Khastakhumar and Bibinagar

A version of the tale, titled Khastakhumār and Bībīnagār, was collected by professor Hafizullah Baghban in 1967, from a fifty-year-old farmer named Yar Muhammad.[1] In this tale, an old kharkash ('thorn-seller', 'thorn-gatherer'), while gathering thorn bushes to sell, meets a black snake who asks for the man's youngest daughter's hand in marriage. He marries the maiden as a snake, but takes off his snake skin (his jild, a cover or disguise) and appears as a man in their bridal bed. The wife's two stepsisters, seeing the man and becoming jealous, convince her to ask about burning his jild skin. He questions his wife's interest in the matter, but answers her: it can be burned with garlic and onion skins. The stepsisters burn the jild, the man becomes a green pigeon and tells his wife she must wear down seven pairs of iron clothes, seven pairs of iron shoes and seven canes, all the way to the west, then she'll find him, and vanishes.

She begins her wanderings, and passes by a caravan of camels, a flock of sheep, a herd of cows, and a herd of donkeys - all belonging to her husband Khastakhumar. She arrives at a spring and asks for a drink of water, but a woman (concubine) says she is in a hurry and refuses her plight. Bibinagar curses the water the other is carrying to become pus and blood, which she gives to her master. The third time, the servant returns to fetch water, gives it to Bibinagar, and returns to her master. When the concubine pours down the water on her master's hands, a ring drops out of the jug that the master recognizes as Bibinagar's. Khastakhumar takes her in as a servant in his mother's house. His mother tries to get rid of her, by setting her to go to her sister to ask for khamīrturūsh (a sourdough ball used to prepare bread).

Before she goes, Khastakhumar intercepts her and teaches her to reach his aunt: she is to compliment a river of pus by saying it contains butter; compliment a river of blood by saying it contains juice; compliment a crooked tree; open his aunt's shut gate and shut her open one; and give the correct fodder to animals (bone to a dog and a straw to a donkey). The woman visits the witch, gets the khamirturush and escapes. The aunt commands the dog, the donkey, the gates, the tree and the rivers of pus and blood to stop Bibinegar, but the human woman leaves unscathed.

Next, Khastakhumar's mother forces Bibinagar to hold candles during Khastakhumar's marriage to his aunt's daughter: Khastakhumar's mother wraps cotton around her fingers and lights them up. Suffering their burning, Bibinagar cries out to Khastakhumar her fingers are burning, and he, in return, says his heart and soul are the ones that are burning. After his wedding to his cousin, Khastakhumar asks Bibinagar to boil water. His new wife takes the boiled water to the tushnuk (a sort of washroom), pours it on her head and dies.

The couple prepares to escape from Khastakhumar's family and takes with them a dozen needles, water in a sheepskin, a dozen juwāldūz (large sewing needles), salt and glass. As his family pursues them, the couple try to hinder the chase by throwing objects behind them: first the juwaldaz (which spread into large needles), then the needles, the salt, the glass (which turns the ground into glass) and finally the water to create a river between them. At the other side of the river, Khastakhumar's family asks how they crossed the stream. Bibinagar explains she crossed by pocketing some rocks and jumping. His family follows the false instructions and sink to the bottom. The couple wait until black blood foams at the river surface to confirm his family's demise. After they ascertain their victory, they go back to his father-in-law's house and remarry.[2]

A second version of the tale was collected by American folklorist Margaret Mills from a woman named MZ, in the Dari language, titled Xasteh Xomār.[3] In her version, a poor, old thorn-gatherer, while in the fields, lifts a stone and finds a hidden cache of flour. Thinking it is a divine blessing, he takes some and brings it home. When he returns, he sees a snake on top of the trapdoor, who explains it is the owner of the flour and demands one of the man's daughters in return. He tells the situation to his three daughters, but only the youngest accepts to be delivered to the snake.

She sits on a camel to be taken to her snake husband. A handsome man greets her and takes her to an underground palace. He explains that he wears a snake skin, but is otherwise human.[lower-alpha 1] He gives her free rein on all his properties.

