THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT

THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT

Now in a certain place there lived a Brahman named Haridatta. He was a
farmer, but poor was the return his labour brought him. One day, at the
end of the hot hours, the Brahman, overcome by the heat, lay down under
the shadow of a tree to have a doze. Suddenly he saw a great hooded
snake creeping out of an ant-hill near at hand. So he thought to
himself, "Sure this is the guardian deity of the field, and I have not
ever worshipped it. That's why my farming is in vain. I will at once go
and pay my respects to it."

When he had made up his mind, he got some milk, poured it into a bowl,
and went to the ant-hill, and said aloud: "O Guardian of this Field!
all this while I did not know that you dwelt here. That is why I have
not yet paid my respects to you; pray forgive me." And he laid the milk
down and went to his house. Next morning he came and looked, and he saw
a gold denar in the bowl, and from that time onward every day the same
thing occurred he gave milk to the serpent and found a gold denar.

One day the Brahman had to go to the village, and so he ordered his son
to take the milk to the ant-hill. The son brought the milk, put it
down, and went back home. Next day he went again and found a denar, so
he thought to himself: "This ant-hill is surely full of golden denars;
I'll kill the serpent, and take them all for myself." So next day,
while he was giving the milk to the serpent, the Brahman's son struck
it on the head with a cudgel. But the serpent escaped death by the will
of fate, and in a rage bit the Brahman's son with its sharp fangs, and
he fell down dead at once. His people raised him a funeral pyre not far
from the field and burnt him to ashes.

Two days afterwards his father came back, and when he learnt his son's
fate he grieved and mourned. But after a time, he took the bowl of
milk, went to the ant-hill, and praised the serpent with a loud voice.
After a long, long time the serpent appeared, but only with its head
out of the opening of the ant-hill, and spoke to the Brahman: "'Tis
greed that brings you here, and makes you even forget the loss of your
son. From this time forward friendship between us is impossible. Your
son struck me in youthful ignorance, and I have bitten him to death.
How can I forget the blow with the cudgel? And how can you forget the
pain and grief at the loss of your son?" So speaking, it gave the
Brahman a costly pearl and disappeared. But before it went away it
said: "Come back no more." The Brahman took the pearl, and went back
home, cursing the folly of his son.