Two Snakes

Long ago, there was a king with a son he loved dearly. The son was ill because he had a snake in his stomach. He kept getting thinner and thinner. No doctor was able to find a cure for his illness. Finally, the prince got tired of all the doctors and went away quietly to another town where he lived by begging for alms outside a temple.
There lived a king with two daughters. The elder one said that all their happiness was because of her father, the king. But the younger one said they only got the rewards they deserved for their actions. This made the king very angry with his daughter because he liked to be flattered, as his elder daughter did. So, he told his ministers to find a stranger and marry off his younger daughter.
The ministers looked around and found a stranger begging outside the temple. They married the princess to him, not knowing that he was a prince. The princess and her husband began to love each other and were very happy.

They decided to move to a different town and set off. When the prince got tired, his wife left him to rest in the shade of a tree while she went to get some food for both of them. She came back and saw her husband was fast asleep. But from his mouth, she saw a snake coming out. Another snake came out of an ant-hill near by. Both the snakes had come out to seek some fresh air and sunshine.
The two snakes looked at each other but did not like each other at all. The snake from the ant-hill said, “I saw you emerge from this man’s mouth. Why do you trouble him like this by living inside him? If someone gave him a medicine made of cumin seeds and mustard oil, you would be dead!”

“And all that is needed to kill you is for someone to pour hot oil or boiling water over the ant-hill! They will get the pots of gold that you hide there and guard!” said the other snake.
The princess could understand their language. So, she came to learn what medicine could cure her husband of his illness. She made the medicine the snake mentioned and cured him. Then she boiled lots of water and killed the snake of the ant-hill too. There really were two pots of gold. With the gold she and her husband became prosperous. The prince and the princess returned to their kingdom happily.

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