Related Articles : Stories with Moral Lessons
Once upon a time, there was a great saint who had established harmonious connections with all the forces of nature as well as with all the living creatures on earth. Once he was traveling from one place to another and he decided to stay in a village which was on the way, as it had already got dark enough and his destination was still far away. So the Saint entered the village with the intention of spending the night there.
The villagers welcomed the saint and they took great care of each and every need of the saint with great respect and attention. In the morning, when the saint prepared to leave for his destination, the villagers gave him many types of eatables and other things which would help him during the course of his journey. The saint was very pleased and moved by the hospitality of the villagers and asked them as if he could do anything for them in return.
The villagers told the saint that everything else was good in the village except for a horrible snake who sat under the shade of a big tree in village and who bit each and everyone who went close to that tree and as a result many people from the village as well as from the nearby villages had died of his snakebite. The prayed the saint to relieve them of the terror of this snake.
The saint went to the tree where a big and horrible looking snake sat with a wide spread hood which inspired awe in the eyes of the beholders. As the saint went closer to the snake, the snake recognized the divine power of the saint, touched his feet and asked for his command. The saint told the snake not to bite any humans from now on, to which snake consented and gave his promise that from now on, he would not bite any humans.
The saint then started his journey leaving very happy villagers behind him. After a few months, as the saint was returning from his journey, he decided to stay in the same village for the night. The villagers welcomed him and served him very well once again. In the morning when the saint was about to leave the village, something came to his mind and he walked towards the tree under which the snake used to sit. As the saint reached the tree, he saw a very sympathetic and moving scene.
The snake was lying under the same tree with his body all wounded and it looked like almost dead. The saint went closer to him, took his weak and almost lifeless body in his lap and asked the snake as to how did he reached this state. The snake answered that since he had stopped biting people, they stopped fearing him and with the passage of time, the kids from the village started throwing stones on him while the elders watched, as it seemed to give them amusement. The situation got worse and the villagers even started to walk over his body as they had no fear of his snakebite and this is how he reached this miserable situation.
The saint healed the snake with his divine power and said, ” I had asked you not to bite anyone but I had not asked you not to spread your hood, look all horrible and scare the people who come close to you “.
Moral : Even though you may have a very good nature and you may be a true gentle human being, but you have to have some scary qualities in you which should be used for keeping bad people away. Even though you don’t want to harm anyone, a show off of being potentially harmful is a must in today’s world as otherwise, bad people will start walking over your body. So even if you don’t mean to bite, do learn to spread your hood and scare when you need to.
By
Himanshu Shangari