What is the story of "A snake swallowed an elephant without a heart"?

In ancient times, there was a woodcutter who lived by chopping wood. He has a kind heart. One day he saw an injured snake on the way up the mountain and was merciful. So he took off his clothes, wrapped them carefully and took them home. He kept it as a pet after his injury healed. In his spare time, he became a talk of entertaining himself. Snakes are also very similar to humans. After a long time, he has a certain affection for snakes, and he is more and more reluctant to put them back into the wild.

With the passage of time, snakes grow up gradually, and the original partial eclipse is meat, and their appetite is getting bigger and bigger. The woodcutter felt that he couldn't afford it, and at the same time he had the idea of starting a family. Finally, one day, the woodcutter hesitated and said to the snake, "You have grown up, and I can't afford to support you. I found a cave for you. I'll take you there at night. You should learn to eat by yourself, and I will come to see you often. " The snake nodded and said yes. After sending the snake to the cave that night, he agreed to stamp his feet at the mouth of the cave as a signal that he was coming.

The woodcutter soon became a family and continued to earn firewood to support his family. He did practice his preface and often visited snakes. Time flies, the sun and the moon fly like a shuttle. More than ten years have passed, and the woodcutter's son has grown up, and his son has inherited his father's business. Father and son often see snakes when they are firewood together, and his father always tells him stories about himself and snakes over and over again. Seeing that the snake grew year by year, the woodcutter was too old to climb the mountain, so he gave his son a promise to visit the snake often.

The stars turn, winter goes to spring, and many years later, the woodcutter's son has a son-and the son has a son, and it is endless. With the birth and death of several generations, the legend of woodcutter's kindness to save snakes and his family's attachment to snakes has become a famous legend in ten miles and eight townships. The original promise was also designated as ancestral training, and the lucky snake was also cultivated into a smoking python.

Later, when a woodcutter's descendant was called "Elephant", a local rich girl got a strange disease, and the famous doctor was dying after seeing it for a long time. One day, a quack came to feel his pulse and prescribed a prescription, saying that four or two pythons' livers must be used as a primer to work wonders and bring him back to life.

It is urgent to save my daughter's life. Where can I get this thing now? Mr. W was very anxious, so he posted posters at four gates in the city, promising that whoever could cure his daughter's illness within three days would marry her to him, regardless of age and family wealth, and he would marry half of the family property.

The news reached the ears of the elephant. The elephant had a brainwave and was overjoyed. He thought it was time for him to get rich. He went to Mr. W's house and made a promise. Then he ran to the cave where the snake lived, stood at the mouth of the cave and cut three feet according to the signal handed down by his ancestors. When the snake heard this, it stuck its head out. The elephant told the story and begged again.

Snakes have long had the idea of repaying kindness, but they have no way and opportunity. After listening to it, it nodded without thinking, and then opened its mouth. The elephant rushed in, found the liver and cut a piece with a knife. Suddenly, it felt the snake twitch, and then it hurried out. It's unbearable to see the snake with its mouth closed and its teeth clenched. After saying a few words of thanks and apologies, it left the Yamaguchi and slipped away happily.

Miss's illness finally turned the corner, and soon she gradually recovered. Mr. W is not only happy to turn Ai's illness into a disaster, but also happy that the son-in-law who is about to get married is from a poor family, but he is quite suitable for his daughter's age. She not only agreed to the original promise, but also licensed the property such as houses and fields to her daughter-in-law. Soon, she chose an auspicious day to marry them, but she was relieved.

"Previous generations planted trees, while future generations enjoyed the cool", and "Elephant" became a nouveau riche by virtue of its ancestors' merit of "inadvertently planting willows into the shade", with fertile land, deep houses and courtyards, herds of mules and horses, cattle and sheep, servants and maids, and his wife gave birth to a son as she wished. In a year, his fate changed like a dream, and his neighbors were telling the story of his "snake belly"

"Elephant" fully enjoys the taste of wealth, but it is even more extravagant for higher wealth, fame and fortune.

