Once upon a time ….

Once upon a time in a village which was famous for its scenic beauty and friendly people there lived a poisonous snake too .The village had a big well like almost all the villages has and had very sweet water in it . This well was suppose to be utilized by the villagers for their drinking water purposes but none of the villagers ever dared to venture near the well as the snake had made its termitarium very close to the well . 

At this juncture a sage came to the village and was very thirsty .He was going near the well to quench his thirst but was stopped by the villagers saying that there is a big poisonous snake near the well and if you go near the well it would bite you .

The sage didn’t heed to the advice of the villagers and moved forward .All of a sudden from nowhere the snake came in front of him and villagers were shocked but the sage with his calm and cool mind moved forward .The sage with folded hands asked the snake Why are you troubling the villagers ,Why are you not letting them to come near the well ,What are you going to achieve by troubling the people ??? 

Snake also thought for a while and respected the sage’s advice .He promised the sage that he won’t trouble any one henceforth .The villagers were very happy and congratulated the sage .The sage then moved towards the next village . 

From next day the villagers started using the well and the snake didn’t trouble any one .Gradually fear of the snake reduced drastically amongst the villagers and every one in the village were busy with their own work and neglected the snake as it had become harmless. 

The snake became so soft that the men folks of the village started using the snake as a means of rope to tie their crops if they had forgot to get the ropes and the women folks started using the snake as a cloth by folding the snake into a circular coil shape to keep water pots over their head.The village children also used the snake for playing tug of war but still the snake didn’t harm any one . 

Slowly the snake realized that every one is utilizing it for their own benefit and decided not to venture out .It didn’t come out of its termitarium for days and months together. Again the sage came to the village and inquired about the whereabouts of the snake .The villagers told that the snake has become harmless and is not venturing out of its termitarium or would have been dead by now . 

The sage wanted to confirm what the villagers were telling and went near the termitarium and called the snake .Snake on hearing sage’s voice came out of its termitarium crawling .It had become very weak and was very pale with no energy left .The sage asked the snake about what had preceded and the snake told the sage that I heeded to your advice and didn’t trouble any one but the villagers started misusing me and harmed me . 

The sage then told the snake “ The other day I had told you not to harm people but had never told to defend yourself when some one comes to harm you” . 

Moral of the story : All and sundry would dominate you if you are soft . 

This story was being taught to my six year old son by his grand ma for his story telling competition .If you imply this story to the present crisis between Tamil nadu and Karnataka governments over the cauvery water dispute ,I would leave it to you to decide of what I meant to narrate through this story . 

Thanks for reading !!!!