(812) Cat killed snake/ Cat tales 15

Here is another tale from my childhood bed time stories.

My grandma was a peasant farmer when she was young. After she got married she learned to tap rubber trees. After her husband died, she single handedly brought up five young children. She couldn't read nor write. When she sold her wooden house, she signed an "x" as her "name" in front of witnesses. But when it comes to stories, she was a super-duper story teller. I don't think she ever repeated any story she told me. She seemed to have an inexaustable supply. It reminds me of Salmon Rushdie's "Oceans of stories".

In my grandma's rubber estate, there was an old couple with a young baby. Their young daughter died during child birth. The sad father was a poor man working in a rice shop as a coolie (his job was to load and  unload rice sacks from or to trucks).This man's parents lived far away in a small village. He was too poor to take the baby to his parents, anyway. And so he brought his new born to his in-laws. It turned out that in the next hut, there was a nursing mother with a three year old. So it was possible for the grandparents to bring up this new born after all.

One day, the nursing mother who had been caring for the baby had to take her own son to the hospital. It meant an hour's walk to the main road and she had to thumb a lift from passing vehicles. At best, it would take half a day. Suppose if the doctor chose to ward the child, the mother would stay in the hospital. The old grand parents had to tap the trees in the morning before the heat came on. They had no choice but to leave the baby in their house with their cat. They closed all windows except one in the sitting room. The baby was left asleep on the big bed. The cat was on guard in the sitting room.

As soon as the grandma finished the last tree, she hurried home to check on her grand child, leaving her husband to collect her latex. Oh dear! She saw a dead snake in the doorway to the only bed room. The cat was hurt, but still alive. According to my grand ma, it was a small snake, of a bright green colour. The head of the snake was a diamond shape, it means it was a venomous snake. It was extremely fortunate that the baby was safe and the cat did not die. As my grand ma put it, certain things were fore ordained. It was a month ago that the old couple was kind in adopting the cat when one family decided to move to another town.

-Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.-

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