Eating Up the Protector

In the land of Uttara there lived a Brahmin called Kusalanatha with his wife and their six sons. For a time the family did very well. The tale attributes a reversal of his fortunes to Saturn entering his horoscope. The Brahmin, who had once been comfortable, became so poor that he had to go into the nearby woods to gather the seeds of the bamboo plant, which people call bamboo rice, just to feed his hungry family.

One day, as he was picking the bamboo ears, he saw a bush near him blazing with fire, and in the middle of the flames a snake was struggling to save its life. The Brahmin ran to help at once. He held out a long green stick, and the snake crawled onto it and escaped from the fire. But then it spread its hood, hissed, and came towards him to bite.

The Brahmin began to cry, blaming himself for saving such an ungrateful creature.

“Brahmin, why are you weeping?” asked the snake.

“You mean to kill me,” said the old man. “Is that my reward for saving your life?”

“It is true that you saved me from a dreadful death,” said the snake. “But how else am I to fill my empty stomach?”

“You talk about your hunger,” said the Brahmin, “but who will feed my old wife and my six hungry children at home?”

The snake saw how worried he was. It brought up a precious jewel from its hood and told him to take it home and give it to his wife to pay for the household, and then to come back to the woods to be eaten. The old man agreed and solemnly promised to return. He went home, gave his family the jewel, told them about his bargain with the snake, and set off back to the woods.

Meanwhile, the snake had been thinking about how shamefully it had behaved. “Is it right to kill the one who pulled me out of the flames?” it asked itself. “No! If I cannot find anything else to eat today, I would rather starve than harm my protector.”

So when the old Brahmin came back, true to his word, the snake gave him a second precious jewel. It wished him a long and happy life with his wife and children and went on its way, and the Brahmin hurried home full of joy.

This story was told by King Alakesa. “The snake meant to harm the one who had helped it,” said the king, “and I, in my anger, meant to put to death Bodhaditya, my faithful minister, who had saved my own life. There is no penance I would not do to make up for such a wrong.”

So King Alakesa ordered that a thousand Brahmins should be fed every day for as long as he lived, and he gave many rich gifts to the temples to make up for his terrible mistake. After that Bodhaditya and his three fellow ministers were held in even greater favour. With those four faithful ministers, King Alakesa lived very happily, and his reign was long and prosperous.

May all be blessed with good fortune!

About this story

This short tale comes from Tales of the Sun; or, Folklore of Southern India (1890), by Mrs. Howard Kingscote and Pandit Natesa Sastri. In the book it is told by King Alakesa near the end of a longer story about his four faithful ministers, and only the last part of that frame, the king’s penance for wronging his minister Bodhaditya, is included here.

The episode ends with the blessing “May there be prosperity to all!”, which this telling keeps in simpler words. The threatened killing is not carried out, but remains central to the plot.

Read the original: Kingscote and Natesa Sastri, Tales of the Sun (Project Gutenberg #37002, Eating Up the Protector)

Reading guidance: Ages 9–12 with adult guidance; a father promises to return to be eaten and a king recalls an intended execution. Discuss why a coerced promise is not a real-life duty to face harm.

A closer reading

The snake changes its mind before the Brahmin returns. That timing matters: his arrival demonstrates that he keeps the bargain, but it is the snake’s own reflection on its rescue that reverses the threat. The second jewel turns a payment meant to compensate a family for losing its provider into a gift accompanying his safe return.

King Alakesa identifies himself with the ungrateful snake, not with its victim. The embedded story allows someone in power to name his own wrong and alter his treatment of his ministers. The Brahmin’s return is part of this dramatic construction; a promise extracted under threat does not oblige a real person to go back to harm.

Try this with the story

Place three events in order: the first jewel, the snake’s private change of mind and the Brahmin’s return. Then pair the snake with the king and the rescued Brahmin with the minister, explaining the parallel and where it stops.

Questions to ask

• Does the snake repent before or after the Brahmin returns?
• How does the meaning of the jewel change?
• Why does the king compare himself with the snake?
• What makes this bargain different from a freely chosen promise?

You may also like

• The Brahmin and the Cobra — another Indian tale of a Brahmin and a snake
• The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal (Alternate Retelling) — another Indian story about a rescued creature that turns on its rescuer
• Charity Alone Conquers — another story from Tales of the Sun