392: 1001 Nights: The Unthinkable (part 1 of 2)

This week on Myths and Legends, it's a story from 1001 Nights, and we'll see what to do if you find an ocean of honey underground.

Crime, and that if you meet a talking snake, listen, especially if that talking snake is taking you captive and you have no choice but to listen.

The creature this time has some great news for you, if only you didn't already listen to that reptile who just came to town.

This is Myths and Legends, episode 392, The Unthinkable.

This is a podcast where we tell stories from mythology and folklore.

Some are incredibly popular tales you might think you know, but with surprising origins.

Others are stories that might be new to you, but are definitely worth a listen.

As we've talked about, 1001 Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales, compiled in the Middle Ages.

It's the source for Alibaba, Sinbad, and most famously, Aladdin.

Today, it's the story of Hasib and the Queen of Serpents.

Now, if you're not familiar with 1001 Nights, there was a sultan who had his heart broken by his wife.

So, in order to never be hurt again, he would marry a woman, they would spend the night together, and then he had her executed in the morning.

This went on until he met Shaharazad, who came up with a plan.

Stories.

She would tell him a story each night, but never finish it, so as to always leave him wanting more.

We have told the end of their story, but I like the dynamic and having characters comment on the stories, so this is like a lost episode sort of thing, where we'll jump in in the middle of their story journey at like night 480-something.

The Sultan raised his hand.

Okay, before they got into it, that story last time was...

a lot.

Kind of too much.

It was long and brutal and sad.

Could they get back to like just fun adventure stories where if people die, it's not played for so much melodrama?

Shaharazad, the queen, technically, said that she was just telling the story as it was written.

You can hardly slide in darkwing duck references to a story with that much tragedy.

Tone-wise, it wouldn't work.

That would be somehow even more macabre.

Besides, that's what keeps things fresh.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that.

The Sultan said, sure, but how about a lot less of that, though, and more of this?

Clean slate, fun stories.

Go.

Shaharazad smiled.

Okay, here's the story of a Greek sage named Daniel.

The Sultan grinned.

All right, good.

Who died?

Aw.

I have laid my five remaining leaves in this chest.

Know that my last hour is at hand, and the time of my translation from this temporary abiding place to that which is eternal draws nigh.

Now thou art with child, and wilt happily bear a son after my death.

If this be so, name him Hasib Kermeddin and rear him well.

When the boy grows up and says to thee, What inheritance did my father leave me?

Give him these five leaves, which when he has read and digested, he will be the most learned man of his time.

Daniel sat back and heaved a sigh.

Um,

what are you even talking about?

What did any of that mean?

His wife sat up in bed.

First, he takes his entire library on a ship.

Not to steal a joke from R-Flagmean's death, but why would you put a library on a ship?

The whole thing is moving.

The books will be falling everywhere, but probably most importantly, they were super expensive and very much not waterproof if the boat sank, which it did.

So he came back with what, four pages, four leaves from his entire library that he managed to save, and he put them in a chest.

And that would make his future son the smartest man in the world.

But he comes back from almost dying at sea with his four pieces of paper and just wants to like jump into bed.

And now he was dropping all of this on her.

Oh, what's going on, honey?

Honey?

um when daniel was talking about how the translation from this temporary abode to that which is eternal was drawing nigh he apparently meant very nigh as in as soon as he finished that sentence the wife was inconsolable but thankfully daniel was better with finances than floating libraries he had arranged things so that his wife and hasib would be taken care of for as long as they lived which was good because because

he will learn nothing, Hasib's teacher said.

He's five, the mother replied.

The teacher nodded and acknowledged that, yeah, he totally understood that it could be seen as the teacher's responsibility, especially at this age, to find a way to teach the kid.

But Hasib, Hasib was aggressively ignorant.

He refused to learn anything.

The teacher could keep trying, but he had a feeling that no matter what, Hasib would never learn.

He's right, the five-year-old Hasib noted.

I'm not going to learn anything.

Ever.

Okay, you can't like never learn.

Your father would be horrified.

Knowledge was so important to him, the mother said.

