The Snake and the villagers
Published on February 16, 2016
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Near a small village in India, used to live a huge snake who was terrorizing the inhabitants, biting to death those who would pass by.Exasperated, the villagers went in delegation to find a wise man to complain of the snake’s wickedness.
The wise man went to find the snake, and talked to him for a long time blaming him for his misbehavior. "What did the villagers do to deserve this? Why so many murders and gratuitous violence?"
He found the proper words so well that the snake was shaken up. The snake swore to make amends…and he kept his word.
Starting from that day, he wasn’t himself anymore. He, the terrible reptile, had become a sort of long and meatless worm. He lost all his strength, not daring to swallow even the slightest slug.
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The villagers, who had a very short memory, started to make fun of his weakness. "What was the purpose of having poisonous fangs and not use them!"
The children, every time that they would see him, would throw stones at him or even kick him.
After several months of this misery, the serpent was tired of all those beatings. He crawled in pain till the sage’s house and in turn exposed his problems.
“I did everything you asked me, but I feel that I am not myself anymore. The villagers don’t fear me and all the respect they had for me is gone. They despise me, they beat me, and my heart is bleeding from it. What can you say to me?"
“What I have to tell you is very simple", said the sage. "I forbid you to bite to death the villagers without any reason. But did I forbid you to hiss?"
Tale from India
In the philosopher’s workshop
Indian wisdom teaches us what Buddha named “the middle way”: if violence is not a solution, cowardice and weakness neither. Following this precept, the Indian sage Gandhi (1869-1948) invented an active and worthy way to fight without violence: the nonviolence. Do you think that this kind of fight and resistance can still be used nowadays?
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