“You Knew I Was a Snake”
A fable that is told with many variations:
The Farmer and the Snake
One winter day, a farmer found a snake by the roadside, stiff and motionless with cold.
“If you put me inside your shirt,” the snake said, “your body will make me warm and I won’t freeze to death.”
“Oh, I know your kind,” replied the farmer. “If I pick you up, you will bite me.”
“Oh no,” the snake objected. “Why would I do such a thing, if you are good enough to help me?”
So the farmer had compassion on the snake, and taking it up, he put it inside his shirt. The warmth quickly revived the snake, and resuming its natural instincts, it bit its benefactor, inflicting on him a mortal wound. “Oh,” cried the farmer with his last breath, “why did you bite me? You promised you wouldn’t.”
The snake replied, "Its your own fault. You knew I was a snake when you picked me up."