Snake Bite

The story is told by Raja, an innocent and adventurous boy who loves to meddle with creatures like snakes and bees. His grandparents are deeply concerned about his safety. Through a simple childhood incident, the writer Shankar shows how ignorance, fear and blind faith in untrained medicine men can turn a tiny problem into a big drama, and why silence and poor communication are not always good.

The snake in the coconut shell

One day Raja sees a small snake crawling slowly in the compound. When the snake hides in a coconut shell, he quietly closes the mouth of the shell with a stone, picks it up and runs to his grandmother crying that he has caught a snake. Grandmother is shocked and cries for help. Grandfather comes running, snatches the shell and throws it away; the snake crawls off and disappears into the bushes. Grandfather warns Raja never to go near a snake again because snakes are very dangerous.

A bee sting mistaken for a snake bite

Later that evening Raja tries to catch a bee and it stings him on the finger, giving him a sharp pain. He runs to his grandmother and tells her he has 'been bitten'. Because Raja had brought home a snake that very morning, grandmother at once assumes it is a snake bite and calls out to grandfather. Seeing a blue mark on the finger, grandfather says nothing; he simply takes the boy in his arms and starts running, across the garden and through the paddy fields, until he reaches a small house far from home, where a grey-haired man who 'knows the cure for snake bite' lives.

The 'cure' and the enforced silence

The old man takes some water in a small brass vessel and begins reciting mantras. Raja wants to tell everyone that it was a bee, not a snake, that bit him, but grandfather holds him tight and does not allow him to speak. Grandmother and some others arrive and watch sadly in silence. By this time the pain in Raja's finger has already stopped on its own, yet he still has to sit and be 'cured' of the snake bite.

The old man's false triumph

After a few minutes the old man washes Raja's finger, gives him water to drink, and turns to grandfather saying, 'Thank God you brought Raja in time. He is out of danger now. It was indeed a poisonous snake that bit him.' Everyone thanks the old man for the 'magic cure' and, on returning home, grandfather sends him gifts. Only Raja knows the truth, that a bee had stung him, that the pain had gone by itself, and that the old man is a liar who has fooled everybody. The lesson teaches us to find out the facts before reacting and to beware of untrained medicine men who cheat innocent people by creating fear.