Some time later, her sisters want to visit her, and her elder gets curious about the snake skin. She prompts the youngest to ask her husband about it later that night. She does and is reproached by her husband, warning her that if the skin is burnt, it may lead to disgrace for both of them. He says her question is foolish, but answers that it can be burnt with onion and garlic skins.

The girl naïvely tells her sisters about it the next time they visit. Her sisters heat up the oven and throw the snakeskin inside, just as Xasteh Xomar appears to try to stop them. As the skin burns, the grand palace and everything within it vanish, leaving only the girls, and a betrayed Xasteh Xomar. He tells his wife that, if she ever wants to see him again, she must head westwards, wearing seven pairs of iron shoes and seven iron canes, but warns her that his own family is entirely made of divs that may devour her.

Later, the girl goes after him with the needed garments. She passes by a herd of camels, a herd of cows, a herd of sheep and a herd of goats - all the bride price of Bibi Negar. She finally stops by her husband's place. While she rests, she sees a servant girl come out of the building to fetch some water. She begs the girl to drink some, but the servant refuses and tells her the water is for her master. The girl curses the water to become blood, then pus, and by the third time the servant goes to the fountain, she finally gives the girl a drink of water. She discreetly lets her ring inside the jug. When the servant takes the jug to Xasteh Xomar, he recognizes the ring and brings the girl home.

Xasteh Xomar is happy to see his human wife, but reminds her of the warning about his family. So he turns her into a needle to hide her presence from the divs. However, his div mother notices the human smell on him and wants her son to reveal the human he is hiding. Xasteh Xomar makes her promise not to harm his human wife (who he passes off as a servant). The div mother still forces her to do chores for them: to sweep the floor and sprinkle water over it; to take a black mat and wash it white, and to wash it back to black. Xasteh Xomār invokes magic help in the name of prophet Solomon and helps his wife in her tasks.

Thirdly, the div mother sends the girl to go to her sister's house and bring a comb, a mirror and scissors. Xasteh Xomar advises her to compliment everything on its way, no matter if ugly or repulsive; to give the correct food for the dog and the camel; to get the objects and run away as fast as she can. She does as instructed and returns to the div mother's house with the requested items.

Finally, the div mother prepares the wedding of Xasteh Xomar with his cousin, Bibi Negar.[lower-alpha 2] His div mother wraps cotton around the human girl's fingers, butters them with ghee, lights the improvised candles and forces her to illuminate the wedding procession. Xasteh Xomar's human wife cries out that her fingers are burning, but Xasteh Xomar himself is also suffering with his mother's ploy. When the ceremony ends, Xasteh Xomar insists that the servant girl sleeps by the door, in case he and his new wife need something.

That night, Xasteh Xomar heats up a cauldron of cooking fat, takes his new wife and dumps her inside the cooking pot. He at last awakens his human wife, takes some objects from the house and both escape.

The next morning, his div family notices that he has not awakened yet, nor has his bride. They notice that the bride Bibi Negar has been cooked like a meal, and decide to go after the runaway couple. His aunt and mother follow them in a cloud of smoke. Xasteh Xomar notices their approach and throws objects to deter them, invoking the name of prophet Solomon to work the magic: the needles create a field of needles to prickle their feet; the salt to cripple them. The last object creates a sea (derīyā in the original text, meaning 'gulfs', 'wide lakes' and 'seas' in the Herati dialect).[4] Xasteh Xomar deceives his family by saying that he crossed the lake by carrying a mountain on each shoulder and a millstone around their neck. His relatives repeat the action and sink to the bottom of the lake, never to return.

Xasteh Xomar and his human wife return to their palace.[5]

Mills states that Xasteh Xomār is a "very popular Afghan variant" of tale type ATU 425.[6] In a previous article, she claims to have collected 11 performances (ca. 1974-1976).[7] In a later work, she noted to have recorded 14 performances in Herat. In 13 of them, the magical bridegroom appears as a snake.[8] Some versions may be translated as Khasta Khamarah, Khasta Khamorah or The Snake Man and the Human Brick.[9]

Scholars relate the story to the ancient Graeco-Roman myth of Cupid and Psyche[10][11] and classify both versions as type ATU 425, "The Search for the Lost Husband", in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index.[12][13] In this type, the heroine marries an enchanted animal who is a prince in disguise, loses him due to her own actions, and goes on a arduous quest to get him back. In both Afghan tales, the heroine must wear down seven pairs of iron shoes and walk with an iron cane.[14]

