The Farmer And The Snake
Translated by Dhammacaro
Once upon a time, there lived a noble farmer. Everyday he would go out to work in the rice field and each evening after finishing work, he would go straight home without dilly dallying.
One morning in winter as he was making his way to the rice field he saw a cobra on the ground, all coiled up due to the cold. With compassion, the farmer picked up the cobra and took it back home and placed it by the fire where it was nice and warm and covered it up with a blanket. He truly treated the cobra as if it were his own son.
As soon as the cobra was warm again and was fully revived, it turned on the farmer and bit him. Its animal instinct took president over any gratitude or mercy towards the person who has effectively saved its life.
The poison was so quick and deadly that the farmer was killed immediately. He died alone in his own home, without being helped or consoled by a sole.
The moral of the story:
One should not expect to receive any gratitude and mercy from an uneducated man.
In today’s society, it seems that compassion and gratitude is so hard to find. But rather than expecting such from others, we should turn the attention back to ourselves.
When we do things for others, we should do it with willingness and empathy. Give because we can and give because we want to. Do not do it in want of anything in return.