As a man rode into town, an old woman warned him, "The sultan's daughter wears a snake that eats people; the janitor, a camel, eats people; and the guard, a dog, eats people."
"What can I do?" asked the man.
The woman gave him grass, meat and a stick. "Feed the camel grass, feed the dog meat, and touch the snake's head with this stick; that will kill it."
The man followed the old woman's advice: he escaped the camel, he escaped the dog, he killed the snake, and he married the sultan's daughter and they lived happily ever after.
Inspired by: "The Snake who Ate People" in Specimens of Somali Tales (published in Folklore) by J. W. C. Kirk, 1904.
Notes: You can read the original story online, as told by: Ismail, Habr Toljaala, Ahmed Farah, professional poet, aged about 24.
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