In his monograph about Cupid and Psyche (AaTh 425) and related types, Swedish scholar Jan-Öjvind Swahn believed that his type A (Cupid and Psyche)[lower-alpha 3] appeared to be "the main tale type of Aa 425" in Persia and in India.[17]

German scholar Ulrich Marzolph listed the tale Margaret Mills collected as an Afghan parallel to the Iranian tales he classified under type AaTh 425B, Der Tierbräutigam: Die böse Zauberin ("The Animal Bridegroom: The Evil Sorceress").[18]

Margaret Mills translates Bibī Negār as "Lady Beauty" or "Lady Idol".[19] Also, according to Mills, the name of the enchanted husband, Xasteh Xomār, is a complex linguistic pun: mār ('snake'), xasteh xormā ('date seed'), xasteh ('weary') and xomār ('languid (glance)').[20]

The heroine and her supernatural husband escape in a Magic Flight sequence, that is, the characters either throw magic objects to delay their pursuers, or change into other forms to deceive them. Although this episode is more characteristic of tale type ATU 313, "The Magic Flight", some variants of type ATU 425B also show it as a closing episode.[21] German literary critic Walter Puchner argues that the motif attached itself to type 425B, as a Wandermotiv ("Wandering motif").[22]

These tales contain the motif of dropping a ring for identification in a glass of water (motif H94.4), instead of into a glass of wine, as it is described in Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature. Scholars point out that this substitution occurs in Afghan and Muslim variants due to religious influence of Islam.[23] According to Swedish scholar Jan Öjvind Swahn's study on Animal as Bridegroom tales, a characteristic motif that occurs in the "Indo-Persian" area is the heroine using a ring to signal her arrival to her husband, when she finds his location.[24]

In a tale from Parwan Province with the title The daughter of the heath vendor, published by Siddiq Sultani, a poor heath vendor has three daughters. One day, he finds some bundles of heath in a moor and brings it home to sell. After two days more, he goes to the moors and sees a snake on the heath bundles. The reptile tells the man to obey him, for he has come to ask for the hand of the man's youngest daughter in marriage. He goes home and tells his youngest daughter the news, and the girl consents to be the snake's bride. The man then returns to the moors to report the news to the snake, and the latter, elated at the good news, gives the man some gold coins for him to buy some dresses for his daughter, and tells him to bring her near a river on Thursday. It happens so: the girl is brought to the river in finer dresses to meet her fiancé, and a retinue of snakes, with their master, come out of the water to take the girl to their new home.

Time passes; the heath vendor fears for his daughter, and decides to search for her. On the way, he overhears the conversation between two mina birds about how to arrive at his destination: by moving a stone near a cave, squeezing through a window and reaching a garden. The vendor does as the birds instructed and goes to his daughter's home: the girl is alive, and could not be happier, for her husband is a snake prince who takes off the snakeskin. The girl then tells her father to bring her elder sisters for a visit, and gives him some gold coins. The next time, the vendor brings his two other daughters and a cousin. Seeing the girl's happiness, the cousin, driven by envy, asks her details about her life with the snake. The girl, Mehre Negar, answers that he is the prince of snakes whom they address as Sabzina Khumar (for the colour of his garb), but is otherwise human. Moved by this information, Mehre Negar's cousin convinces her to ask how to destroy his snakeskin and keep him human for good. That same night, Sabzina Khumar comes back to their palace, and is asked the question. In a rage, he slaps Mehre Negar, who cries at her husband's deed. Moved by her tears, Sabzina Khumar then says his snakeskin can be burnt with skins of onions and garlics in an oven. The next day, Mehre Negar tells her family her husband's secret, and, for the remainder of their visit, her sisters and cousin collect onion and garlic peels and prepare the oven. One night, while the couple is asleep, the cousin takes the snakeskin and tosses it in the oven. Sabzina Khumar wakes up, slaps his wife, says she will not see him anymore, turns into a bird and flies away, his palace disappearing with him. Now abandoned in the wilderness, Mehre Negar vows to find him, commissions a pair of iron shoes and an iron cane from a blacksmith, and begins her quest.

