The Lonely King
Once upon a time, when the world was still young, there was a young snake that spent its time in the mountainside. It was a gentle and easy life for the snake, for it would bathe in the sun in the day, and then slither out at night to feast on the eggs left behind by the songbirds that nested in the brush.
It never harmed any living creature and it never expected to be harmed.
But then one day a blackbird appeared in the mountainside. The blackbird was a strange one. He flitted from one nest to another, looking for animals in trouble. On the surface, it seemed as if it wanted to help those in need. That's what the snake assumed anyway. It was none of the snake's business in the end, so it did not investigate.
But then the next night when the snake was hungry, it slithered out to find some eggs to eat, but couldn't find any. The nests on the ground were all empty. Confused and hungry, the snake went to sleep, hoping to find some the next night.
But there were no eggs the next day.
Nor the one after that.
Finally a week passed and the snake was famished, confused at why there were no longer any eggs. It was lying on it's sunbathing rock, lamenting its poor luck when the blackbird landed in front of it.
"Is there anything that I can do for you?" the blackbird asked the snake.
The snake opened its mouth and answered sadly, "Yes, actually. The birds are no longer laying eggs in their nests so I have nothing to eat!"
"Well that's because the birds are now laying their eggs in nests high in the branches of the trees," the blackbird answered.
"The trees?" the snake asked, "Why would they build their nests high in the trees? If an egg should fall, then it would break on the floor!"
The blackbird thought for a moment and then answered, "The birds thought that their eggs were not safe on the ground, so they asked me what they should do. So I told them that if they were not safe on the ground, then they should be safe if they are not on the ground. The songbirds were so in love with this idea that they immediately started to build nests in the branches of the tallest trees."
"It is difficult for me then, to eat," the snake lamented, "for I cannot climb so high into the trees to reach their new nests."
"Well," the blackbird replied before the snake had finished speaking, "since this is my fault, let me help you out. Sleep for now, and tomorrow night there will be eggs once again on the ground."
The snake, having no more energy to speak, went to sleep.
When the snake awoke next, it was already night and it went out to check the nests on the ground. To the snake's amazement, all of the nests were full of eggs! More than it had ever seen! The snake ate hungrily and greedily, swallowing as many as he could before the night was over.
The next day on the sunbathing rock, the blackbird appeared again.
"Blackbird!" the snake exclaimed, "Thank you! You have saved me from my hunger. Why is it that the eggs have returned to the nests on the ground instead of being in the trees?"
The blackbird answered so, "I told the birds that the nests in the trees were too cold, so their eggs would not hatch. In order that their eggs may hatch, they had to return them to the nests on the ground." The blackbird paused, "However, when the cold days are over, they will return to their perches high in the trees. You have until then to find a new source of food."
The blackbird left the snake, and the snake went to sleep, promising itself that it would find a new source of food once the summer months rolled in.
But the next day the snake woke up, ate its fill, and went back to sleep, promising to find a new source of food the day after.
But the next day the snake did not find a new source of food.
Nor the day after that.
Nor the day after that one.
Eventually the summer months came and the snake had not yet found a new source of food. When the birds moved their nests back into the trees, the snake lamented its misfortune that there were no new sources of food for him to find. Then one day the blackbird returned to the mountain.
"Snake," the blackbird said, "by the look of things, you have not found a new source of food."
"I tried," the snake replied, "I looked and looked all over the mountain, but there was nothing to eat but the eggs in the nests."
"When did you start looking?" the blackbird asked.
"I looked for as long as I could," the snake answered.
The blackbird thought about it for a moment and then spoke, "I will help you once again. I will bring you something to eat while you continue your search."
"Thank you!" the snake said, "bless your heart."
The next day the blackbird brought the snake a ripe peach, which the snake ate. The snake had not found a new source of food. Then the next day, the blackbird brought the snake a vine of grapes. The snake had not found a new source of food. The day after that the blackbird brought strawberries from the snake to eat. But still, the snake had not found a new source of food.
