Egyptian, Greek, and Roman Magic Tales

Abstract

One of the world’s most ancient recorded stories tells of a sailor shipwrecked on a distant island. Just as he gives thanks for his deliverance, a monstrously large, gold-skinned serpent with blue eyebrows approaches. The serpent asks who brought him to these shores, which the sailor, prostrating himself, answers by telling of the wreck and his survival. In a sympathetic response, the serpent recounts his own sad history and promises the sailor rich gifts, a prosperous future, and death and burial in his homeland (Lichtheim, 1973: 1: 211–15; Simpson, 1972: 50–6¹).