At last she arrives near a place where some servants are fetching water for their master. Mehre Negar asks for some water and drops her husband's ring inside it. Back to Sabzina Khumar, he finds the ring and meets with his wife outside the house. The couple reunite: him admonishing her, and her apologizing. Sabzina Khumar also says his mother is "the daughter of a giant", and he has to hide his human wife inside the house: she turns her into a needle first, then into a broom. Sabzina Khumar's mother still smells a human; Sabzina undoes his magic, and shows her to his mother, making the latter pledge not to hurt the former. Eventually, his mother forces Mehre Negar on difficult tasks: first, she has to fill a trough with her tears - Sabzina tells her to fill it with water and pour salt on it; next, she is given a black rug she must wash white with a bar of soap - Sabzina says a prayer to change its colour. Some time later, Sabzina's mother talks to her sister about marrying their children to each other, and the former hatches a plan to get rid of Mehre Negar: she is to take a letter to Sabzina's aunt (with a command to kill her), and ask for a musical box. Before Mehre Negar goes, Sabzina intercepts her, and changes the letter. He also advises her on how to proceed: open a closed door and close an open one, give the correct fodder for animals (bone for a dog and hay for a cow), say a blood stream contains honey and meet his aunt. It happens so: Mehre Negar trades the letter for the musical box, then runs away through the same path. Sabzina's aunt commands the stream, the animals and he door to stop her. During her escape, she accidentally bumps the box against a wall and music begins to come out of it. Sabzina appears to her to silence the box, and accompanies her to his mother's house with the box. The same night, Sabzina Khumar and Mehre Negar plan their escape, and saddle two horses.

The next day, Sabzina Khumar buys needles, a mirror, and two bars of soap, and hides a bottle of water. The wedding happens: after a section of henna painting on the wedding couple, Mehre Negar is made to hold ten burning candles on her fingers and light the wedding procession. All the way, she complains her fingers are burning, while her husband says it is his heart that is. After the wedding, Sabzina Khumar kills his cousin and takes Mehre Negar with him on the horses. The next morning, his aunt and mother find the cousin dead and go after the couple. During the chase, Sabzina Khumar throws behind him the objects to deter them: needles that create a mountain, the mirror that becomes a slippery mountain, the bars of soap another mountain, and the water bottle makes a wide river before their pursuers. Sabzina's aunt and mother try to cross the river and drown. Sabzina Khumar and Mehre Negar return home, he recreates their palace and they live happily.[25]

Iranian poet Ahmad Shamlou collected an Afghan tale titled "بی بی نگار و میرزا خسته خمار" ("Bibi Nagar and Mirza Ghast Khamar"), in his work The Book of Alley. In this tale, an old man lives with his three daughters. One day, he finds in a cave a hidden supply of wheat ("گندم" 'gandom', in the original). By selling the wheat, the man manages to earn a living for himself and his three daughters. When he later returns to the cave to fetch more wheat, he finds a black snake in the cave. The snake begins to talk and demands the man returns its wheat, or surrender one of his daughters in marriage to the snake, otherwise it will devour him. The old man returns home and explains the situation to his daughters; the elder two refuse to marry the snake, while the youngest agrees to be its bride, in order to spare her father. The youngest marries the snake, who, to her surprise, becomes a handsome human prince. However, the elder two, spurred by jealousy of their cadette's fortune, convince the youngest to destroy the snakeskin by burning. She does, to her husband's consternation. Infuriated at his wife's deed, the human snake vanishes.[26][27]

Folklorist Margaret Mills disagrees with Jan-Öjvind's assessment in regards to the distribution of variants of the tale type in Persian language. She stated that "in [her] experience" the tale was one of the "most performed" in that language.[28] A similar observation was given by professor Mahomed-Nuri Osmanovich Osmanov: he listed 7 versions of a similar Iranian variant, some found, for instance, in Dezful and Kashmar.[29]