So the summer months came and went with the blackbird bringing the snake something new each day, and the snake failing to find a new source of food.
Finally when autumn came, the songbirds returned to their earthbound nests and the snake ate its fill of eggs. The snake thanked the blackbird profusely, and expressed its regrets that it could not find a new source of food. The blackbird expressed its regrets that the snake did not find any new sources of food. But now that it had eggs to eat, the blackbird reasoned that the snake could discover a new source of food before the summer months came again.
But the snake fell into old habits again and did not discover a new source of food. The summer months came and the blackbird returned.
"Are you living well?" the blackbird asked the snake.
The snake shook its head, "No, the birds have returned to their branchbound nests and I have yet to discover something new to eat."
The blackbird was confused, "How could you spend so much time searching, but have yet to find a new source of food?"
"It is too difficult," the snake said, "I spent much time searching this mountain for food, but have not found anything that are not the eggs of the songbirds. Could you not tell them that they must make their nests in the soil year round? They seem to listen to you."
"I cannot," the blackbird said, "I can only tell them only what is true. While I stretched the truth about their eggs being prone to cold high in the trees, I cannot lie to them by saying they can only nest in the ground."
"Then I am undone," the snake said.
The blackbird thought for a moment and then spoke again, "This time I will teach you how to search for a new source of food. Come, I will show you where I found the food which you ate last summer."
The blackbird took off, soaring through the air with the snake following it on the ground. They journey to the base of the mountain until they reached a wide river. The blackbird landed on the other side of the river. There was a flat plain that stretched out as far as the snake could see. It was full of bushes and grasses positively overflowing with flowers and fruits.
The snake tried to cross the river, but the current was fast and the water was cold. The snake called out to the blackbird, "Alas, I cannot cross this river for the water is too swift. The journey for me is too difficult. If I attempt to cross this river I will surely perish!"
"If you choose not to cross this river, then you will also perish. Steel yourself and cross it while you still have the strength," the blackbird replied.
But the snake could not find the courage. The blackbird, not to be discouraged, flew over to the snake and landed on its head. "Then I will offer you a deal. I can make eggs appear in the burrows all year again if you promise never to question how I did it."
The snake, confused by this offer, felt that it would be very easy for it, so it agreed to the blackbird's terms. The blackbird flew away and the snake did not see it again for quite some time.
But true to its word, a week later, eggs started to show up again in the burrows of the mountainside. The snake ate them, but realized they tasted different. They were more bitter and the shells were not as hard. The snake just assumed that the eggs were old or spoiled, but it did not want to complain either way.
Weeks passed and autumn came. The birds returned to their earthbound burrows. One day the snake ran across another creature in the brush of the mountain side. It was surprising, since the snake had never seen something like it before. It was a long sinewy creature with a sharp pointed head, no arms or legs, and narrow hawk-like eyes.
"Who are you?" the snake asked the creature.
"I am Asp," the asp answered.
"I have never seen an asp before!" the snake said.
"That is an interesting thing to say," the asp said before slithering away.
The snake did not understand what the asp meant by that, but the snake did not think much of it. Then the next day the snake saw more of the creature from before! There were more and more it would run into, of all different colors and shapes and sizes. They were all slithering creatures that the snake had never seen before. They all had different names, the snake learned of the python, the cobra, the viper, the naga, and the anaconda.
Eventually the snake came to understand that they too, were creatures like itself. The winter months passed and in the spring the asp and the snake found themselves sunbathing on the same rock. With the coming of the others, the snake was no longer lonely, but the food would be scarce come the summer months when the birds returned to the treetops.
"Where did you come from?" the snake asked the asp suddenly.
"What an interesting thing to ask," the asp replied. It raised its head and looked at the river, "I came from a barren land where it was always cold and the food was scarce. A blackbird landed near me and told me of a mountain where there are birds year round. So I came here with my brood."
"What is a brood?"
The asp looked at the snake with concern, "What an interesting thing to ask."
