Thousands of years ago, there were snakes called ”Meran” that lives underground at Tarsus. The queen of those snakes was called Şahmeran. Şahmeran was a beautiful young lady who was half snake and half-human. Her lower half of the body was a snake, but from the waist upwards, she was the prettiest. At that time, there was a handsome boy called Cemşab who was the child of a very poor family.
One day, Cemşab accidentally walked into the cave where thousands of snakes were sleeping while trying to find honey. There Cemşab met Şahmeran. They were immediately attracted to each other and spend time in the cave for days. Şahmeran told him stories about the secrets of the world and it made him fall even more of her spell. Even though they had fun, Cemşab still missed his family and wanted to go. Şahmeran didn’t want to let Cemşab go but she said she will let him go if he keeps her place a secret and he left the cave. But one day, the daughter of the king got very ill and the healers said the only cure is Şahmeran’s meat. Everyone was mobilized to find Şahmeran so that the daughter could heal. The one who wanted the girl to heal the most was the vizier so that he could marry the daughter and be the next king. With the order of the vizier, everyone in the town was forced to go to hamam because it was known that anyone who saw Şahmeran will have snake scales on their body. At hamam, the soldiers easily found the person they have been looking for, and obviously, it was Cemşab. Cemşab didn’t want to tell them her place at first but they tortured him until he says where Şahmeran is so he showed them the cave. Cemşab wanted to have the last conversation with Şahmeran and told the soldiers that he will kill Şahmeran himself so that they could be alone.
After he told the whole story to Şahmeram, he asked what to do and Şahmeran answered: ” I already knew you will be the death of me” and told him to keep her death a secret because if the snakes learn they will take their revenge to humanity. She added, ”boil my tail and make the vizier drink it so he can die, boil my trunk and drink it to the daughter so she can heal, lastly boil my head and drink it yourself so you can be the Lokman Hekim, the head of the healers. Şahmeran says to the snakes that she will be the guest of Cemşab and they don’t need to worry about her. He does everything Şahmeran said and the vizier dies, the girl heals and he becomes the Lokman Hekim.
It is said that when the snakes find out Şahmeran is dead they will invade everywhere starting from hamams.