Week 9 Story: Why Mongoose and Snakes are Enemies

Once upon a time, there lived a couple who was known as the kindest couple in the village. One day, while walking to the village to sell their bread, they spotted something on the road. As they got closer, they realized it was an injured mongoose left for dead during an attack. The couple rushed to the mongoose and take him home to nurse him back to health. Since then, the mongoose sticks to the couple like glue and became their faithful companion. Not long after, the couple gave birth to a little boy. The little boy was tiny with the size of a pineapple. The mongoose fiercely protected the baby from danger in return for the couple's kindness. 

On one faithful occasion, the couple found an injured king cobra on the road to the village. The snake was passive while the couple tried to nurse him back to health. They decided to took the cobra in as a pet as well in order to guard the house. What they did not realized, was that the cobra has a second agenda. It faked its injuries so that it can get close to the baby to eat him. During its stay at the kindest couple's house, the cobra plots its plan to devour the baby and then slither away to the next big meal. During the night when the cobra set its plan in motion, it starts to slither toward the baby when the couple fell in a deep sleep. Sensing danger, the mongoose jumped out from its slumber and stood its body between the baby and the cobra. The fight between a cat-like mammal and the fearsome reptile lasted for hours. In the end, the cobra gave up and slither away to find another easy meal. Ever since that day, the mongoose and the snakes became natural enemies.

Indian King Cobra at Wikipedia

Small Indian Mongoose at Flickr

Author's Note: I based my story on "Why Dog and Cat Are Enemies" in "The Chinese Fairy Book." In the story, the dog and cat teamed up together to steal back the lucky ring for their owner so they won't be poor anymore. When they got the ring, the cat can get home faster because it can climb up the roof top while the dog has to zig zag through the neighborhood. In the end, the cat get rewarded for getting the ring back and the dog got beat while the cat just watch and did not spoke up. They became bitter enemies after that incident. My thought process was bitter rivalries and somehow I thought of Pokemon and the rivalry between Seviper and Zangoose. The setting of the story is in India. I just came out of a three exams week so my brain was fried when writing this. This source is for fun facts about the mongoose.

Bibliography: "The Chinese Fairy Book" by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens. Source.