In fact, she was a queen. They found her in the middle of the Red Sea, surrounded by demons, where she was employed in her new role, namely giving birth to a hundred-plus monsters a day, known as lilim. Lamia is a devastatingly beautiful monster, part woman and part serpent. Zuhra accepts him and they marry. He explains she disenchanted him and he will make her his wife as the "Queen of the Seas" ("du wirst fortan Knigin des Meeres sein"), in his palace in the middle of the sea. Variants collected at East Lithuania show the transformation of the children into birds. They live together and have three sons. " ". [17], The tale is one of the most researched in Lithuanian scholarship, under different approaches,[a] since "it represents the old Lithuanian worldview". [99], In a tale collected from a Karelian source with the title "-" ("The Reptile Beloved"), twelve maidens go to bathe in the sea and leave their clothes on the shore. In Sumerian and Old-Babylonian literary tradition the snake was a wise creature and an granted miraculous herbs for eternal youth and immortality. The man's wife goes to the beach and repeats the song to summon her husband, but he does not appear. [19], The tale has become the object of scholarly interest of ethnologist Jonas Balys[lt]. The god had impregnated the princess in the form of a shower of gold after her father had locked her away upon learning from an oracle that he would be killed by his grandson. The two elder brothers try to summon the snake brother-in-law, but he recognizes their voices do not belong to his wife. Egl bears four children (three sons (uolas (Oak), Uosis (Ash) and Beras (Birch)) and one youngest daughter Drebul (Aspen)). Perseus was the son of Danae, daughter of Acrisius the King of Argos, and Zeus. lekonyt, Jrat. Rules over: Marriage, women, birth and the heavens; Title: Queen of Heaven; Gender: Female; Symbols: Jewelled crown, sceptre, pomegranate The next morning, Mirzhan goes back to the shore to summon her husband, but she only sees a red tint in the river and her husband's head near the reeds. The snake crawls, it is cold, it comes silently and suddenly. , no. [98] The tale was originally collected by Russian philologist Dimitry M. Balashov[ru] from informant Elisaveta Ivanovna Sidorova, from Tersky region, in the White Sea, with the title " " ("Lake Bettle - Groom"). This happens again with the middle sister. Human suitors test their skills. Broken Bridge (From mid-Qing to late-Qing. In: . One day, he meets a despondent fisherman on the shore, who laments to the sea prince that he has not caught any fishes. [51][52][53] Some stories mention that the king of the grass snakes was wearing an amber crown or that he lived in an amber palace - a motif that recalls another Baltic fairy tale: Jrat and Kastytis. In this tale, titled Wie die Trauerbirke entstanden ist ("How the weeping birch came to be"), a rich man finds a louse on his daughter's hair, fattens it, kills it and makes a pair of shoes out of its hide. In: Stryczyska-Hodyl, Ewa. The maiden "saw she had manifest death before her" and, by her command, orders her children to become birds: the boy a nightingale and the girl a cuckoo, and it is implied that a dead nettle is what remained of her. The girl is wreathing a flower garland that is swept off by the wind and falls on the sea. The other girls flee in fear, while Mirzhan runs to the shore to get her clothes, but a snake sits on them. Apollo (Greek god of healing, medicine, music, and poetry): Lyre (musical . "[32], Lithuanian scholarship seems to agree with this assessment: the snake is the ruler of waters and represents a chaotic world. [61] According to the Latvian Folktale Catalogue, the heroine curses her sons to become trees and herself to become a cuckoo. 818 Likes, 7 Comments - (@belarusian_monsters) on Instagram: "", . A feathered serpent of Aztec myth, Quetzalcoatl is believed to be the creator of man, and the dividing deity between the land and the sky. , [Ryzhakova, Svetlana Igorevna] (2009). When the snake's human wife returns to the shore, she sees a cut off snake head floating in the lake. In Egyptian mythology, the snake symbol represented royalty and divinity. ( )" [Serpent as a Bride and an Intimate Partner of a Man. When the snake is older, he goes to a neighbour to court his daughters. Day in and day out Nw amused herself making mud figures and watching them come to life. B Brunhild (11 P) C Clodhna (12 P) F Fairy Queens (9 P) G Queens in Greek mythology (4 C, 142 P) Q "" ": ". (2014). Snakes were associated with death and thunder which link with Ryujin's role as a bringer of rain and storms. While