101. The Man Who Caught a Python

A man caught an enormous python in a trap.

"Take me to your home," said the python, and the man carried the python home, singing,

Big snake! Big snake!

Not a deer;

I caught a big snake!

When the man got home, the python said, "Now I will eat your brothers."

"I'll give you a goat," said the man, "or a sheep."

"No!" said the python.

"Wait here then," said the man, putting the python inside his hut. "I'll go get one of my brothers."

Then he went out, locked the door, and burned down the hut with the python inside.

[a Nyanja story from Zimbabwe]

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Inspired by: "Tandane (The Snake)" in Folklore of the Banyanja (published in Folklore) by Madeleine Holland, 1916.
Notes: You can read the original story online. In the original story, the people of the village are part of the story; they are the ones who propose feeding a sheep or goat to the snake instead.

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