A long, long time ago, there was one honest farmer in a small village in the north of Nigeria. Farming had been a tiring chore for the man, and after doing all the work in his fields, he was walking along a trail full of dust when he saw a snake crawling towards him. It looked extremely hungry but more like dead due to cold.
However, the farmer managed to notice that it was unable to move, and since the temperatures were very low, the snake was in a lot of pain. Being endearing themselves, the snake begged the farmer to help by asking if he could dig a nice warm hole and lie in the farmer’s stomach. The snake asked the old man to let him in promising to sleep and slowly get back into his strength.
The farmer, feeling pity for it, agreed to its request. He opened his mouth wide, then allowed the snake to enter into him and rested inside his belly. The snake changed quickly from being on the verge of freezing to coming back to life.
However, when sometime later the farmer became uneasy and wanted the snake to leave him. Although the rattlesnake provoked his emotion, he could not easily get it out of his belly. To his dismay, the snake refused to leave. This prompted the farmer to be full of fear and could not imagine what would happen next. He then looked for a heron which he knew to be intelligent and also possessing problem-solving skills.
When he heard the farmer’s story, the heron decided that it wanted to help purely based on kind-heartedness. Using its long beak, and respecting the farmer, the heron successfully removed the snake and threw it out of its way before it could get a shot at the bird.
The farmer was extremely thankful to the heron for rescuing him from probably a dangerous predicament. However, he felt a strange sense disturbing him. It was something that he wanted more than anything he could not adequately describe it. The thing was still lurking inside of him. He used to feel that a part of the snake’s venom was still in his stomach which made him so anxious.
Seeing this, the heron encouraged him to eat much white meat. Knowing how deadly the snake’s venom could be, it said this would help replenish his energy and neutralize any ill effects the snake had left on him.
As he prepared to leave, a troubling thought crossed his mind. The heron itself was made of white meat. Lured by fear and despair, he seized the heron put it into his bag, and went home.
When he got home he related the full experience to his wife. She was still one tender-hearted woman who developed a sense of pity for that bird that assisted her husband. Distressed by what her husband has done she angrily rebuked him for having caught a kind soul like that.
Caught in guilt for the heron she loved, she decided to set it free. But when she opened the bag to let the bird go, it quickly flew off and turned on her, clawing her eyes almost completely out.
Moral Lesson from The Fable
The story of the Snake, Farmer, and Heron imparts a crucial moral lesson which is that it is important to pay back good for good. We must give goodwill genuinely and without expecting anything in return, as it reminds us of this. If we don’t appreciate the people who help us, they might give us many surprises.
A man was held in gratitude by another man for saving his life, but the heron in the tale showed no gratitude or respect towards him. It is terrible when a man responds with fear and self-interest instead of gratitude. This is a heart-stopping reminder that people should always extend their courtesy and if they can, return such courtesy likewise