I heard a story awhile back and I thought I might pass it on. This is a story that I heard at a powwow. The storyteller said that it was one told to the children to warn them away from alcohol and drugs.
The story starts out with a young brave who is ready to climb to the top of the mountain to "cry for a vision". He was hoping that his vision would tell him the things that he would need to know to choose the path that he would follow the rest of his life.
The climb to the peak was uneventful and he had soon settled in at the top to chant and "cry for his vision." The first night dragged by, leaving him chilled and desperate for the sun of the morning, and he welcomed it with outstretched arms. It warmed him for awhile but as the day grew into afternoon the welcomed warmth turned to unwelcomed heat. Just midway through the afternoon he felt as if he would actually melt into the baren peak. As the sun slipped below the horizon he began to feel the dampness of night upon him. It grew around him and he was chilled to the bone before long.
Finally, almost to morning he recieved his vision. His vision was a great vision for it told him how he would be a great help to his people. In fact it told that at some point his people would need him to survive. This vision made him proud, he would help his people!
He waited the hour or so it would take the sun to come back into the morning sky. He thought, as he sat there, about how he would be respected to have a vision so powerful. The vision was enough but then he would actually get to help his people. When he turned his mind back to the present the sun was allready climbing high into the sky.
He started down the side of the mountain. As he walked along he became aware of a snake that was trying to catch up with him. He considered himself friend to every living breathing, so he stopped to see what the snake might tell him.
The snake told him that he would appreciate a ride to the bottom of the slope. The snake seemed old and weathered and no great threat to the brave, but the brave remembered what he'd been taught by his elders. They had taught him that you may talk to a snake and even believe some of what one might say, but you should never pick a snake up or enter into a deal with one.
He told the snake what he had been told and the snake told him that his elders were very wise. The snake said that most snakes shouldn't be picked up but that this was different. He said that because he was so old he was harmless and anyways he would give his word that if the young brave would carry him to the bottom, he would keep any other snake, that they might see, away from them. The young brave held hard to the elders lessons but as they stood arguing the sun rose higher into the sky and the day was turning hot.
Finally, the snake hit on just the right point to break the grip that the brave had on his beliefs, every one has their weaknesses. He made the snake promise however, to protect him and not to bite him. The snake made all the promises the brave asked for.
The brave carried the snake all the way to the bottom and as he was setting him down on the ground, the snake coiled and struck, biting him on the hand. The young brave was astonished, he looked at his hand and then back at the snake.
He could see the snake smiling at him and he asked, "why did you bite me?"
The snake replied,"I am a snake and that is what snakes do."
"But you gave your word, you promised to protect me and not to harm me!".
The snake looked with pity at the brave, "Promises are all well and good, but I'm a snake and thats what snakes do."
"But you said you were different", cried the brave.
"If I crawl like a snake and I look like a snake then I'm probably a snake".