Veranda Tales-Princess and the snake

Storytelling has been an integral part of my life since childhood. I grew up listening to stories during the hot summer evenings and nights with my cousins. Mothers and grandmothers would gather all of us children for story time. It was usually pitch dark except for a very faint light coming from the flickering candle. Power cuts were as frequent as the hot and humid summer days. We all spread out on a cool concrete floor or on bamboo mats on the veranda intently listening to fascinating stories about kings, queens, princes, princesses, and peasants alike. Stories about love, life, families, and people entertained and taught us life skills. These stories transported us to distant worlds which were strange yet familiar. Often the same story told by two people sounded different as storytellers added new twists and turns adding their personal style and flair to the stories.

Storytelling wasn’t limited to summer evenings and bedtime. I was surrounded by adults that didn’t pass up an opportunity to share their wisdom using the art of storytelling. The rich and vibrant oral traditions include songs, poems, stories, and సామెతలు (Sametalu are proverbs in Telugu). Men and women sing songs as they work in the fields, grind grains and spices and other daily chores at their homes. Stories are often used to teach important life lessons, interpersonal skills, and survival skills. These stories and the time spent listening to them made our lives richer leaving an impression on me. This series is all about reliving those memories as I share these stories.

This story is about a princess saved by a peasant. I don’t know what this story is supposed to teach. Nonetheless here it is.

రాజకుమారి పాము (Princess and the snake)

Once upon a time, there was a princess. She was sick for a longtime and her health continued to decline. The entire kingdom was praying for her recovery. She was confined to her bed with no energy to take care of herself, leave alone her royal duties. The king summoned doctors and healers from all over the world. Nobody could find what was wrong with the princess. The king was losing hope that his daughter would ever be well. He sent word far and wide that he would offer the hand of the princess to whomever could cure her illness. Messengers were dispatched to spread the word to every corner of his kingdom and far and wide to distant places known to humans.

One day, a young man named Madhava came to the king's court offering help. He was immediately taken to the princess's room to evaluate her condition. Madhava examined the princess and asked several questions about her condition and also talked to the princess's friends and maids about her daily routine and diet. Then he returned to the court and made an unusual request to spend the night in the princess's bedchamber at night alone. The entire court gasped at this unusual and audacious request. They were sure Madhava was bound to be punished by the king for this outrageous and insolent request. To everybody’s surprise, the king gave permission. Madhava took his leave promising to come back to the palace in the evening.

Madhava came back and sat in the princess's bedchamber with his sword ready. He was very vigilant looking for anything unusual. The clock was ticking and hours went by. During the early hours of the morning, Madhava saw a large snake emerging out of the princess’s  mouth. The snake slithered out and helped itself to a pitcher of milk sitting on a side table. After drinking the milk, the snake went back to where it came from. The table was very close to the princess's bed and Madhava didn’t want to take any chances trying to kill the snake. The routine repeated the next night with milk placed on a table far away from the bed. Madhava was able to kill the snake. Once the snake was killed, the princess recovered. The king kept his promise. Madhava and the princess lived happily ever after.

This story still sends shivers up my spine as I imagine a snake slithering out of a human’s mouth. I am deathly scared of snakes. Right around the time I heard this story, the house I lived in was surrounded by a Mulberry fence crawling with snakes. Those snakes weren’t poisonous. They would crawl up onto the veranda slithering through our sandy front yard. I used to play in the sandy front yard and pick fruits from the Mulberry fence. Snakes would crawl on the window screens at night. Once, we found a snake coiled up sleeping under the table where my parents were playing chess. They were facing each other hovering over the chess board on the table in the middle with their feet very close to the coiled up snake. Thankfully nobody was hurt including the snake.

Snakes had an impact on my family history. Amma’s paternal grandmother (my great grandmother) died of a snake bite and paternal grandfather died within 6 months after her death heartbroken and devastated. He left Amma’s father (my maternal grandfather) who was 6 years of age at that time and his older sister to be raised by their maternal grandparents.

I am still very scared of snakes and anxious when I am hiking in areas where Rattlesnakes roam. Once my son hopped over a coiled up Rattlesnake sunning itself on a rock on a mountain trail. It was a big snake and looked like a large boulder at first glance. My younger one and I stopped just in time before we did the same. I am happy to report humans safely sneaked away and the snake kept on sleeping.