Coincidentally, the princess in her prime also suffered from a strange disease. The imperial doctor in the palace did not move, so he invited a folk doctor into the palace, looked at it, prescribed a prescription, and asked for four or two python livers. It was hard to find it for a while, so the emperor wrote a letter, posted the list of emperors all over the country, and told him that anyone who could make the liver of four or two pythons and cure the princess's illness should be recruited as his mother-in-law, and he should be given an official title and a knighthood, holding an important position in the court.

Xiang happens to work in the city. Seeing the imperial list, his heart ached and he wanted to gamble again. He reached for it without hesitation. The official guarding the imperial list immediately took him to the county magistrate, asked him who he was and told him that the imperial list had been unveiled. If he can't finish the work within the time limit, he can commit the crime of cheating the king. This is no joke. "Xiang" dedicated his once feat snake belly and snake liver to the county magistrate.

On the way home, I was hit by a shadow in a happy mood and suddenly felt my legs were heavy. After all, taking the liver out of the snake's stomach is not going up the mountain to get firewood. If I am wishful thinking and rejected by the snake, then missing the princess's life is the death penalty. After I was horrified and regretted, I knew it was difficult to ride a tiger, so I had to bite the bullet and go home, holding a knife without telling my wife, and ventured to the snake hole in the mountain.

Before he came to the snake cave, he cut off three feet as usual, and the snake poked its head out again. The urgency of longing and the fear of disappointment made him kneel on his knees and beg the snake to save his life. This snake is very confused. Like self-condemnation, how the "elephant" was confused and impulsively deleted the imperial list and its contents. If the consequences are not delivered, it is eloquent. The ancestors were poor and lived by collecting firewood.

It seems that I can't help knocking on my head three times, begging the snake to say that saving his life is equivalent to saving his family. I am highly respected and I will be able to achieve positive results. The snake knows that if the "elephant" goes down with this knife, he will face another sharp pain or even the edge of life and death, but once again he remembers the kindness of his ancestors and looks at the pitiful begging of the "elephant". In a very contradictory state of mind, pity and gratitude finally prevailed, so he opened his mouth and let the elephant get in.

The elephant touched the liver like last time, but it was too late. As soon as he cut it, he quickly turned around and got out. As soon as he got into the snake's throat, the snake gasped, closed its mouth and clenched its teeth. The elephant never came out again.

The sudden disappearance of the "elephant" caused family chaos. When people speculated, the official went home. After the truth came out, an ominous premonition came into being, and family members and neighbors went up the mountain to look for it without a trace, and finally judged that it might be swallowed up by snakes. The classic "The snake swallows the elephant because of the lack of people's heart" has also spread since then and has been passed down to this day.

Extended data

A snake swallowing an elephant is an idiom in China. To make a metaphor, if people's desires are not satisfied, they will make things like snakes swallowing elephants; When people are greedy, they will be harmed by their own desires. Advise the world and warn it not to be greedy. Like "greedy snakes swallow elephants", there is another saying that "hungry snakes swallow elephants".

As a famous saying to persuade the world, "the snake swallows the elephant when the heart is insufficient" has different versions circulating in different places, but the purpose of persuading people to be satisfied is the same as keeping their duty in a sense. The philosophical education it contains has inspired generations in history, and it is still of great significance to correctly guide people's consciousness in today's materialistic society.

People can be self-disciplined, abstain from abstinence, do nothing that harms the interests of others and the world, and don't push your luck, take the blame and get lost. This is unparalleled in the effectiveness of asking God to bless yourself for corruption, murder and theft.

In short, the rich cultural connotation of "snake swallowing elephant lacks people's heart" has long been a wonderful flower in the cultural heritage of our Chinese nation, and it has become one of the magic weapons for us to persuade each other, push ourselves and others and seek things.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Snake Swallows Elephants with Guilty Hearts