you, because you are coming in peace. You are safe as long as you recite the words I have taught you."
The next day the young man could not find the courage to go back to Al-Sharib by himself. Instead, he spent the whole day in the company of his wife and his son Joseph. On the third day, however, he decided to return to the carob tree. With each step of the way, he rehearsed what he planned to say to the snake, fearing that he might forget something.
The young man reached the carob tree when the sun was at its peak, the time at which snakes are most active. He approached the shadow of the tree slowly. Suddenly, he saw her, stretched over one of the low hanging branches. He stopped still, unable to take another step. The snake dropped from the branch and slid towards him. The moment he saw her approach, he wanted to run away, but he remembered the sheikh saying "don't be afraid". The snake approached one arm's length from him and wrapped her body in circles, raising her head vertically, as the Cobra does when she senses danger. The man froze. He tried to gather the courage to speak the words he had learned from the sheikh. But he saw something that silenced him completely. The snake transformed itself into a young girl, with long black hair and lucid green eyes. Her face was exquisite...but her body was covered with scales, like snakeskin. She sat gracefully on a rock and raised her eyes with their fine lashes to him. The young man tried to run away, but his legs refused to respond and he was trembling with fear. The woman-snake did not move and perhaps this encouraged him to speak. So he said "Hadd Allah ma bayni wabaynik – May God's limit be between you and me. Go to your own place, blessed creature. Peace be to you and I ask you to give me peace. This is a covenant between you and me. I will not harm you, provided that you promise me the same." Before he had completed his words, the girl said "I promise" , transformed herself back to the body of a snake and returned quietly to her home near the roots of the tree. Our man ran away as fast as he could, without looking behind him.
He arrived home totally exhausted. His face was blanched by shock, or as we say in Arabic, “Asfar mithl limon” .. "yellow like a lemon." His wife asked him "What is wrong with you, my husband? Why are you in this state of mind? Tell me what has happened." But the man didn't have the ability or the desire to talk. All he could do was to indicate his wish to sleep. The wife put the mattress and pillow on the floor and brought a blanket.
The man tried to sleep but how could he when the image of the woman-snake was haunting him? The wife called upon her father and mother in law and they all gathered around him but he pretended to sleep to avoid talking to them. They discussed his case and all agreed that the only person who could help was the sheikh, a man who was well known for his religious devotion and his ability to see things that others missed.
They sent for the sheikh who came very quickly. When he entered the room and saw the young man still trembling with fear, he asked everyone to leave the room. When they were alone, the sheikh said “Speak son, what has happened to you?" The young man pulled himself from under the blanket and sat straight, wrapping the blanket around his body to keep warm. He told the sheikh what had happened in detail. The sheikh said "Don't be afraid my son. As long as you have given her your promise of peace and she has accepted it and has promised to abide by it, then you and your family are safe. No harm will come your way. As long as this pact is kept in your family, from generation to generation, she and her descendants will abide by it until the Day of Judgement. But... “and here, the face of the sheikh turned to an expression of fear and the man sensed danger "But what, my sheikh?" The sheikh continued, warning "But don't ever do what is forbidden, because then you will do great harm to yourself." The man asked the sheikh "What is the forbidden thing that you are talking about?" The sheikh answered "Don't fall in her net. She will try to seduce you, as she seduced our father, Adam. Whenever you feel weak before her, just remember that. And don't tell anybody about what happened between the two of you. That is a secret that you should only tell at the right time to the right people. Don't incite her anger by your words or your actions, because she will take revenge... Now I have warned you, so don't forget that."
Note: This is only a sample of the story. The story in full is available on Kindle
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