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OK, I'm a little late posting, but here's today's fable. It's one that reflects my Lakota roots. Enjoy. - Haylee V
The Brave and the Rattlesnake
One day, a Lakota brave went up a mountain into the timberlines to gather wood for the fire. While he was busy gathering the wood, he happened upon a rattlesnake, shivering in the cold.
"Brother brave," the snake said, pleading, "Please help me. I am freezing up here, and if I stay much longer, I shall surely die."
"I cannot, Brother Snake. For you are a trickster, and might bite me on the way down."
"I won't!" he pleaded. "Please! You CAN'T let me die up here."
The brave continued to deny the snake's requests, but his resistance was failing. He couldn't stand to see any of the Great Spirit's creatures suffering, even a snake. Finally, he gave in.
Picking up the snake gently, he placed the nearly frozen reptile in his wood basket and covered him with a blanket.
"Promise me, though that you won't harm me."
"I promise, young brave."
Slowly, they made their descent down the mountain. Just as they were on the outskirts of the village, the brave felt a sharp pain in his thigh.
"But you PROMISED!" the brave cried in agony, as the venom coursed through his body. The brave knew that soon, he would breathe his last.
"Such is my nature, young brave. You KNEW what I was when you picked me up. Only a fool WILLINGLY subjects himself to imminent danger."
Note:
This story was told to me during the Yap Ye Iswa festival (Day of the Catawba) in Rock Hill, SC, in 2006. That rendition used either a Water Moccasin or Copperhead (depending on the elder telling the story), as both of those vipers are quite prevalent in the Upper Piedmont region of the Carolinas. This version is from the Lakota, as I attended a Pow Wow in the summer of 2008 of the First Tribes. The origins of this story date to antiquity, and it has been passed on by word of mouth ever since. Aesop also had a (modified) version of it in his fables, although the story itself predates even him.
* Edit *
11-June-2017: I have found this fable, albeit in a modified form, in a book titled The AEsop for Children on the Library of Congress's website. Here is the link to that story. Apparently, this is the earliest known record of the tale. -- Haylee V
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Comments
The story puts me in mind of...
The story about the coyote and the scorpion who wanted the coyote to carry him across the river.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Yep
I've heard scorpion and coyote, tortoise and scorpion, brave and rattlesnake, as well as a myriad of other variants on the same theme.
*Kisses Always*
Haylee V
The Snake
A classic. Here's the version I heard. It's funky and gots soul:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHIcVuqQgVo
~hugs, Veronica
.
(And here's a version by a soulless bloodsucking demon from Hell:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy9_r2Rzrc0 )
Well shit, I guess it really CAN happen here..,
.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
There are several variations of this story, but all with the same basic message.
I thought the second link on Laika's comment was both totally appropriate and funny. I doubt he would pass a literacy test.
While I do agree...
... that sometimes "only a fool would willingly subject himself to imminent danger" the whole path of the transgendered person (be they male or female) is sadly strewn with imminent dangers - even within the so-called "civilized" free countries. Therefore, are we fools, or are we more courageous than cisgenders?
"imminent dangers"
Ms. Wilder:
In no way was this meant as an affront to the plight of transgenders - I am one myself. I would hardly compare the pains we endure to the dangers caused by foolish choices. Transgenders, by and large, are some of the most educated people I know -- at least when it comes to their medical needs. The tragedy lies in the bureaucratic red tape and hoops one needs to jump through to correct the problems being in the wrong body imposes. It was only with the advent of the DSM-IV that Gender Identity Disorder moved from the realm of a "mental deficiency" to a bona fide MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS. Unfortunately, though, it may take another fifty years or so before the outdated treatment methods set forth (HBIGDA, WPath) are refined to actually BENEFIT those of us who KNOW, beyond a shadow of a doubt, our proper course of treatment. Doctors like Marcia Bowers are helping in this regard, but the process is, alas, horribly slow...
*Kisses Always*
Haylee V
*Kisses Always*
Haylee V