Yeah, and he died in a freak-floating library accident.

I'm not saying there's a clear line connecting the two, but it's hard to draw other conclusions.

Hasib crossed his arms.

For a kid who refused to learn, he was making some frustratingly good points.

Still, they had the means, and she would be remiss if he was not prepared for life without her.

If he wouldn't go to school, he would learn a trade.

There it is.

Learn that word.

No.

Hasib still refused.

The mother sneered.

Like the scholar said, Hasib couldn't not learn anything.

This was a phase.

Eventually, he grew out of it.

Yeah, honestly, it is kind of impressive, the tradesman said a few years later.

Hasib had to be fairly clever to be at this apprenticeship for so long and still learn nothing.

Sorry.

So I don't know what to do with this kid, the mother said one afternoon with her friends.

Hasib didn't need to work.

His father was very smart and had prepared everything, but she wanted to see some drive in him, to know that he would be okay after she was gone.

Oh,

easy, the friend said.

Marriage.

Marriage and kids.

He's what?

Fifteen?

He's more than old enough.

And she's not wrong,

Getting married and having a kid does force you to grow up.

I'm not saying it can't happen without those things, but it does help.

Unless you're extremely determined for it to not help.

Locked on autopilot and fiercely determined to not grow or change at all, and knowing that his mom wouldn't let him and his now new wife actually die, Haseib kept doing nothing.

to no consequences whatsoever.

Mom kept paying rent.

His wife wouldn't leave him because she literally did not have the rights to leave him.

Life was good for him.

Until one day, tough love found him.

Waking up at the crack of noon, he heard a donkey outside.

And Mom was standing over him with a hatchet.

His shriek and cowering told Mom that she might have effectively tried physical violence earlier.

Though that wasn't even the point of this interaction.

She was bringing him a hatchet and donkey, ones that she bought she got him a job.

Nope, won't learn, Hasib said when he realized the hatchet was for working and not for threatening.

Don't have to.

You already know what to do.

Everyone does.

You take this hatchet and hit a tree until the tree is logs.

It's no learning necessary, she said.

That was the pitch on the part of the neighbors, the woodcutters who were married to her friends.

Either he did this or she cut him off.

He laughed.

If she thought he was walking up a mountain to chop wood, she said, part of having the means to support him well into medieval adulthood, so like 13 plus, part of having the means to do that was having the ability to pay strong men to carry him to work.

At her whistle, several burly guys stormed Hasib's home, subdued him, and dragged him and the slightly less stubborn donkey to work.

It only took about three or four weeks of being carried to work, literally kicking and screaming, for the embarrassment to finally set in.

A month later, the burly dudes found his bed made and Hasib up early with the woodcutters.

Which, free Myths and Legends parenting lesson, if your kid refuses to grow up, just hire several out-of-work bodybuilders to publicly shame them for weeks.

Months passed, and Hasib went to work every day and earned money for he and his wife and yeah, that's adulthood.

And as numerous adults I've interacted with in my life have shown me, you can be an adult and never learn anything.

Turns out, it isn't even all that difficult.

Oh my gosh, what are you doing back there?

One of Hasib's co-workers said to the 20-something

that was hitting the rock in the back of the cave with his hatchet.

They had all been caught in the storm and ran to the cave for cover.

Okay, not only is that really annoying, but you can't do that.

You'll dull your hatchet or even break it, the man said.

But Hasib only covered his ears.

La la la, can't hear you.

Refuse to learn.

The man shrugged and went back to waiting out the storm when...

Hmm.

He turned to the other co-workers who...

They heard that too, right?

Soon, Hasib found himself surrounded by the men who were no longer criticizing his hitting of the rock with his now extremely dented and blunt hatchet, but but encouraging it.

That's hollow.

There's something down there, the first man said, and everyone agreed.

They all set to work and soon unearthed a large flagstone with a ring in it.

They looked at each other, and Hasib did the honors.

He pulled the ring, lifted the stone, and

an ocean, a small sea of honey just sitting there in the ground.

The men all looked at each other.

