Once there was a poor woman who had no children and prayed to God to allow her to conceive, even if she were to give birth to a snake. God granted her wish, and when the time came, she gave birth to a snake. The snake immediately fled from its mother into the grass and disappeared. The poor woman constantly mourned for the snake and cried because God had fulfilled her wish to give birth, only for her offspring to run away, unknown where or how.
Twenty years passed, and then the snake came back and spoke to its mother: "I am your little snake that you gave birth to and then I ran away from you into the grass; now, mother, I have come to you to ask you to seek a bride for me from the emperor so that you may arrange my marriage." The mother was overjoyed at first when she saw her offspring, but then immediately worried about how she, in her poverty, could dare to ask the emperor for a bride for a snake! But the snake said to her: "Go, mother, do not think about it, for you know that every girl's door is open; and if the emperor does not give her to you, he will not take your head. Whatever the emperor says, do not look back until you reach our home." With that, she set off to the emperor.
When she arrived at the emperor's court, the servants did not immediately let her in to see the emperor, but she pleaded, and they barely let her through. When she appeared before the emperor, she said: "Bright emperor! Here is your sword, and here is my head. I had no children for a long time, so I prayed to God to let me conceive, even if it were a snake, and he granted me that. When the time came, a snake was born, and as soon as it was born, it ran away into the grass and disappeared. Now, after twenty years, the snake came to me and sent me to you to ask for a bride for it."
The emperor smiled at this and said to her: "I will give a bride for your son if he can build a bridge from my palace to his made of pearls and precious stones." Then the mother returned home without looking back, and as she walked from the emperor's palace, a bridge was being built behind her of pearls and precious stones all the way to her house. When the mother told the snake what the emperor had said, the snake told her again: "Go, mother, now see if the emperor will give me a bride, whatever he answers, when you return, do not look back until you reach our house." The mother rose again, and when she came before the emperor, she asked him if he would now give her son a bride, and the emperor answered her: "If your son can build palaces better than mine, I will give him a bride."
Then the mother returned home and on her way did not look back, and when she reached her house, in place of her house, there were palaces better than the emperor's. When the mother told the snake what the emperor had said, the snake again told her: "Go, mother, to see if the emperor will now give me a bride, whatever the emperor says, when you leave him do not look back until you reach our house." When the mother came before the emperor and told him that her son's palaces had everything better than his, the emperor then told his daughter: "My daughter! Now you must go to this little snake, for he has everything better than us."
So the little snake gathered the wedding party and took the emperor's daughter and married her. After some time, the snake's wife became pregnant. Then her mother, her sisters, and all her relatives started asking her: "How did you get pregnant by the snake?" She did not want to reveal it but always said: "God gave me that I became pregnant." Finally, her mother-in-law started asking: "My daughter-in-law, how is this? How do you sleep with the snake?" She then revealed to her mother-in-law, saying: "My mother! He is not a snake, but a young man, there is no one more beautiful.
Every evening he comes out of that snake skin, and in the morning he goes back into it." When the snake's mother heard this, she was very happy and wanted to see her son when he came out of the snake skin, so she asked her daughter-in-law how she could see him, and the daughter-in-law told her: "When we go to bed, I will take the key out of the door, and when he starts to undress, then you will see him through the hole." When the mother saw her son like that, she started thinking about how she could make him stay like that forever. One day she said to her daughter-in-law: "Come on, daughter-in-law, let's burn his skin: I will heat the oven and throw it into the fire to burn."
But the daughter-in-law replied: "I am afraid, mother, that something might happen to him." But the mother said: "Nothing will happen to him, just as the heat overtakes him, you take cold water and slowly pour it over him until the skin burns." And so they agreed, the mother heated the oven, and when in the evening the young man came out of the snake skin and went to sleep, they somehow stole that skin and threw it into the oven. As the skin started to burn, he immediately began to feel the heat, and they kept pouring water over him, and so he remained alive. When the heat subsided and he woke up from sleep, he smelled the burning skin, jumped to his feet, and cried: "What have you done to find favor with God? Where shall I go like this?" But the mother and wife rushed to him: "It's better for you to be like this, and better to be among people."
And so they barely calmed him down. When his father-in-law heard this, he immediately handed over the kingdom to him during his lifetime, and so he became the emperor and ruled happily for the rest of his life.
This story carries several deep messages and moral lessons that are common in folklore, reflecting on human values, desires, and the complexities of life. Here are a few interpretations:
Be Careful What You Wish For: The mother's initial wish to have a child, regardless of the consequences, underscores the idea that our desires might bring unforeseen outcomes. It suggests a cautionary tale about understanding and accepting the full scope of our wishes.
Unconditional Love: The mother's love for her serpent son, despite his unconventional form, highlights the unconditional love parents have for their children. It speaks to the acceptance of others' differences and the bond that persists despite life's trials.
Transformation and Redemption: The serpent's journey from being born as a serpent to becoming a respected figure who marries a princess and eventually inherits a kingdom speaks to the themes of transformation and redemption. It suggests that one's origins do not dictate their future and that personal growth and change are possible.
The Power of Faith and Determination: The mother's unwavering faith and determination to fulfill her son's wishes, even when faced with seemingly impossible tasks, demonstrate the power of perseverance and the importance of support and belief in loved ones.
The Duality of Nature: The serpent's ability to shift between his serpentine form and a human-like existence reflects on the duality of nature and the coexistence of the magical and the mundane in the world.
This Fable is written by : Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1787–1864) who was a seminal Serbian philologist and linguist, renowned for his groundbreaking reforms of the Serbian language and his extensive collection of folk literature. Advocating for a phonetic approach to writing, Karadžić's work democratized the language, making it more accessible and laying the foundation for modern Serbian. His dedication to preserving Serbian folk poetry, tales, and proverbs played a crucial role in shaping the Serbian cultural identity, inspiring countless writers and poets. Karadžić's contributions to the Serbian dictionary and his efforts to document the richness of the folk language have left an indelible mark on Serbian literature and national consciousness, ensuring his legacy as a pivotal figure in the cultural and national revival of the Serbian people in the 19th century.
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