Han-boo and Zahhak

"Come to yourself Hanbou! Do something! It's far more honorable to be killed than to live in this state!" Hanbou was talking to herself. She continued mournfully "I won't stand for this injustice. Whatever happens to me, so be it. When my dear husband is gone, why should I even live on? My dearest son was taken away from me! Oh my kind brother! I was planning his wedding!"
Hanbou was a middle-aged woman, crouching by the crude mud covered wall of her home, weeping bitterly. Early in the morning the King's guards had come and taken away her husband, son and brother. The King was known as Zahhak the Cruel and after decades of dictatorship two horrible snakes had grown from each of his shoulders which only fed on human brains, fetched from the skulls of young men who had been just been killed for the purpose. Everyday a young man was captured and brought to the royal kitchens where the cook would take out their brains and prepare them for the snakes. King Zahhak, was going hunting for some days so several young men were captured and taken together with his camp as nourishment for the monsters.
Hanbou felt like she had aged a few decades from the morning. Neighbors who passed her house would feel her pain but were two afraid of the King's guard to stop and comfort her. Maybe many of them even cursed the king under their breath, but what could any of them really do?
Many hours passed before Hanbou could will herself into getting off the dusty ground and stand up. She was feeling life she would tear into a million pieces at the slightest touch. She was drenched in sweat and she felt so dizzy she could barely stand. But despite all this there was only one thought on his mind: to free his loved ones or to die with them. She gathered herself and took the road toward the castle while whispering for mercy and kindness from Allah Almighty. "Dear Lord help me. No such injustice has ever been done to a man or woman. My Lord I cannot bear this misery…"
Before long she had arrived at the castle wondering what would happen if her family had already been killed. The thought it made her whole body shiver uncontrollably. She thought while taking firmer steps: "I'll scream at them and beat my head against their stone walls until I die as well!" As she reached the castle gates her screaming got more intense and reached everyone, who gathered around and learned of her decision and silently admired her courage to approach the very King with so much zest.
"What a woman!"
"Hanbou the Lioness!"
"I wish we had her courage"
Zahhak was resting underneath the shade of the magnificent trees in his garden when he heard her and sent his personal guard to seek the source of the disturbance. The two monstrous black snakes were reclining and seemed in deep sleep. Before long the guards brought in a woman writhing in agony like a wounded tiger and cursing all under the sky and screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Why? Why take one from every woman's home and take three from Hanbou's?"
The vizier whispered in Zahak's ear: "Your Highness, the three men we captured today are his husband, son and brother".
Zahhak was shocked and amused at Hanbou's courage, to dare and confront the king! No such thing had ever been done before.
"What is your name, woman?"
"What is it to you? I'm the woman that will not allow three of her own to be killed!" she roared.
It was whispered into Zahhak's ear that her name is Hanbou. Her son has just reached manhood, and her husband and bother were blacksmiths.
"Alright, I will let you enter the dungeon and choose one man among the three. Take her!"
The king's enormous guards took Hanbou to the dungeons. She felt so old and shrunken that she could neither hear the birds sing nor feel the cool breathe on her skin. But her resolve had not broken, not even a small bit. She was still grinding her teeth and tirelessly lashing at the guards as they took the steep steps down towards the cold dungeons. It was damp and dark and the smell of blood and sweat of the men was not bearable, but she felt nothing. When she looked at her beloved family her cries were so loud one would think they even woke the dead. Her husband heard her and jerked in his stupor, thinking that he was hearing of her dearest wife's mourning for his loss. Her son who was just coming to his senses whispered only one word: "mother". Her brother now wide awake exclaimed: "Hanbou?" as though unable to believe that this could have been real.
Hanbou's knees gave way and she collapsed on the dirty ground, looking at her husband whose hair had gone almost entirely white as though he had aged decades just like she had. Then she looked at her son: "my poor boy!" Her eyes moved to the strong shoulders of her dearest brother and she thought to herself: "I might never find another such good and kind husband but there are plenty of strong men who could take care of me and protect me. The death of dear sweet boy would set fire to my heart but I can always have more children. But how will I ever have another remembrance of my parents, now lost to me? The brother I grew up with and loved from the very beginning of my life? He's the only man who shared my misery, if someday a man would come to take up a sword against Zahhak the Cruel, it would be him!"
So she lowered her head in great shame, but with straight hand pointed at her brother.
The guards freed the brother from his chains and took the siblings up towards the castle while the other two prisoners heard them climb and thought they heard their own graves calling them, as though all of this had happened in a nightmare.
When the guards told Zahhak about the choice, he was greatly amused. He looked towards the vizier and said: "I have never seen a woman so sensible and good. Free the rest of her family as well."
When Hanbou heard this, she immediately fell to the ground and prayed to Allah Almighty for his mercy. The townspeople were soon whispering, almost in unison: "What a woman! Hanbou the Lioness!"