They were rich.

And they were.

If we're reading it according to the story, honey was like liquid gold.

If we're going by my research, it was...

it was valuable, more valuable than wood, but it wouldn't instantly make you rich, unless you were intensely motivated enough to not learn anything ever, and you make your living selling wood by the stick, in which case, honey probably would be a massive step up.

It was valuable enough to sell and valuable enough to want to keep secret.

So while the woodcutters went to town, got clay vessels and transported the honey back, stockpiling it in one of their homes, Hasib would stay with it and guard it in case the owner came back.

Which, all this just feels like a very sedentary burglary.

We'll meet the owner of the ocean of honey, but that will be right after this.

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The following days played to Hasib's strength of sitting there and doing nothing.

Hey, Hasib,

the woodcutter said as Hasib passed the last honey up to them from the hole.

Hasib nodded.

Yep-oh, what's up?

I'm trying to remember who found this honey initially.

The woodcutter scratched his head.

Well, I mean, it would I guess it was me, but Hasib started and then stopped.

And the stone slammed down over the cistern.

He didn't bother crying out.

He may have avoided any school or knowledge acquisition at all, but you didn't have to go to school to understand what was happening here.

They were afraid of his claim on all that literally sweet, sweet honey, so they left him there to die.

This was not a fun development.

He'd even go so far as to say that this was kind of bad.

I can't think of any situation that's improved by a scorpion landing on your face, but apparently Hasib could.

After he slapped the thing away and took his axe to it, he stopped.

Wait, if that scorpion got in here, there might be another way out.

Setting aside that scorpions are not human size, and that the trapdoor sat open for days, Hasib's eyes were still adjusting to the darkness, so after he felt the edges of the caves a bit, he came to a crack.

A crack with a glimmer of light and the smallest wisp of cool air coming through.

He took his axe and started hacking away at the stone.

An hour or so later, he laughed.

This is why he didn't try to learn anything.

If he had learned from his co-workers about not hitting stones with axes, he never would have found his way out of the cave.

Also, he wouldn't be stuck in a cave at all, but he preferred the narrative where his ignorance and unwillingness to change were strengths.

So this was what he would choose to believe.

The hallway before him, the one that descended further into the ground, was lit by above with slits that opened dozens or maybe hundreds of feet up to the surface.

Maybe, maybe it was just magic.

Remember, Hasib wasn't one for figuring stuff out because he might accidentally learn something and then die after his library crashed into a reef.

Hasib walked down the passage carved directly out of the stone until he came to an iron door with a silver padlock in it.

He was getting some mixed messaging from that door.

On one hand, iron door.

Not even zombies or ghouls can break that down, and it was pretty clearly locked.

On the other hand, someone left a key in the lock.

Every time I've accidentally left the key in the front door, I've always considered it an implicit invitation for people to come in and loot my house of all my piles and piles of green jasper and sit on my golden throne.

Well, for me, it's a 10-year-old Ikea office chair.

The podcast business is good, but it's not golden throne good.

Anyway, he found the piles of Jasper, a gemstone, and the golden throne inside, along with a massive lake of water-like substance and some stools.

I bet you're wondering exactly how many stools did Hasib find in this room.

And since I know we have so many stool fans eager for more stool content on this podcast, do not worry.

You have a kindred spirit in Hasib, who sat on the golden throne and counted the stools.

All 12,000 stools.

Even though counting stools is like counting sheep, but somehow more boring, Hasib got through all 12,000 before, content in the presence of so many stools, he fell asleep on the golden throne.

Waking up, hours later, Hasib was surrounded by a cacophony of rustling and hissing.

He opened his eyes and

snakes.

A snake on every stool.

And I know what you're thinking.

How could he have not seen that coming?

12,000 snakes is the obvious logical conclusion of seeing 12,000 stools.

But for our young stool enjoyer, this was terrifying.

In a revelation that's equal parts absolutely horrifying, and how did you not see that earlier?

There was a reason the story was playing so coy with what the water was made out of before his nap.

The water was snakes.

It was a writhing mass of snakes that mimicked a pond.

