The Snake [antikvár]

Down there, by the river, there was a snake who didn't let the birds eat the rose apples. A boy from Cilantro, in the Sierra Maestra The snake lived down there, where the rose apple bushes grow close to the river as it twists and turns. It could only be seen in the evening, when the sun went down to sleep and the round moon stuck its face up over the marmalade tree. That was when you could see the snake, with its small green eyes, its forked tongue and its body all covered with silver scales. That, too, was when the bird on guard would break into song. Yes, there was a bird on guard,because all the birds had agreed this was necessary, to let them know when the snake left the rose apple tree and took a bath in the river, so they could come and fly off with the ripe rose apples. And that's what they did. When the bird on duty started to sing, you could hear the beating of wings, and a flock of tocororos and tomeguines and all the other feathered creatures swept out of the thicket and made a beeline for the fruit. Later, on, when the snake emerged from her evening bath in the river, she said somé horrible things:"A thousand curses on the bird that's robbed me!" she shouted. "But it was the wind," a mischievous black crow said, from the branch of a dagame tree. "You're the one! You're the thief-you and your parents, who are a bunch of bandits!" hissed the snake, and she was so mad and made much a fuss that even the turtle lost his patience and got into it. "But, wait a minute. Reflect: who told you the rose apple tree was yours?" "It's mine because I watch over it, and what you watch over belongs to you."