Emily Lorimer and David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer collected an Iranian tale from Karman with the title The Snake Prince Sleepy-Head,[30] later translated into Italian as Il principe serpente[31] and Mir Mast, il Principe Serpente.[32] and into German as Der Schlangenprinz.[33] In this tale, a king and a vizir promise to marry their children to each other. The king's wife gives birth to a black serpent named Mir Mast or Khumar (Mīz Mast o Khumār, or "Prince Sleepy-Head"), and the vizir's wife to a girl they name Mèr-Nigā ("Eye of Grace").[34] They marry. One night, the vizir's daughter discovers her husband is a handsome prince and asks him how to get rid of his snakeskin. The prince tells her she must burn the shed snakeskin in a special pyre, "made with the shell of an egg, the handle of a sweeping-brush, and the hair of a dog's tail", but warns her that if she does that, she will never see him again. She decides to burn the snakeskin and he curses her to never see him again until she wears down seven pairs of iron shoes. After she accomplishes the task, Mer Niga arrives at another kingdom, where she learns from a water bearer that the castle belongs to Mir Mast's bride-to-be. Mer Niga drops her engagement ring on the water bearer's jar she delivers to Mir Mast and the prince notices his former wife is in the castle. They meet and he gives her some strands of his hair to help her in case she needs. Mir Mast convinces his false bride to hire Mer Niga as her maid and his aunt soon sends her on difficult tasks: she receives a pearl-encrusted sweeping broom that she must use and not drop a single pearl; to sprinkle the floor with a colander; to take a casket full of insects to "Such and Such a place". Still on the way, Mer Niga opens the casket and hordes of insects crawl on her. Her husband appears, collects the insects and locks them up in the box again. He then advises his wife on how to proceed: she shall give a bone to a dog and straw to a horse; open a closed door and shut an open one; compliment a hollow full of dirt and blood and drop the casket there. At last, the prince's aunt forces Mer Niga to hold candles on her fingers to illuminate her husband's bridal procession. After the wedding, Mer Niga and the Snake Prince escape from his aunt's house and take some objects with them. His aunt and uncle pursue them, but the couple throw some objects behind them (tale type ATU 313, "The Magic Flight"), with Miz Mast o Khumār invoking God's and the Prophet Sulémān's help, to hinder their pursuers.[35][36] German scholar Ulrich Marzolph classified this tale as type AaTh 425B, Der Tierbräutigam: Die böse Zauberin ("The Animal Bridegroom: The Evil Sorceress"), and sourced it from Kermān.[37]

In another tale translated by Osmanov as "Мирза Масту-Хумар и Биби-Мехрнегар" ("Mirza Mastu-Khumar and Bibi-Mehrnegar"), a dervish gives a pomegranate to a shah's wife and an apple to the vizir's, as a birthing implement to cure their barrenness. The vizir's wife gives birth to a daughter they call Bibi-Mehrnegar, and the shah's to a black snake Mirza Mastu-Khumar. They arrange for a marriage between their children. Mirza Mastu-Khumar takes off his snake skin at night and shows his human form to his wife. At her father-in-law's insistence, she burns the snake skin and the man tells her she must wear down seven pairs of iron shoes on her way back to him. During her journey, she meets seven divs. Her last stop is by a spring, where she begs for a drink of water. She puts her ring inside the jug that is taken to her husband. Mirza Mastu-Khumar recognizes the ring, brings Bibi-Mehrnegar to his house as a servant and makes his div family promise not to harm her. His aunt forces the girl to do chores around the house: to sweep the floor with a beaded broom and not to lose any bead, and to water the yard with a sieve. Lastly, the div asks her to take a "dancing box" to the div's brother and to bring another box from him. On the way, she opens the div's box and dancers and musicians escape from the box and begins to dance and play instruments. She uses a tuft of hair to summon her husband, who helps her to close the box. He also warns her to go to the div's brother's house, open the closed doors and close the opened ones, give hay to a horse and a bone to a dog, compliment everything on the way, get the box and escape from there as quick as she can. She follows his instructions to the letter. Some time later, his family forces Mirza Mastu-Khumar to marry another woman, and places Bibi-Mehrnegar as a torchbearer, by placing ten candles on her fingers. That night, Mirza Mastu-Khumar kills his new bride and escapes with his true wife. His aunt follows them and they throw objects behind them to create magical obstacles: Mirza Mastu-Khumar calls upon the name of Shahmardan, Jam and Suleiman, and a reed becomes a thicket of reeds to block their pursuer's path, then a needle becomes a bush of needles, a grain of salt becomes a salt marsh, and lastly seafoam becomes a wide sea. Mirza Mastu-Khumar's relatives are stopped in their tracks by the sea and ask him how they can cross it; the man tells them to step on some stones on the water surface. His relatives fall for his trick and sink to the bottom of the sea.[38] Professor Osmanov stated that this tale was previously published in "Пеяме ноу" ("Peyame Nou"), a Soviet-Iranian cultural journal.[39]