I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one, just to not belabor this anymore, because we've moved on to bigger stakes with bigger snakes.

A mule-sized snake, to be both more and less specific, riding on its back on a golden plate was a slightly smaller snake with a woman's head.

Now, at this point, I would be worried that there is some sort of hallucinogenic gas seeping into this cave, like at the Delphic Oracle, especially when the regal snake snake riding the mule snake hissed to all of her minions, and they all relaxed.

Um

hi,

Hasib said.

Hallucination or no, he was not going to anger the snake

woman?

Queen of the snakes, obviously.

The woman hissed, but not in a mean way, in a snake way, because she was mostly snake.

She was queen of the serpents, their saltness.

She waved for her serpents to bring Hasib food, and soon, sitting on the throne, he was replete with apples, grapes, pomegranates, pistachios, filberts, walnuts, almonds, and bananas.

If you were curious what exactly he had to eat in that cave, someone must have been because it was all there.

Hasib picked up a grape and the queen of serpents asked to know his history and when a talking snake woman asks you something in her secret cave behind a honey cistern, you answer.

He told her about his dad and the floating library and his ignorance vow, and finally, how his co-workers had abandoned him in the cistern.

He didn't know how his story would end, but he knew that it wouldn't end well, being trapped underground with all these snakes.

The queen of snakes blinked, really?

Just gonna be like that after they fed him?

Let him sleep on her throne?

No, no, no, no, he would be fine.

All she needed for him was to hear her tale.

Could he do that?

He asked, could he leave?

The Queen of Serpents said not presently.

Hasib shrugged.

Then, sure, why not?

Belukia, the now king of Cairo, was going through his dad's stuff after he died and what?

What was all this?

A copy of the Quran in his dad's secret room?

Did you know about this?

Belukia came out of the secret room, waving the tome around for his mother, the Dowager Queen, to see.

She squinted.

Maybe?

No?

What even is that?

It's the Quran, Balukia replied.

Oh,

I mean, I'm familiar with the idea, but not the text.

Where are we, uh...

Where are we going with this?

The Queen Mother looked left and right.

I love it, Belukia cried.

The mother nodded.

Cool.

She was happy that he found meaning through her religion.

I have to find this Muhammad guy.

I'm going north-ish, he declared, and got packing or ordered his servants to pack for him.

Mom tried to talk to him.

Belukia had a kingdom to run now.

He couldn't just leave off on a wild adventure.

Turns out that being king means yes, you can absolutely leave off on a wild adventure.

And Balukia proved his mom wrong when, leaving Cairo, he made his way north.

But on the way, he ran into a guy who accosted him on the street regarding his new religion.

But this wasn't a bad accosting, just passionate, loud, up-close talking.

And when Balukia followed him back to his house, he told the young king that he could help Balukia fulfill his aim.

But that would mean a trip to the Queen.

of serpents.

That's you!

Hasib pointed.

The queen of serpents said, said, yes, that's why she was telling the story.

Anyway, she and a few of her serpents had met Belukia while he was out traveling, informing him about the reason for the seasons.

Reason for the seasons.

As we all know, hell breathes.

When it inhales, it draws all the hot air out of the earth and makes winter.

When it exhales, it releases all the hot air onto the surface of the earth and scorches it with summer.

Also, snakes.

Yeah, apparently the snakes meant for torment.

If they got too close to the door when the bellows were going, they were right out, flung right onto the earth.

The queen of serpents was out collecting them.

Anyway, when you're slithering around, minding your own business in the wild, and you chance upon two bowls, a bowl of milk and a bowl of wine, do not drink them.

Or at least don't drink the wine.

Hasib,

back in the cave on the Golden Throne, said he knew he wasn't one to talk, seeing his he just fell asleep on a strange throne next to a lake that is now very clearly snakes.

How was he ever fooled by that?

But that seems like it makes sense.

She wasn't even human-sized.

The amount of wine it took to knock her out was probably like half cup.

The queen of serpents shrugged, which was difficult given that she didn't have shoulders.

She said, yeah.