Iphicles screamed in fear, Heracles grabbed one snake in . Hecate. [11], This tale is classified, in the AarneThompsonUther Index, as tale type ATU 425M, "The Snake as Bridegroom"[12] (formerly "Bathing Girl's garments kept [until promise of marriage with aquatic being]"). [60], In Latvia the tale is known as alio nuotaka or Zalka lgava ("The Grass-Snake's Wife"). She then curses her daughter to become a swallow, her son a nightingale and herself into a cuckoo. In: muida, Eugenijus. the dance, live snakes were handled and at the end of the dance the snakes were released into the fields to guarantee good crops. The elder two leave the lake and, take their garments and go home. After much insistence, the brothers learn of the secret command and go to the seashore. [127], The tale also inspired a literary work by author Jkabs Jsmi (lv), in 1880, with the title Zalka lgava. A large snake comes to the castle and guesses it right, then takes the princess with him as his bride to his abode in the sea. [84] She also cited variants wherein the daughter becomes an ortie (nettle) or a cuckoo, and the son becomes a basilisk or a nightingale. She tries to calm him down and pleads to be allowed ashore to visit her mother once. He sets a riddle for any suitors: whoever guesses the right material of both mantles, shall marry the princess. Barag, Lev. [104], In a tale from the Mari people titled " " ("Blind Love"), some sisters go to bathe in the water. , . 170-171. In Thailand, the Naga is a Pluto-analogue, an underworld deity associated with wealth. Eckert, Rainer. The princess bears the snake man three daughters and goes to visit her family. She accepts it and goes back home. 585 ff (trans. [56], According to scholar Norbertas Vlius, the tale is "more common" in the eastern area of Lithuania, where "more than two thirds" of the variants have been collected. " . Saddened with grief, she decides to enter the sea and a wave washes over her. At the end of the tale, when she discovers the dead husband, she commands the elder son to become an oak, the middle child, a girl, to be a linden tree; the youngest into another tree; and herself into a cuckoo, to ever sigh over her lost love. " ". She was the patron goddess of Athens, defended many beloved heroes, and even fought alongside the Greeks in the Trojan War. Ancient Egypt had a vast array of Gods and Goddesses. Three years pass, and the snake's human wife has given birth to a boy and a girl. ), but in a hurry to get rid of the persistent snake-like reptile, Egl agrees to marry, while not fully understanding the potential consequences and the gravity of her situation. Finally, Egl herself turns into a spruce. He marries the elder in church. Later, Sira eats some food her mother prepared and a hen reveals it is made from the flesh of the serpent. [43], Although it can be considered a tale type developed in the Baltic area, since most of the variants have been recorded there,[44][45][b] variants are reported by scholar Leonardas Sauka to have been collected in nearby countries: 23 variants in Estonia (near Lake Peipus);[47] 150 Lithuanian versions; 89 Latvian versions; 28 from Russia; 22 from Belarus; 6 in Ukraine; 3 from Poland; 2 from Bulgaria. She is known by many names including Buto, Uatchit, Uadjet, and Edjo to name a few (McDevitt). Moscow: , 2009. p. 54. The girl agrees to come with him to the lake. According to historian Joseph Campbell (1904-1987), the Greeks used the Medusa story to justify the destruction of idols and temples of an ancient goddess mother wherever they found them. [124][125], According to researcher Svetlana Ryzhakova, professor V. Kazakeviius stated that in the Polish region of Suwaki, a legend is told of a girl named Egle or Egla who married a snake being that lived in an underwater crystal palace.[126]. In Hindu mythology, snakes have been depicted as both powerful and feared creatures, often associated with divinity, and are believed to have a significant impact on humans. The uncles go to the beach, summon the sea prince and kill him with spears. Sauka, Leonardas, sudarymas, pareng [com, cre]. [95], According to Russian scholarship, the tale type 425M sometimes merges with ATU 703, "The Snow-Maiden" in many Russian variants. . Its liaison with a human woman, which produces children, violates the boundaries between the world of land and the world of water[33][34] and, by killing the snake, the natural order (that is, separation between land and water) can be restored. The girl, dismissing the snake's fanciful notion, agreed to anyway. Legends have it that she was rejected by her father Shiva and husband Jagatkru, and