In another Iranian variant, published by professor Osmanov with the title "Змеиный Царь" ("The Serpent Tsar"), a poor woodcutter is approached by a serpent, who asks him one of his daughter's hands in marriage. Only the youngest, named Mehrnegar, attends the serpent's request. The serpent comes to take her as an animal, but takes off its skin and becomes a handsome man, to her sisters' consternation and jealousy. Mehrnegar rejects the man at first, but he explains he is the serpent, born of a peri, and both leave for their new home. One day, Mehrnegar is visited by her sisters, who push her to ask her husband about the snakeskin. He answers her that the skin can be burnt in a bonfire with onion and garlic peels. The sisters overhear their conversation and, while the couple is asleep, they toss the skin in the fire. The Serpent Tsar wakes up and admonishes his wife. Mehrnegar begs him to forgive her, but he says he will become two pigeons she must try to capture; otherwise, Mehrnegar must wear a pair of iron shoes and walk with an iron cane until she finds a snake burrow. The girl fails in getting the birds, which escape. Mehrnegar dresses just as her husband instructed and goes on a journey; she passes by a herd of camels and a splendid garden with fruits, flowers and chirping birds - all belonging to her husband. She reaches a spring near a snake burrow and sees a servant girl coming to fetch water. She asks for a drink. The servant refuses and Mehrnegar curses the water to become pus and blood. The servant takes the water to her master, the Serpent Tsar, who sends the servant to the fountain to get clean water again. Mehrnegar gets her drink, and puts her ring on the jug. When the Serpent Tsar washes his hands with the water jug, he notices the ring. He goes back to the spring and brings his wife home. He explains to Mehrnegar that his mother is preparing his wedding to his cousin, and decides to protect his true wife by telling everyone she is an orphan in need of a job. The Serpent Tsar's mother forces Mehrnegar to give water to serpents with a sieve, and to carry a letter to her sister and trade it for scissors. The Serpent Tsar instructs his wife to compliment the objects on the way and to feed correctly the horse and the dog, get the scissors and leave as quick as possible. Finally, the Serpent Tsar's Mother places burning candles on Mehrnegar's hands, telling her to hold them until they go out. The Serpent Tsar and the false bride are led into their chambers, as Mehrnegar mourns her fate in the stables. Suddenly, her husband appears and convinces her to escape with him, saying he killed his second wife. Mehrnegar and the Serpent Tsar escape. His mother and family notice his absence and go after them. The couple escape by throwing needles, a handful of salt and a water skin, which transform into a forest, a mountain and a lake, to hinder the pursuit.[40]

In a tale from Northeastern Iran with the title "شاهِ خِسته خُمار" ("Shah Khasta Khumar"), a sultan has a beautiful daughter named Mahnagar, still single. Worried about her lack of a husband, his viziers admit that it is past time she married, so he sets a suitor test: he sticks a pole on the ground, and declares whoever removes it shall marry Mahnagar. Time passes, and many suitors come and try, to no avail. This continues on until one day a snake appears, wraps itself around the pole and removes it from the ground. Surprised, the Sultan has no choice but to deliver his daughter to the snake ("mâr", in the original). The sultan marries Mahnagar and she walks towards the snake's palace, all the while in tears. The snake approaches her and asks if she is afraid of him; she replies she fears the snake will devour her. To assuage her fears, he makes her promise not to burn his snakeskin, and removes his snakeskin, showing his human form. Mahnagar feels calmer and happy that her husband is a normal man. They live as husband as wife for some time. A few days later, an old woman comes to their palace and suggests Mahnagar burns the snakeskin to keep him human forever. Mahnagar heeds the old woman's words, takes her husband's snakeskin and burns it. The snake youth appears to her and laments that she could not keep her promise, and says she will have to wear down seven pairs of iron shoes in questing for him, gives her his ring, then vanishes.

