Posted on 10/25/2001 9:07:37 PM PDT by neutrino
Once upon a time....
Once upon a time, there was an honest, hard working fellow by the name of Sam. Over the years he had built a nice house with a beautiful garden, and he and his family lived well. Yet, he was kind and shared his good fortune even with those who didn't like him. Neighbors would ask him for loans, and Sam gave them money when they were down on their luck - but he never insisted on being paid back. He fed the hungry, gave medicine to the sick, and didn't ask for anything in return. If he got into a fight, he'd always help the other fellow up afterward.
Being good hearted, he always saw the best in others, and he believed that if others only knew him better, they would surely like him. His life was happy, and he believed it would continue to be so for a long, long time. His family and all the neighbors figured he'd always be around.
And then, one day, a viper bit one of his nephews and caused a grievous wound. The viper was part of a nest of poisonous snakes that had always hated Sam and everyone associated with him, and this attack caused Sam to become angry - more angry than he had been in many a year. He resolved to deal with the snakes, and to hunt them down so they could never again attack the innocent.
Now Sam was strong, and smart, and when he became angry he cut a fearsome figure. And in the fullness of time, he found the nest that had spawned such evil, and he attacked it. Yet even as he did so, he felt compassion for the snakes - and he reflected that surely the young ones were innocent, along with most of the snakes. They had done him no wrong, and merely because they were snakes they did not deserve to die. He believed that if they knew him just a little, they would become his friends. Sam decided to be generous, and to feed the snakes even as he smashed those who had bitten his nephew. This he did, and after a time he finished his task and went back to his comfortable home.
The years passed. The young snakes grew. And one day, as Sam walked through the woods, he felt a sharp sting in his neck - and a cold fear gripped his heart. The poison injected by the snake was strong, and Sam stumbled and fell to the ground. His great muscles failed him, his vision constricted, and his breathing became ragged, for he was dying. The serpent crawled forward, and climbed upon Sam's chest; and it looked at him, the black eyes glittering with malice.
"Foolish man. Did thou truly think to change my nature with a few crumbs of food? Your compassion has delivered you into my power, and you will soon die. Know that others of my kind are within your household, and your family will suffer long before they join you."
Sam, no longer strong enough to fight, looked at the viper and gasped a single word. "Why?"
The snake laughed coldly are replied "Why? For the pure joy of killing. For the delight of destruction. Destroying all that you built will be my greatest joy. For you see, Man, that is my nature. Just as your compassion saved my life - saved it for this day, and this act." Those words were, perhaps, more cruel than the deadly sting - for they broke Sam's great and loving heart.
The snake had spoken truly, and Sam's large family were viciously attacked and enslaved by the snakes. Many of his neighbors were too - John, and Jacques, and Otto. And their bondage and suffering were hard, and their tears were many. The women and girls prayed for death, but it was not granted them. Some of the boys and men resisted, and were killed. Others submitted, and became as the snakes.
Perhaps, in time, they freed themselves; or perhaps not. But that is a different tale for a different time.
Or....is there a lesson to be learned?
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