Storytelling: Of Snakes and Boys

Rattlesnake poised to strike.
Source: Flickr

A long time ago, when we could still talk to the other animals, there were three children playing outside of their house. All of a sudden, the youngest of the three froze with fear and gave a little squeak, as that was all she could muster. The other two boys followed her eyes, and saw for themselves a brown snake with diamonds running up and down its length. The eldest boy yelled at the snake, demanding to know why the snake was so close to their land.

"Your land?" the snake replied snidely. "My ancestors and I have inhabited this land since long before your people decided to cut down the trees and make your wooden caves, and not that it's any of your business, but you disgusting creatures often attract mice." This angered the two older boys severely, as their father and all of the elders of the village told them of how they would one day inherit the land for their own.

Thinking quickly, the younger boy told the snake of a spot just around the corner he had seen many mice scurry into. Warily, at first, the snake began to make its way around to the backside of the house to the place the boy described. When the snake was finally out of sight, the boys began to converse hurriedly. The older boy took off to go find a forked tree branch while the younger of the two sprinted inside to grab their father's hunting knife. By the time they were able to get around to the back of the house with their tools, all they could see of the snake was a portion of the tail protruding from the hole which they described to him. As the hole housed only mice, it was extremely narrow, and the snake had a difficult time maneuvering in and around. Just as he turned a corner and saw his prey, he felt pressure on his back and then a burning pain shooting up his body. Because of the tight quarters of the burrow he had nowhere to go but forward. There he hid alongside his prey for a good while, as the pain had driven all sense of hunger from his mind.

Upon seeing the cruelty of the two boys, the gods began fervently discussing what to do about the situation. It was decided that because the snake had incited the boys with his speech, humans would no longer be able to communicate with the other animals of the world. The gods also saw fit to replace the end portion of the snake's tail with a rattle. That way the snake could remind humans that not every piece of land is theirs, and if they tread too close to the snake's territory, there would be dire consequences.


Author's note: My inspiration for this story came from The Rattlesnake's Vengeance. In the story, a mother hears a commotion outside where her children are playing, and rushes out to find a yellow rattlesnake. She abruptly ends its life. Later, her husband is walking back from hunting when he hears the strange noise of the other snakes lamenting over the loss of their leader. Once the man hears of the terrible thing his wife had done, and fearing worse retaliation from the snakes if he does not agree, he decides that he will help the black rattlesnake kill his wife. When the man returns home, he requests fresh spring water from his wife who goes out to retrieve it. The black snake had been waiting outside of the door for this moment, and struck her down. The man then comes out to see what had happened, and the black snake informs him that their tribe was now satisfied. I loosely used the same setting, but instead of the mom coming out whenever the children saw the snake, I decided to let them handle it. Humans are greedy by nature, and normally do not think about the other creatures that once inhabited or still inhabit the space they claim, so I tried to show that in my story. I also wanted to show how angry they got whenever the snake told them that they had no claim to the land. Originally, the story was going to be about the snake's revenge, but I found that it felt to flow better if the snake never retaliated in the story, Instead, the snake gained a way to hurt the human's pride by claiming its territory with the rattle.

Inspired by The Rattlesnake's Vengeance from Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney. Link to story