Mahnagar cries over her loss, then puts on the iron shoes and begins her journey through mountains, deserts and provinces, until, by the time her seventh pair is worn down, she reaches a city, the City of Snakes, where her husband, whom the story explains is named Shah Khasta Khumar, lives. She stops by a fountain to rest and sees a servant coming to fetch water. Mahnagar asks for a bit of water to drink and drops her husband's ring inside the jar. The servant then takes the jug to his master, Shah Khasta Khumar. He finds his ring in the jar and goes outside his house to retrieve his wife. They reunite, and Shah Khasta Khumar warns her about his parents, who will wish to kill her.

After he takes his wife home, his parents discover she is a human named Mahnagar, and plan to get rid of her. His mother conspires with her sister, and, one day, orders Mahnagar to go to her husband's aunt's house and fetch from there a tambourine. Before she departs, Shah Khasta Khumar intercepts her and advises her how to proceed: exchange the correct fodder for a dog and a camel, compliment a crooked wall by saying it looks straight, compliment a stream of muddy water by saying it is filled with clear water. Mahnagar follows his instructions, reaches her husband's aunt's house, takes the tambourine and rushes back through the same path. Shah Khasta Khumar's aunt commands the stream, the wall and the animals to stop her, but they remain still.

Finally, after Mahnagar brings back the tambourine, her mother-in-law is furious her plans failed. Realizing his human wife could be killed at any moment by his parents, Shah Khasta Khumar decides to escape with her. He takes some needles, a bit of salt, and a jug of water, and leave the city of snakes behind them. When his parents notice Shah Khasta Khumar escaped, they go after the fleeing couple with a cadre of snakes. Back to Shah Khasta Khumar and Mahnagar, he throws behind them the needles to injure the snakes, and the salt to hurt their wounds. Lastly, when the snakes are closing in on them, Shah Khasta Khumar drops the jug of water on the ground to create a wide sea between them. On the other side of the sea, his snake family tries to call for him, but the couple are far too distant at this point. They finally reach Mahnagar's father's kingdom, and remarry.[41]

Persian scholar Abolqasem Faqiri collected an Iranian tale from Fars Province with the title "خفت خمار و مهری نگار" or Khaft khomâr and Mehr-Negâr.[42] In this tale, Mehr-Negâr marries Khaft khomâr (identified as a Ğenn in the story), loses him and searches for him with a pair of iron shoes and walking with an iron cane. She finally reaches her mother-in-law's house, where her husband is hiding, and is forced to do chores for her husband's mother, including taking a box to another person. However, she opens the box and swarms of ants are released. Khaft khomâr appears to her and closes the box to help his wife, then accompanies her back to his mother's house. Seeing that her plans failed, Khaft khomâr's mother decides to destroy her human daughter-in-law during her son's wedding to his cousin. However, Khaft khomâr anticipates his mother's ploy and asks Mehr-Negâr to trade clothes with his cousin. His Div-mother kills her niece, discovers her son fled with his human wife and goes after him, joined by her sister. On the road, Khaft khomâr throws objects behind him to deter his mother and aunt, the last object a portion of salt that becomes a sea of salt between him and his relatives. On the other side of the sea, his mother and aunt ask him how they can cross the body of water, and Khaft khomâr says they just have to step on the stone and reed. They follow his false advice and sink to the bottom of the sea, never to return.[43][44]

Another variant was published in Spanish language with the title Bibi Negar, la Amada Buena, y Heydar Mar, el marido serpiente ("Bibi Negar, the good spouse, and Heydar Mar, the serpent husband").[45] Its collectors classified the tale as types 312A (man promises daughter to animal under threat of death), 425A (marriage to animal husband, his subsequent disappearance and his wife's search) and 428 (girl as servant to an ogre and assigned dangerous tasks).[46][lower-alpha 4]

