When
a Drunkard Meets a Snake
1
May 2007
Last Thursday in China's
Guangdong province, on a banquet celebrating
the birthday of a folk god the Great King (大王诞), villager Tan enjoyed
himself thoroughly and swilled hard liquor to
his heart's content. When the dusk was
falling and he decided it was time for him to
drive his cattle home, he was rather drunk.
So he climbed up on the back of his horned
friend and intented to let it take him home.
When he woke up next morning,
however, he found to his great horror that
his friend did not bring him home but left
him on a grave field. Yet this was nothing
compared to the shock he received after he
rolled onto his side: there he saw a snake.
And it was not just any snake, but the highly
toxic venom of Coral Snake. The snake was no
longer alive, apparently being crushed to
death by his body weight.
Disoriented, he ran to the
village to report his deadly encounter.
Initially no one believed his story until
they went to the site and saw it for
themselves
When the villager elders
learned the news, they didn't even bother to
raise their eyebrows, however. Nothing
extraordinary, they said. Most snakes have a
fatal weakness: liquor. Whenever they catch a
waft of its scent, they’ll pass out. And it
was why when the cobra in question crossed
the path of a heavily drunkard Tan, it lost
consciousness and the rest was history.
