The Venomous Snake

In between two villages named Ekpuri and Dopuri, there was a forest. In the forest, there lived a venomous snake. People of both the villages were very scared of the snake. The snake had bitten many villagers who used to cross the forest to reach the other village and many of them had lost their lives. Gradually, people stopped using the path through forest and a longer path was used for reaching the other village.

One day a sage came to Ekpuri. Everyone treated the sage with a lot of respect. When the sage started going to Dopuri, the villagers suggested them to avoid going through the forest and take the longer route. When the sage asked them for the reason, the villagers told him about the venomous snake. The sage advised them not to worry and he went through the forest. In the middle of forest, the snake came in front of him.

The sage stopped the snake with his mystic powers and almost took out his life. The snake started pleading for his life. The sage felt mercy on him and said, "I can leave you only on one condition. You will have to promise me that you will follow non-violence." The snake agreed. The sage forgave the snake and went to Dopuri. On reaching to Dopuri, he told everyone to be fearless of the snake.

Now, everyone started taking the route of forest to reach to the other village. The snake used to remain away from the villagers. Slowly, all villagers stopped feeling the fear of the snake. One group of villagers was passing through the forest. The children from the group threw stones at the snake and the snake ran away saving his life.

One day, the sage crossed through the forest while entering Dopuri. In the forest, the sage saw the snake in a very miserable condition. He was badly wounded. Seeing such a condition of snake, the sage asked, "What has happened to you? Who did all this to you?" The snake replied, "Respected sage, I had promised that I will follow non-violence. Now, I do not bite anyone. Nobody is scared of me and many people throw stones at me. I just run to save myself."

The sage replied, "I had only asked you to follow non-violence, but did not ask you to abstain from self-defence. Even if you do not want to kill anyone, you should pretend to be dangerous to those who want to harm you." The snake understood the message and thanked the sage. The sage moved ahead towards Dopuri. After sometime, a group of mischievous boys were crossing through the forest. They saw the snake and took a stone to throw at him. The snake instantly spread his fangs and with a hissing sound quickly advanced towards the boys. The boys, afraid with this action of snake, ran away from there. The people still used the forest to reach the other village, but nobody harmed the snake.