Short Stories » The Tale of Two Snakes

The Tale of Two Snakes - Panchatantra Stories for Kids

Once upon a time, there was a king. The king had only one son, Vikram. One day he fell ill. He started getting pale and thin day by day. The king was worried about his son, Prince Vikram. He consulted various physicians and doctors. But nothing worked effectively. The prince’s health kept on deteriorating with every passing day.

On seeing the worry of his father, the prince decided to leave the kingdom of his father. So, one day he left his kingdom and started living in the neighboring kingdom. He used to live in a temple and eat whatever he could get from the alms.

The reigning king (Shakti) had two daughters. The two daughters would come every day to the king to seek his blessings. The elder daughter would say “I have all the luxuries because of you - my father,” while the younger one used to say “I got the luxuries which I had in my destiny”.

One day, the king got really angry with his second daughter. He ordered his men of the court to marry her younger daughter to a stranger outside the palace. Ironically, the court men found prince Vikram outside the palace. They married the king’s daughter to prince Vikram. After getting married, the prince and princesses planned to live in another city.

They started their journey. Soon the prince started feeling weak since, after traveling, he laid himself down beside a tree. He requested to his wife, “Dear please bring some food from the nearby market as I’m feeling very weak and hungry”. His wife agreed to fetch food and water for his husband. When she returned, she was shocked to see a snake coming out of Vikram’s mouth. However, another snake appeared from the anthill near the tree. The wife immediately hid behind a tree.

She started listening to their talks. The snake from anthill scolded the snake from prince’s mouth “Why are you living inside the prince, don’t you know if he drinks the boiled water of cumin and mustard seeds, you will die off inside the stomach”. Listening to this, the snake from prince’s mouth became very angry. He replied, “Why are you living and protecting those golden pots, without any greed, in this anthill”. Don’t you know if someone pours hot oil and water on this anthill you will die”?

After a while of talking with each other, the snakes went inside their respective places. The wife had already become aware of the secrets of both snakes. She immediately fed prince Vikram with boiled cumin and mustard water. She also poured the anthill with hot oil and water.

Just a few days later, the prince became healthy and started feeling energized again. It only became possible because the poisonous snake had died inside his stomach. Now they had two large pots filled with gold coins. The prince also revealed to the princess wife that he is the king’s son of a neighboring kingdom. He also explained why he left his father’s kingdom. Therefore, both of them planned to return to the prince’s Kingdom. The prince Vikram’s father welcomed the bride and groom with open arms. They returned to their kingdom and started living happily ever after.