"Why do you keep saying that?"
"Because who has ever heard of a snake who did not know of other snakes?" the asp asked the snake. "Tell me, how many winters can you remember?"
"A countless number," the snake said.
"Where were you in your first memory?" the asp pressed.
"I was here, on this mountain. I have always been on this mountain," the snake answered.
"And you have never left?" the asp asked incredulously.
"Why would I ever need to leave?"
Then the summer months came, but the songbird eggs did not diminish. The snake wondered why, but it decided it was better not to ask. The asp would bring eggs for the snake on the sunbathing rock each day, and every now and again the asp would decline to eat.
When the snake asked, the asp simple answered, "I already ate. But I saved the eggs for you, since I know you like them."
Time passed and for many years the snake did not see the blackbird. But the snake was happy with its life with the asp. The mountain was now full of family. But the snake noticed lately that it did not see many songbirds singing in the trees anymore. Then one summer, the snake noticed that there were no more songbirds at all.
The mountain was silent.
That morning the asp told the snake while they were on the sunbathing rock, "I will be leaving for the plains below the mountains today. I wish you would come with me."
"The water in the river is too swift and too cold," the snake answered, "I will remain here, like I always have."
The asp shook its head and left.
Soon the snake was the only living creature left on the mountain.
The days went by and there were no longer and songbirds. There were no longer any friends or family. The mountain was barren and the snake knew it. It knew what the blackbird did for it all those years ago. Truly, it had always known, but the snake had refused to acknowledge it.
It could cross the river with the asp, the python, the cobra, and all of the others. But it no longer felt right.
This mountain was the snake's. It nursed the snake when it was young, and it provided for the snake when it was old. Now that the mountain was dead, the snake supposed that it would die as well. The snake did not curse the blackbird for what it had done, the foreign bird had changed the environment of the snake's irrevocably, but that was long in the past. The snake had been blinded by apathy and let it get out of control.
As the snake was starving to death the blackbird returned.
"Is there anything I can help you with," the blackbird asked the snake as it lay on the brink of death.
"Yes," the snake said softly, too weak to raise its head, "I would like to see the mountain, as it once was, one last time."
The blackbird thought about the request for a long time and then said, "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can help you with that."
"I did not expect you to," the snake replied. "Although, with how you act, I would have expected you to be some sort of god."
The blackbird ruffled its feathers, "What do you mean?"
"You stick your nose where you don't belong, offering help to those who do not need it."
"Are you to say that this poor state of being is my fault?" the blackbird said, taken aback.
"No," the snake said, "it is not your fault. You were only following your nature, as I followed my own. But you should look upon this dead mountain and think about how your meddling effects others. I have come to realize that helping the weak is not the same as doing good. I succumbed to my greed, my pride, my cowardice, and my gluttony. I hope you can come to realize as well, what you've become. You offer solutions, yes, but you are no savior. No leader."
"Is your last will to insult me?" the blackbird interrupted.
"No," the snake said again. "I want Asp to see the world for all of its beauty, as I did, but not succumb to the same naivete that became my undoing. I bid to you to see to it that Asp does not die loathing this world as she does now. I want her to live, surrounded by friends and family, loving every moment of her life."
The blackbird was confused, "Why do you not ask me to save your life? Why do you ask me to look over another?"
"You do not understand because you are selfish. I have come to understand that there are things in this world that are worth more than the self. O Blackbird, you are a tragic soul. You seek approval from others, so you help them, but you do not understand what it means to be loved. You have been used by your so-called friends.
I will use my last wish on another, not because I believe that they are more deserving than me, nor because it brings me joy. I do it because I empathize with her. I want her to know the happiness I knew, to avoid that mistakes that I've made, and to live a life worth remembering."
Then the snake died.
The blackbird was silent for a long time and sat near the dead body of the snake. When the moon had gone from the sky twice, the blackbird stirred, disturbed by the snake's words, but honor bound to carry out its dying wish.