hated by her stepmother, Chandi, who scooped out one of Manasa's eyes. The girl begins to cry and becomes a birch tree, her two elder daughters birch bark and the youngest a trembling leaf. In Egyptian mythology, the snake was a personification of the goddess Kebechet, who personified the purification of water in the funeral cult, and the snake was a protector of the pharaohs after death. "Egl, die Knigin der Nattern. Gorgon Medusa. She likes to spend her days dipping her feet in water, and a large green fish plays between her feet. [35] By using the magical incantation to summon the snake bridegroom, Egle builds a bridge between her world and the aquatic one (or an underground, chthonic realm). [121], Similarities can be found in Vodnk, a story written by Czech author Karel Jaromr Erben as a poem in the book Kytice z povst nrodnch ("A Bouquet of Folk Legends"). From the very beginning, Heracles was hated by Hera, Zeus' queen. In another myth, Hera sent two snakes to kill Heracles when he was still an infant. The girl returns to the beach with an armed man and sings the song of invocation. . Afraid to utter any word, the Black Snake then assures her it will come back when she is eighteen, and slithers back into the lake. Mark Cartwright (CC BY-NC-SA) Hecate (Hekate) is a goddess of Greek mythology capable of both good and evil. The third time, he gets his bride and takes her to his underwater kingdom. In: Sauka, Leonardas. [112], Folklorist Terrence Hansen, in his catalogue of Latin American folktales, identified two tale types wherein a girl meets an enchanted fish and is taught magic to summon fish (in one type) or to bring fresh water (in the other). She marries the reptile, which lies on the rivers, and she has two children with him when he becomes human. 142-144. Before they enter her parents' house, the girl warns her daughters to keep quiet about their life. In: Palmaitis, Letas. The girl wishes to go back home to show her father the child, and, despite some reservations, the snake husband allows her to pay him a visit, by teaching a spell to access her watery home. According to Greek myths, she was a very beautiful young woman who had many suitors. The snake promises to give it back if she marries it. First, his sons are threatened and beaten with the scourge by their uncles, in attempt to make them disclose how to summon their father; however, they remain silent and do not betray him. 81-82. Pasaka par zalkti baltu identitti veidojos ststs" [Spruce the Bride of the Grass Snake. She warns her daughter not to go to the lake but the daughter is drawn to the lake anyway. Le projet du Dictionnaire de motifs et de contes-types tiologiques chez les slaves orientaux. A similar assessment was made by professor Jack V. Haney, to whom the tale type appears "only around the south Baltic coast". The storm ends with a loud crash that stirs up the mother and her daughter. A young maiden named Egl discovers a grass snake in the sleeve of her blouse after bathing with her two sisters. The serpent emerges from the water and is killed by the man. [114], Scholar Hasan El-Shamy lists 2 variants of the tale type found in Algeria, under the previous name of the type. A ballet Egl ali karalien by Eduardas Balsys and numerous plays have been staged in various Lithuanian theaters, for the first time in 1960, directed by Juozas Gustaitis. The next day, the snake asks her to prepare the oven and to throw it in the fire. The girl's brothers torture their nephews in the bath house and they tell their uncles the secret command. After meeting the long lost family member, Egl's relatives do not wish to let her return to the sea and decide to kill ilvinas. In Greek mythology, a Gorgon (derived from "gorgos", meaning terrible) was a monster that was known to have the ability to turn onlookers into stone.It was said that there were three Gorgons, two immortal (Euryale and Stheno) and one mortal, Medusa, they had hair made of living, venomous snakes that they received as punishment from Athena, Medusa's image has become famous. Once more about the semantics of serpent in European folk-lore]. The youngest son reveals the secret command to his uncles. A group of boys overhears the incantation and summons Papa-Water to kill him. She takes her sons to visit her brothers, and the brothers pry the children for anything. [21], Folklorist Norbertas Vlius has also developed an academic interest in the narrative and analysed its elements ("the dual nature of Egle, the attributes of the snake, the types of plants") in relation to the folklore of other countries. 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