The Fitzcarraldo,The TRUEBOY, and The Sterling Fassbinder

as found on patchmonkey.net:


-----------------------------------------------------

9/24/2002

The Snake, The Farmer, and The Heron

A farmer was once working on his land, when a snake came up to him and said he was being chased by a lot of men.
"You must hide me," said the snake.
"Where can I hide you?" asked the farmer.
"Just save my life," said the snake, "that's all I ask."
The farmer couldn't think of anywhere to hide the snake, so he crouched clown and allowed it to creep into his belly. When the pursuers came up, they said, "Hey you, where's the snake we were after, it came your way."
"I haven't seen it ", said the farmer. When the men had gone, the farmer said to the snake, "The coast's clear-you can come out now."
"Not likely," said the snake, "I've found myself a home."
The farmer's belly was now so puffed out that you would have thought that he was a woman with child. He was about to set off for home when he saw a heron. He beckoned to it and told it in a whisper what had happened.
"Go and squat," said the heron, "and when you've done, don't get up--keep straining until I come."
The farmer did as he was told and after a time, the snake put its head out and began snapping at flies. As it did so, the heron darted forward and caught its head in his bill. Then he gradually pulled the rest of the snake out of the farmer's belly, and killed it.
The farmer got up and said to the heron, "You have rid me of the snake, but now I want a potion to drink because he may have left some of his poison behind." "You must go and find six white
fowls," said the heron, "and cook and eat them-that's the remedy." "Come to think of it," said the farmer, "you're a-white fowl, so you'll do for a start."
So saying, he seized the heron, tied it up' and carried it off home. There he hung it up in his hut while he told his wife what had happened. "I'm surprised at you," said his wife. "The bird does you a kindness, rids you of the evil in your belly, saves your life, in fact, and yet you catch it and talk of killing it." With that she released the heron and it flew away. But as it went, it gouged out one of her eyes.
That is all.

Moral: When you see water flowing uphill, it means that someone is repaying a kindness.