Kabanata Kabanata 15 · 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.

[Illustration:]

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.