Veranda Tales-Princess and the snake

A princess saved by a peasant - రాజకుమారి పాము (Princess and the snake)

Once upon a time, there was a princess. She was sick for a longtime and her health continued to decline. The entire kingdom was praying for her recovery. She was confined to her bed with no energy to take care of herself, leave alone her royal duties. The king summoned doctors and healers from all over the world. Nobody could find what was wrong with the princess. The king was losing hope that his daughter would ever be well. He sent word far and wide that he would offer the hand of the princess to whomever could cure her illness. Messengers were dispatched to spread the word to every corner of his kingdom and far and wide to distant places known to humans.

One day, a young man named Madhava came to the king's court offering help. He was immediately taken to the princess's room to evaluate her condition. Madhava examined the princess and asked several questions about her condition and also talked to the princess's friends and maids about her daily routine and diet. Then he returned to the court and made an unusual request to spend the night in the princess's bedchamber at night alone. The entire court gasped at this unusual and audacious request. They were sure Madhava was bound to be punished by the king for this outrageous and insolent request. To everybody’s surprise, the king gave permission. Madhava took his leave promising to come back to the palace in the evening.

Madhava came back and sat in the princess's bedchamber with his sword ready. He was very vigilant looking for anything unusual. The clock was ticking and hours went by. During the early hours of the morning, Madhava saw a large snake emerging out of the princess’s mouth. The snake slithered out and helped itself to a pitcher of milk sitting on a side table. After drinking the milk, the snake went back to where it came from. The table was very close to the princess's bed and Madhava didn’t want to take any chances trying to kill the snake. The routine repeated the next night with milk placed on a table far away from the bed. Madhava was able to kill the snake. Once the snake was killed, the princess recovered. The king kept his promise. Madhava and the princess lived happily ever after.

This story still sends shivers up my spine as I imagine a snake slithering out of a human’s mouth. I am deathly scared of snakes. Right around the time I heard this story, the house I lived in was surrounded by a Mulberry fence crawling with snakes. Those snakes weren’t poisonous. They would crawl up onto the veranda slithering through our sandy front yard. I used to play in the sandy front yard and pick fruits from the Mulberry fence. Snakes would crawl on the window screens at night. Once, we found a snake coiled up sleeping under the table where my parents were playing chess. They were facing each other hovering over the chess board on the table in the middle with their feet very close to the coiled up snake. Thankfully nobody was hurt including the snake.

Snakes had an impact on my family history. Amma’s paternal grandmother (my great grandmother) died of a snake bite and paternal grandfather died within 6 months after her death heartbroken and devastated. He left Amma’s father (my maternal grandfather) who was 6 years of age at that time and his older sister to be raised by their maternal grandparents.

I am still very scared of snakes and anxious when I am hiking in areas where Rattlesnakes roam. Once my son hopped over a coiled up Rattlesnake sunning itself on a rock on a mountain trail. It was a big snake and looked like a large boulder at first glance. My younger one and I stopped just in time before we did the same. I am happy to report humans safely sneaked away and the snake kept on sleeping.