She fell asleep and the wine was so potent that she didn't even wake up when the cage door slammed shut.

I'm sorry, this wine was in a cage and you still went in there?

Kind of buried the lead on that one, didn't you?

The Sieb asked.

But the Queen of Serpents just powered on through.

Waking up with an incredible pounding in her human head, the Queen of Serpents saw two men standing over her triumphantly.

Hissing, the Queen of Serpents demanded to know what they wanted.

Ufan, the man who accosted Belukia on the street, told her it was simple.

She just needed to go talk to some plants, and then they they would let her go.

Belukia looked at his traveling companion.

Wait, talk to plants?

The Queen of Serpents, despite an incredible snake hangover, understood.

Got it.

They were seeking Solomon's ring, and they wanted to be able to walk across the waves.

And yes, this was exactly what they were hoping for.

As we all know, there's a place out there with juicy herbs.

And these aren't even just your normal juicy herbs, because these herbs, when rubbed on the bottom of your feet, enable you to walk on water.

Um, why?

Belukia asked.

Ufan said,

why wouldn't they want to walk on water?

Um, I guess because boats exist, probably, Belukia noted.

I mean, why would we want to walk when we could ride?

One is no work, wind-powered, covers dozens of miles a day.

The other is us walking.

Waves become moving hills.

And wouldn't they be super sharp?

And what if we fall over?

Wouldn't we drown, hanging there in the water by our feet?

I, honestly, have never understood the appeal either, the Queen of Serpents chimed in, before Ufan gave her cage a shake.

Ufan said if they must know, it was because Solomon's coffin was carried on the sea, and those were waves on which no boat could travel, so they would have to walk.

Hissing, the Queen of Serpents said fine.

For her freedom, she would speak to the herbs as only she could understand their, quote, virtues.

We'll see why when the Queen of Serpents warns you about a dragon, you listen, but that will, once again, be read after this.

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Hi, sorry to interrupt.

Can I go?

Hasib said.

He had finished off his fruit and nut plate.

And while this story was interesting, it kind of felt like it was getting into the weeds.

He had a wife and a mom to get back to and the woodcutters to, presumably, take vengeance on.

The Queen of Serpents smiled in a way that was equal parts threatening and awkward.

Yeah, no, sorry, not yet.

He couldn't go back home before winter.

But it's spring.

I'll be here in the ground for six months.

The Queen of Serpents nodded.

Yeah, that was honestly regrettable for all involved.

But it was necessary.

Also, when he returned, he couldn't go to a bathhouse.

Oh.

No bathing?

Done.

She said he was quick to that one, but no, he could bathe just at home.

Anyway, all that was part of the reason for the stories.

The time would come when he would need to know them, and she would continue now, before he realized he was learning stuff because someone was bothering to meet him where he was and teach him in a way that spoke to him.

All right, you are free to go, Belukia and Ufen told the Queen of Serpents as she slithered out of her cage, having picked the herb for them.

What's the end game for the foot juice and Solomon's ring and all that?

The Queen of Serpents asked.

And as we've talked about numerous times on this podcast, in folklore, Solomon, King Solomon, was the Israelite king and son of King David.

He had a ring that he could use to command demons, here referred to as jinn,

basically genies.

You find that one ring and the whole world will be under their control.

Oh, Oh, so it's like a power thing then, the Queen of Serpents said.

The men looked at each other.

What?

No, yes, but ultimately it was a way for them to find the fountain of life, drink from it, and see the time of Muhammad by living forever.

Oh, well, you know, there are like so many plants in this field where the juice would cause them to live forever.

If they have just been a little nicer to her and not shaken her cage so much, she would have told them which one it was, you know, to avoid one of them getting turned to ash by a dragon.

Which was definitely going to happen.

Bye!

They tried to catch her, but no.

She fled back to her people, the snakes.

Months, months of walking on the ocean, and they arrived at a mighty mountain soaring high into the air.

The stones in the mountain were emeralds, and they left the hard, sharp peaks of the ocean waves for the hard, sharp rocks of the mountain passages, eventually coming to a room with a golden throne under a great dome.

