She manifests in every serpent that is at least 100 years old. She can become a beautiful maiden, and makes an excellent fairy wife.
A human husband must never speak of what she really is, or their family life will end, and if there have been no children, she may even kill him. But if they do have offspring, she leaves him to care for her children, and returns to her supernatural realm, both sad and angry.
There are many tales of a youth who meets Yuxa and falls in love; more rarely it is a maiden who loves Yuxa, in which case, as a generality, she will manifest as a young man.
In her natural form she is a serpent with a dragon’s head and can breathe fire. Sometimes she has two forelimbs, sometimes none, as she resembles a legless lizard aka sheltopusik, or an amphiuma. Her tail is a barbed weapon. She can protect or terrify.
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Art: “Salamander” (1886), but more like an emphiuma, by British artist, author, printer and book designer Charles de Sousy Ricketts (1866-1931). Charles’ lifelong romantic partner was portrait painter Charles Haslewood Shannon (1863-1937) , met in art school. The “two Charleses” founded Vale Press and designed, illustrated, and printed books togethter.
