Caduceus is a continuation of the older Indo-European dragon-slayer motif. Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (1913) pointed out that the serpent as an attribute of both Hermes and Asclepius is a variant of the "pre-historic semi-chthonic serpent hero known at Delphi as Python", who in classical mythology is slain by Apollo. One Greek myth of origin of the caduceus is part of the story of Tiresias, who found two snakes copulating and killed the female with his staff. Tiresias was immediately turned into a woman, and so remained until he was able to repeat the act with the male snake seven years later.
The Great Snake stood. The person's face is yellow too. "But what if we spoil these boys?", he asks Semyonich kindly. Semyonich defends the boys as humble, hard-working and not greedy. The man consents to his judgement, stating that he knows their father will not live long. He then tells the children to "watch for the trail" and dig along it. The man transforms into a giant serpent, and moves away leaving the trail behind. Semyonich explains that the man is Poloz the Great Snake (alternative translation: The Great Serpent), the lord of all that is gold. Next morning, the boys start digging