On that throne, the body of King Solomon sat.

Of all the riches around him, none shone brighter than the signet ring still on his hand, the ring that could seal demons and bind them to the wearer's will.

Hufan stepped back and found Balukia at the back of the cave.

He had some spells and incantations for the man to recite so they could steal the ring off the corpse of Solomon.

Balukia said that he was, frankly, still kinda new at this whole religion thing, but spells and incantations to rob graves?

Kind of they kind of sounded like the bad guys here, like they've lost the plot.

Was Ufan sure of this?

Ufan pointed to the book full of vaguely threatening symbols.

He rubbed the stubble on his chin.

All right, let's get dangerous.

He made his way to the throne.

Belukia frantically read the incantations and the spells, and Ufan reached out, his finger getting within a hair's breadth of the ring.

When just then, the floor opened up behind the throne, with the gold and jewels spilling in.

From the void, a serpent, a dragon, slithered up and came to rest behind the throne.

Its eyes chilled Belukia.

But Ufen, slowed only for a moment, began reaching again.

What are you doing?

Why are you doing that?

The dragon said.

And all this is lately paraphrased, but essentially in there.

The dragon's mouth sparked with each word.

This did not slow Ufen's reach.

Belukia spoke up, um, but he didn't want to be the one to say they should back off, but all this tracked pretty closely with what the Queen of Serpents said.

Keep reading, Ufen cried.

Nothing is more deceitful than a serpent.

Okay, wow, it's like I'm not even here, the dragon's serpent fumed.

Also, his spells weren't even doing anything.

They really don't seem to be stopping him at all, Ufen, Belukia warned.

They're really not, the dragon added.

But still, this guy was just reaching out for the ring.

All right.

Warning blast.

Shot across the bow.

Say goodbye to your eyebrows, the serpent dragon said, spewing fire on Ufen's face.

Ufen shrieked, rubbed the soot from his now bald and scalded head, and looked back to the ring with even more resolve.

Ufan, seriously, stop, Belukia said.

But Ufan couldn't be deterred.

There is something to be said about motivation in the face of overwhelming opposition.

Sometimes you have to do what you believe is right no matter what, even if it is doomed to fail.

As long as that doesn't include grave robbery and using clearly ineffective witchcraft to try to oppose a dragon who has given you way too many warnings already.

Ufan, when he touched the ring, was burned to ash by the dragon.

Belukia shrieked and dropped to his knees.

He knew where Ufan went wrong.

Ufan had trusted in his own strength.

Belukia began to pray.

In mere moments, the room filled with a light so bright that even the dragon's serpent had to look away.

It was the angel, Gabriel, descended from heaven.

Belukia bowed low, saying that it was out of love for Muhammad that he had come seeking the ring.

Gabriel looked at the ring and the dragon and the book of witchcraft on the ground in front of Balukia.

Uh no.

What?

Belukia sat up.

What do you think we keep the dragon around for?

It's the answer's a hard no.

But I I prayed, Belukia observed.

Yeah, you can pray, but sometimes the answer is no.

Like right now.

No,

he shook his head.

These kids.

And yeah,

he did not get the ring.

Belukia asked the angel why.

They had done so much, worked so hard.

It was for a good reason.

The angel said he could see that, but sometimes the answer was no.

There were stories where the hero got what he was after and saved the day, but that wasn't Belukia's tale.

This was a power he wasn't meant to have.

Sorry.

The time, the paradise he sought was still far off, but Belukia would make it there.

Someday.

Belukia asked, What was he supposed to do now?

He had gone to the ends of the earth for this, left everything.

What next?

Gabriel said that that was always the question.

He did feel for the human.

He also knew that if the human took one more step toward the ring, the dragon would turn him to ash, no warnings this time.

So

Belukia

nodded.

He understood.

He fled the tomb.

He repented and, after a few more things, ran all the way back to Cairo to be king.

The end.

The Queen of Serpents sat back on her plate.

Hasiba asked,

Was that it?

