| Many
years ago, Indian braves would go away in solitude to prepare for manhood. One young
Indian hiked into a beautiful valley, green with trees, bright with flowers. There, as he
looked up at the surrounding mountains, he noticed one rugged peak, capped with snow.
"I will test
myself against that mountain" he thought. So he put on his buffalo-hide shirt, threw
his blanket over his shoulders and set off to climb the pinnacle.
When he reached the
top, he stood on the rim of the world and there he could see forever, and his heart
swelled with pride. Then he heard a rustle at his feet. Looking down, he saw a snake, and
before he could move the snake spoke.
"I am about to
die" said the snake. "It is far too cold for me. Please put me under your shirt
and take me down to the valley"
"No," said
the youth, "I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake and if I pick you up you will
bite and your bite will kill me"
"Not so,"
said the snake. "I will treat you differently. If you do this for me, I will not harm
you."
The youth resisted for
quite some time but the snake was very persuasive. And so at last the youth tucked the
snake under his shirt and carried it down to the valley.
There he laid it down
gently in the grass. Suddenly, the snake coiled, leapt, and bit the young brave deep in
the calf of his leg.
The boy spun as pain
shot up his leg, cold chills ran down his back and the blood drained from his head.
"But you
promised," cried the youth.
The snake stopped in
his path, looked back at the
boy and in a cold voice said,
"You knew what I was when you picked me up!"
(One is too many, and a thousand is
never enough!)
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