Turkologist Karl Reichl published and translated a Turkmen tale titled "Хутды Хумар" ("Chutdy Chumar"). In this tale, a poor wood-seller gathers some firewood to sell, when a snake appears and asks the old man for one of his daughters in marriage. The old man returns home and explains the situation to his three daughters, but only the youngest, named Dschemal, accepts to be the snake's bride. She waits by the door when a camel and two snakes come to take her to her betrothed. She waits in the bedroom for the snake and it comes, takes off its skin and becomes a human youth. The next morning, he reveals his name is Chutdy Chumar, and wears the snakeskin again. Ten days pass, and her family visits Dschemal. She tells her sisters about the snake husband and they suggest she burns the skin so he becomes human for good. The girl decides to follow through the suggestion and burns it. Chutdy Chumar laments the fact, turns into a pigeon and says she can only find him if she wears down a pair of irons shoes and an iron cane, then vanishes. The girl commissions such garments and begins her journey. She passes by a herd of camels, of cows, of sheep and of horses - all belonging to her husband, and with a small fire burning on top of them. The shepherds explain that the animals are burning just as their master has had his snakeskin burnt by his wife. After walking for quite some time, she stops by a tree to rest and notices her shoes have holes in it. She realizes she must be close. Meanwhile, Chutdy Chumar has been betrothed to his aunt's daughter, who leaves the house to fetch water for them and sees Dschemal. She tells the man there is a girl outside and he takes her in. His mother, a Div-woman, forces Dschemal on some tasks: to fetch water using a sieve, to fill two sacks with feathers of white doves, to bleach a piece of black cloth and to wash it black again, and to turn a bag of peas into wheat. Chutdy Chumar helps her in all tasks. At last, the Div-mother sends her to her sister to get a comb for her (a trap set to kill the maiden). Her husband advises her on how to proceed: compliment a crooked tree and a dirty river, open a closed door and shut an open one, give a horse and a camel their respective food, get the comb and escape. She returns with the comb just in time for the Div-mother's last trap: she is to be set on fire, while Chutdy Chumar enters the water. He saves Dschemal by replacing her for his bride, as the woman begins to burn herself and the house. The pair escapes. His Div-mother notices the bride has been burnt and goes after them, and they change into different things to elude her: a melon and a seller, a windmill and a miller, a sheep and a shepherd. In the last transformation: Chutdy Chumar creates a river, then transforms Dschemal into a rosebush in the middle of the river and himself into a nightingale. His mother cannot cross the river and ceases her pursuit. The pair returns to her father and live happily ever after.[49] Reichl classified the tale as belonging to the cycle of ATU 425A, "Animal as Bridegroom" and ATU 425B, "The Witch's Tasks".[50]

A version of the tale was referenced in the novel On Fragile Waves, by author E. Lily Yu. In the novel, about a family of Afghan refugees, a mother tells the story to her younger daughter. In the tale, a woodcutter finds a snake named Khastehkhomar in his bundle, who makes him a proposal to marry the man's daughter, Bibinegar. They marry and, after the ceremony, Khastehkhomar takes off the snakeskin to become a handsome youth. One day, Bibinegar asks Khastehkhomar how she can destroy his snakeskin, and he tells her: burn it in onion skins and garlic peels, but he warns her against it. Despite his words, Bibinegar and her mother burn it. Khastehkhomar senses the smell of burning, appears to them and tells his wife he will depart to Mount Qaf, where his peri family lives, and, to find him, she will have to wear down seven pairs of iron shoes until she reaches him. He vanishes. Following his instructions, she wanders off and passes by fields, herds of donkeys and wells - all belonging to Khastehkhomar. She reaches Mount Qaf and gives her ring to a servant of her husband, who takes her in. However, he warns her he is betrothed to a demoness, and suggests she works there as a servant to his family. After escaping attempts on her life by his mother and aunt, she is forced to hold candles on the wedding ceremony, by wrapping cotton on her fingers and lighting them up. Bibinegar suffers their burning during the ceremony and bemoans her fate, and Khastehkhomar, also suffering, says his heart is burning. Later, after the ceremony, Bibinegar cries over her fate near his door, when Khastehkhomar appears to her, saying he killed the demoness, and they both flee from the peris.[51][52][53]