The Queen of Serpents said, Well, no, there was more, a lot more, actually, but she was going to cut it there because honestly, it was just a list of things that happened to him, and it wasn't really even that much of a story.

And that was?

That was just Belukia leaving home and not getting a ring.

I've done that most times I've left home.

What else is in the story?

The Queen of Serpents sighed.

Okay, he went to seven islands, all still walking.

He had stuff like crystal hills, there were pretty animals, magnets, which are interesting and kind of rare in this time,

trees with human heads as fruit, mermaids, djinn armies fighting each other, the origin of Iblis.

Then he met the Archangel Michael, and he saw the origin of day and night and the oceans.

And finally, right before heading home, there was the glowing guy sitting between two tombs.

But all that sounds awesome, Hasib said.

The Serpent Queen totally agreed.

It sounded awesome.

It did get kind of tedious, though.

More tedious than sitting in a cave quietly until winter?

Hasib crossed his arms.

At least give him something.

What about the two tombs guy?

What about him?

What's his story?

Why'd you choose him?

The Queen of Serpents said.

Hasib said he was the last one, and he doesn't fit with the djinn armies and mermaids and angels.

Must be noteworthy.

We're not talking about the two tombs guy, the queen said.

And this is real.

Hasib, remember he hasn't learned much since he was a toddler, his eyes started tearing up, and he started crying very loudly.

And while, yeah, The Queen of Serpents knew that she should probably just let him cry it out, it was easier to just talk to him about the two tombs guy.

Shaharazad closed the book, and that's where they'd leave it for tonight.

The Sultan blinked.

Uh...

What?

The Sultan said that that's where she was gonna leave it?

Two Tombs guy?

He's intrigued.

Hasib is, Shaharazad said.

Yeah, but are we?

Talk about the least interesting cliffhanger.

A guy crying between two tombs, the Sultan laughed.

Okay, then kill me and never know how it ends, Shaharazad fumed.

Plus, there's how Hasib's story with the Queen of Serpents ends.

There's more to it.

Oh my gosh, why do we have to always go to the execution thing, this fight again?

The Sultan said.

Of course, he wasn't going to have her executed, and he did want to know about the two tombs guy.

Could he have just like a little taste, a little teaser?

Shaharazad sighed.

Fine.

The two tombs guy was named Jensha.

After that gazelle, Jensha, the 15-year-old prince, pointed.

To the ocean?

The place where, typically, gazelle do not go.

This one just disappeared under the water and swam off in a ripple on the surface.

Gazelle, yeah, they don't go there.

That's the ocean, the servant informed their prince.

That's a trap.

Well, that gazelle went to the ocean, and now we are too.

Gensha declared.

Someone get him a boat.

Well, this was an obvious trap, Gensha said not 20 minutes later, after the currents and the wind conspired to draw them out of view of the coast.

Of the coast of home, not the coast of the second island.

Gen Sha and his six servants spilled from the boat and, on that island, found a spring from which they gulped water and filled up their skins.

I'm sorry, are we...

Is anyone gonna address the man sitting there staring at us?

The six servants looked to each other, then their prince.

The prince had hoped they could just ignore him, but there was no way the man hadn't heard that.

He sighed.

Greetings, traveler.

The man opened his mouth, and only the sound of birds came out.

All right, let's get out of here as quickly as we can then.

Janshaw spun his finger in the air, but the servants were transfixed.

They were cringing.

Is he...

Oh, he's going to do it.

Oh, yuck, he did it.

As the man by the fountain dug his fingers into the top of his head and pulled himself into two halves, both of which began hopping in different directions.

What?

The Sultan clapped.

Now that, that is a cliffhanger.

How did he do that?

Is Gensha going to find his way home?

And if so, why is he crying between two tombs?

I have to know.

That is where we'll leave it today.

And this is me, not Shaharazad.

This was originally not going to be a two-parter, but I ended up liking the embedded stories for two different reasons.

Today's was interesting to me because it was something of a Tomb Raider Indiana Jones story, but it completely subverted my expectations when...

They didn't get the artifact, and he just had to continue on wandering.

