I know what happened. I took a look at the photo and I know what happened.
You see, Gohan is like the Chinese Philosopher Lao Tzu or Mencius or Sun Tzu. You see, they put him in the snake’s quarters and he quickly thought of a way to save himself by using philosophy.
He thought: A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
Maybe.
He thought: We live, not as we wish to, but as we can.
How true.
He thought: For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.
And then: He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious.
And more: If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.
This came to him: Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.
And this: The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.
And he liked this one: The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
Finally it came to him: You have to believe in yourself.
And so Gohan did. He believed in himself. He talked the snake into saving his life and thereby saving both their lives. The snake is now special because he didn’t eat the hamster and the hamster is special because he has a good memory of Chinese Philosophy.
End of story, not of tail.
All’s well until the zookeepers stop feeding the snake. Hunger trumps all battle plans.
“I am not the hamster you want to eat”