The Snake and The Mouse

Once upon a time, deep in the jungle of Thailand there was a snake who ruled the jungle. He was big and strong, and could eat anything he wanted. No one could beat the snake.

One day the snake was slithering along the jungle floor to the river to find something to eat. A mouse was bathing near the river and saw the snake start slithering in his direction. The mouse was frightened and thought to himself, "What can I do to defend myself against the snake? I am very small and not strong." So the mouse decided that if he was not stronger or bigger than the snake he would have to be smarter.

The mouse decided to approach the snake instead of letting the snake come to him. He knew that he needed to seem strong and confident to the snake.

"Hello! I see you have come to my side of the jungle," he said while seeming unbothered by the snake.

"Why hello there, you delicious-looking mouse," smirked the snake. "Is there anything you wish to say before I swallow you up?"

"Why yes, there is. Little do you know that I am in fact the most powerful mouse in the jungle," said the mouse as he fluffed out his fur and made himself as big as he could. He was trying to intimidate the snake so that he would leave him alone.

"I can jump from tree to tree and move faster than you can through the jungle. In fact, let's have a contest," challenged the mouse.

"Alright, fine. We shall have a competition to see who is the fastest and if you win I will not eat you," said the snake.

This was exactly what the mouse had planned and the snake had no idea.

The race would start at the big banana tree and would end on the other side of the river past the big boulder by the edge.

"Alright, the race will end past that big boulder," proclaimed the mouse as he nodded in a nonspecific area.

The snake assumed they would race to the edge of the river and back to the boulder that was by the start of the race. Yet, the mouse had another plan in mind.

The race was on and the snake was off to an early lead, but the mouse was not worried. The snake slithered so quickly along the ground that the mouse's tiny legs could not keep up. However, the mouse split off and started across the river instead of going around it. He knew there were a couple rocks that poked out of the water that he could jump across and safely to the other side away from the snake. However, the snake knew he would drown if he tried to cross because of the rapid current, and he could only watch as the mouse jumped across the river using the rocks. The snake was left in the dust.

The snake was in utter disbelief. He hissed and exclaimed that the mouse had cheated! The mouse chuckled and said, "I simply said the finish line was the big boulder, I did not say which boulder." The snake had been tricked into challenging the mouse instead of just gobbling him up and now all he could do was slither into the dark jungle still hungry.

The mouse continued about his day with a smile on his face because he successfully fooled the snake.

Image by Pixabay

Author's Note: This story was a spin off the The Tiger and the Frog from the Tibet readings. I obviously changed the animals from a tiger and frog to a snake and mouse. In the source story the frog was frightened by the tiger much like the mouse with the snake. The tiger and the snake were both hungry and they wanted to eat the little animal. In the source story the frog challenged the tiger to jump across the river. The frog held on to the tiger's tail and then challenged him to a vomiting contest. The tiger could not vomit because he was so hungry, but the frog vomited some of the tiger's fur which made the tiger believe that he was the most feared frog in the jungle. Then a fox came into the old source story and laughed at the tiger for falling for the frog's trick. Then the fox and the tiger tied their tails together and went to see the frog. The frog scared the tiger and the tiger ran away dragging the fox with him by the tail.

Bibliography: The Tiger and the Frog by A.L. Shelton as part of the Tibetan Folktales