One day, when the snake had just caught a fledgling bird which had fallen
from its nest, an angel appeared, the beating of its great bright wings giving
momentary life to the dead leaves around the snake.. It said, "Little sibling,
I bring you a gift. Would you like to be beautiful, large, and deadly?" The
snake agreed. The angel took its sword, which was sharper than the snake's
fangs and as long as an anaconda, pricked its little finger, and gave a drop
of its blood to the snake. The snake drank it, then went off to its hole and
slept for many moons.
The next spring it came out of its hole and looked at itself. It had become
a huge serpent, swift and muscular, and its skin shone like living gold. It
slithered through the jungle looking for something to kill in order to test
its new venom. It came upon an elephant and bit it. The elephant trumpeted
and died. The snake said to itself, "Surely I am the most horrific creature in
the world."
But suddenly its head, and then the rest of its body, were pinned to the
ground. A snake hunter had followed it, having seen its glittering skin, and
caught it with the forked stakes such hunters use. He carefully stuffed the
serpent into a large, thick sack, and dragged it off (for the snake was too
heavy for even such a strong man as he to lift) to his hut at the edge of the
jungle. The snake, finding that it could not escape, and knowing that it
would soon be killed, bit itself in its rage and terror.
When the hunter arrived home, he carefully removed the snake from the sack,
but found it dead. He cut off its head and skinned it, and gave the meat to
his wife to cook. The snake's blood seeped into the earth, and all the plants
nearby died, and nothing grew there again. The hunter took the skin into the
city and sold it for more money than he had ever seen in his life. That night,
after the feast he had thrown for his friends and neighbors and their children
to celebrate his good fortune, everyone who had eaten the snakemeat died in
terrible agony.
The craftsman the hunter had sold the skin to made it into a headband.
He took it to court and the king filled his hands with gold, but soon they
became arthritic and crippled. The king put away his crown and wore the
snakeskin instead. The venom slowly entered his brain and twisted his thoughts.
That year he attacked a powerful neighboring kingdom, plowing salt into
their fields and killing everyone in his path except for the women and children
his soldiers raped and mutilated and left to horrify his enemies. He forced
all able men in his country into the army, seized all property to support his
war, and instituted a repressive police state to stifle dissent. There was
terrible bloodshed and suffering.
And the angel laughed.