A fire had started on the plain. It took hold in the dry grass and bristled as the wind chased it from stubble to bush. A camel driver, who had a long way to go yet, saw the road ahead would soon be engulfed in flames and decided to turn back. As he did so, he noticed a snake trapped by the blaze, not far from the road.

The snake hissed and spat at the advancing fire. It could do nothing else. ‘The poor creature will be roasted alive, like a fish on a cast-iron griddle,’ the camel driver noted and he took pity on the snake. Emptying his satchel, he tied it to his staff, and lowered it in front of the desperate soul. The snake dived inside and the camel driver was able to lift both snake and bag clear of the flames, then he set off down the road.

As soon as it was safe, the camel driver dismounted and went to release the snake. “Off you go,” he said, trying to coax the snake out of the bag. But the snake coiled and tensed instead of slithering away.

“You needn’t be so pleased with yourself,” it hissed. “I intend to sting both you and your camel before I go anywhere. The vultures will find you on the side of the road weeping and stricken, filled with regret.”

“What? I just saved you from being roasted alive,” the camel driver replied.

“More fool you.”

“I don’t understand. Why would you want to hurt me? Why would you do that?”

“Because this is my nature. This is what I do. I am a killer,” the snake declared, raising its head proud of the bag. “What am I if not this?”

“I’d say you were much more than that, if you were that at all,” the camel driver countered. “I mean, you do not kill for sport, but to survive, to protect yourself and to eat, I think. And no doubt you enjoy a good meal, as we all do, when the chance comes our way, and afterwards you find a safe place, a crevice in the rock, to curl up and sleep and digest.”

“Yes, I do all that, yes,” the snake replied grudgingly. “What of it?”

“Well, is that not also who you are?” the camel driver concluded. “Is that not life? Are you not glad of it?”

“Listen, yes, okay, you’re right,” the snake muttered as it wriggled from the bag and slipped to the side of the road. “I am alive. Just don’t disturb me again, I warn you. I don’t like being disturbed.”

 Richard Parkin, 2024