The Strong-minded Snake
(Determination)
Once upon a time, there lived a
doctor who was an expert at treating snakebites. One day, this doctor was on a
house call to treat a man who had been bitten by a deadly poisonous snake.
“There are two ways of treating this
snakebite,” said the doctor. “You can either treat it through medication, or by
capturing the snake that bit him, and forcing it to suck out its own poison,”
advised the doctor to the family of the bitten man. After some discussion, the
family decided to locate the culprit and make it suck its own poison out.
“Did you bite this man?” asked the
doctor when the snake was caught.
“Yes, I did.” replied the snake.
“Well then,” said the doctor, “you
must suck your own poison out of the wound.”
“Take back my own poison? Never! I
have never done such a thing and I never will!” hissed the strong-willed snake.
Then the doctor started a camp fire
and turned to the snake saying, “If you don’t suck the poison out, I’ll throw
you into this fire and burn you up!”
“I’d rather die than relent!”
answered the snake, and began moving towards the fire. In all his years, the
doctor had never seen anything like this! He took pity on the courageous snake,
and barred its way towards the flames. Then, using medicines and magic spells,
he removed the poison in the man.
The doctor admired the snake’s
single-minded determination. He knew that if it used its determination in a
wholesome way, it could improve itself and avoid unwholesome actions. So after
teaching the snake the Five Precepts, he set it free and advised it to go in
peace and harm no one again.
The moral is ✏ Determination wins respect.
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