There once was a king from a nice kingdom with nice subjects. One night he had an odd dream in which a fox was suspended from the ceiling by his tail and no one knew what to make of this. Then he tried to find someone to figure out this strange dream's meaning and on the third day, common people showed up, including a poor peasant. While the peasant was trying to get there, they found a snake lying in their way. The snake and the peasant have a nice little chat and the peasant promises the snake some presents if it will help them out. The snake agrees.
The snakes says that the fox is supposed to represent cunning, treachery, and hypocrisy in the kingdom. The peasant was given many gifts in exchange for this info and then the peasant left the palace or whatever a different way to avoid sharing with the snake... The king had another vision of a sword and asked the peasant to interpret. The peasant sought out the snake, who was mad and demanded payment. Oh, the snake said the sword meant war. The peasant chased the snake and cut off its tail, which is super rude, like it did this person a huge favor.
The king has anoooother vision. The peasant finds the snake and begs forgiveness. The peasant brings it the treasures they owe the snake and the snake is cool. The peasant was sneaky in times of deceit. The peasant was ready to fight in times of war. Now, the peasant is peaceful in times of peace. It has a happy ending.
I have to say that I kind of wanted the snake to get revenge a little bit. This person so took advantage of it, but I'm glad it ended things on its own terms. I think that this was fun and a nice change of pace. The Georgian folktales remind me a lot of the Jataka tales, which is nice! I really enjoy these kinds of stories.
A very lovely Plains Hognose (Flickr)
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