I did worry that it could be a bit of a nothing burger story, but ultimately decided that it was satisfying in its own way.

Sometimes the hero doesn't get the magic ring, despite all the trials and travel and monsters, and still has to continue on.

There's room for those types of stories too.

Next week is kind of a true adventure story, and I thought it deserved more time because I didn't want to rush giant ants, bird kidnappings, and the kingdom of the island of the apes.

And of course, we'll finish up Hasib's story and see why he's not allowed to take a shower out in public.

All that will be next week, though.

In the meantime, if you'd like to support the show and get extra episodes and stuff, there's still a membership thing on the site.

You can also connect with the show's community on Discord, through a link in the show notes, and find us on Instagram at Mythsandlegends.

The creature this time is the chameleon from Cameroon in Africa.

And yes, it is a chameleon, but it also might be the origin of all life on Earth when it fell from the tree and exploded.

Or it might have some good news for you.

You see, God had a message for his new creation, his favorite creation, people.

They weren't like all the other gross, tiny, worthless animals.

When they died, they would rise from their graves and live again.

And not even just in a spiritual sense.

It was a full instant respawn, fully living and tangible, no catch.

The chameleon slowly descended to the earth and stopped off and told his friend, Snake, the news about the humans, God's favorites.

The snake was, well, extremely angry and annoyed.

This was so unfair.

The animals had been around forever, and suddenly these people could come back instantly?

I mean, the animals had to stay in the ground.

This was ridiculous.

The snake smiled as he listened to the chameleon and, seeing which direction the chameleon was heading to the nearest village, the snake said he had to be off, and it slithered there faster.

The tiny, kind of slow-moving chameleon called everyone to him when he arrived at the town.

He had some exciting news from God.

The town looked at him.

For real, come on, they already knew.

The chameleon looked around.

They already knew what happened when they died?

They said, yeah,

they had to stay in the ground.

They would have to remain in their graves forever after they died.

Claimed by death.

The chameleon said, no, that wasn't what would happen.

They would be able to come right back.

Instant respawn.

They sneered.

Look at this guy trying to spread misinformation.

What was he selling trying to give them hope?

Snake already told them that they were God's least favorite creatures, even behind snails.

The chameleon tried to tell them that they were God's most favorite, really.

Instant respawn.

It was like this at every town and village.

Snake sped there faster and spread the horrible news about how much God hated his creation and how he could just wipe them all out, but that would probably just be merciful, so he would torment them with existence.

Finally, chameleon and snake found themselves called to the cosmic equivalent of the principal's office when God demanded to know why his favorites, the humans, had such conflicting messaging regarding what happened after death.

The chameleon pointed to the snake.

This was all his fault.

The snake laughed.

Yeah, actually it was.

Snakes, the worst, right?

God was not happy.

Starting with the punishment, snakes would always be hated and hunted by people.

The chameleon held up his zygodactylus foot.

Um, did God want him to get back out there and correct everyone?

God said, yeah, he would love that, but sadly, the damage was already done.

The chameleon asked why,

and he learned that words have power, and death was already claiming people down there.

It would have to remain that when people died, they would stay dead, claimed by death there's no way to look at the chameleon's tale as anything other than ominous which is how based on my research i've seen that it's taken in a quote attributed to mark twain winston churchill or any number of other people a lie will gallop halfway around the world before the truth has time to pull its breeches up or something to that regard hope is slow moving and deliberate while fear and despair spread with almost no effort at all.

And the greedy, death in this instance, snap up what they can the moment it becomes available.

And the snake didn't even get anything out of it.

He did it completely out of spite and ended up worse for his efforts.

Anyway, it just goes to show, when it comes to spreading hope and joy and good, you have to move quickly and work at least twice as hard.

Because when it comes down to it, snakes are faster than chameleons.

That's it for this time.

Myths and Legends is by Jason and Carissa Weiser.

Our theme song is by Broke for Free, and the Creature of the Week music is by Steve Colmes.

There are links to even more of the music we used in the show notes.

Thank you so much for listening, and we'll see you next time.

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