Last Update: 24 November 2003
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Sailor and the Serpent / Shipwrecked Man
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Region: Egypt, Africa
Time Period: 12th Dynasty, circa 2000 - 1700 BC
References in Literature:
Sources: China and Japan, pg 98-99, The Folktale by Stith Thompson

Notes:
  • human-headed serpent "thirty cubits long, and his beard greater than two cubits; his body was an overlaid with gold, and his colour as that of true lapis-lazuli"
  • Thought to be possibly the oldest Melusine-type myth.
  • Unlike other stories, the dragon / serpent in this one is not an evil monster.
Tale:

A sailor is the sole survivor of a wreck in the Red Sea and is washed on the shore of a small island. There he finds food, but soon the King of the Spirits, who is in dragon or serpent form, finds him. It takes 4 months for the sailor to be rescued by a passing ship, and in the meantime the two talk - first about the serpent's family who went away with an "earthy maiden", about how the island will soon sink into the sea, and other things.

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