Sunday, September 28, 2014

on a stroll

2 comments:

Rob Dunlavey said...

Whoa! What's the story behind that fabric/scarf that the shopkeeper is proudly holding? The image on it is stunning.

szaza said...

Isn't it great? She is Shahmaran, or Şahmeran, and she appears in Kurdish, Persian, and Mesopotamian mythology.

I have read that she is a protector of women, and a symbol of fertility, but there's an odd story in which a man gets lost in a cave, and comes across the Shahmaran, who agrees to help him get out. She makes him promise not to tell anyone that he saw her, and he agrees, but when he escapes the cave, he learns that the king is ill, and the only thing that will heal him is the flesh of the Shahmaran. He decides to betray her to save the life of the king, and she is captured, killed, and eaten!