Young Writers Society

This is the first story about Nassir, a green Burmese python of the jungle.

He, like all other pythons ate, his prey by swallowing them whole. And, like quite a few other pythons in his family, he used hypnosis to lure and trap his prey. 

Unlike other pythons however, he hated eating most of the prey animals in the forest. Whenever he got one in his coils he just wanted to rub against their soft fur and feel their warmth heating up his cold scales. He even (on occasion) felt sorry for them. 

Still, it was fun watching their faces turn into wide grins as he sent nice feelings coursing through them. He had learned how to use his hypnosis from a positively ancient (by his standards) Burmese python named Kaa who also happened to be one of his ancestors. Kaa told him that among all his brothers and sisters he had a unique ability that would make it both easier to catch his meals and impossible to eat them. 

Whenever he looked into an animal’s eyes while he was using his hypnosis he could see into their minds and, as long as they were under his spell, he would feel everything they did. Sadly, even if he got his prey to want with everything in their mind to be eaten by him, all prey instinctively feared being eaten. It was like their bodies suddenly wanted to resist even while their mind was feeling like it was the best thing in the world. He could feel it and that put him right off eating prey. Predators on the other hand could be convinced that they were too strong to be prey and since they weren’t prey getting eaten was fine. 

Nassir still didn’t understand how or why that was the case, but he was glad it was. Unfortunately, predators were usually a lot smarter than prey and avoided the area where Nassir and his family lived to keep from becoming prey themselves. Partially for that reason and partially because he was made fun of by the rest of his family, Nassir had decided to leave his family hunting grounds to look for more suitable prey. 

That's how he ended up in this tangled patch of branches overhanging a forest path. He was hungry but being in a new area meant having no idea what prey traveled where. He could have asked but that would mean letting potential prey know he was there.

Like all animals in the jungle Nassir could speak the language of the jungle but unlike most of them Kaa had taught him how to speak the human language as well. Nassir had thought it was pointless at the time but Kaa had insisted. 

“What if you come across a human that you need to hypnotise, and you can’t speak their language to keep them enthralled? They wouldn’t even understand the command to sssssleep!”

He had hissed. Nassir knew he could just send them the messages directly into their mind through his eyes, but getting them to open their eyes without words would be difficult. So, he gave in and learned the stupid language. 

Fortunately too as it turned out. He was hungry and a small girl cub was skipping through the jungle in his direction. She couldn’t have been more than 8 years old. Nassir was only 10 and his body simply wasn’t big enough to handle a full grown human yet but this little snack? No problem. She was just about to reach him when she tripped on a jungle root and fell face first on the jungle floor with a whump.

Nassir chuckled. It was almost cute. Then he shook himself.

No! Not cute. She is my meal. I am hungry and she is my food. He berated himself. 

If he started feeling bad for predators what would he eat? The girl groaned wincing as she started to get up. Nassir was just about to descend and greet the girl cub when he heard a much larger crashing from the bushes and an adult girl cub burst into view. She ran to the little girl cub’s side as Nassir quickly retreated out of sight. Then he heard a male voice coming from the same direction as the adult girl cub. 

“What happened Shanti? Is Amaya ok?” The voice asked. 

“She’s fine Mowgli. She just tripped on a tree root that’s all.” 

The adult girl cub responded. Nassir filed their names away in his mind in case he needed them later. As he was going over their names in his mind he thought he recalled Kaa mentioning a few man cubs. He shrugged. He wasn’t after either of the adults anyways. He continued to watch as the little girl cub (Amaya he reminded himself) got up and grabbed her mother’s left hand. Mowgli caught up with the other two girl cubs and took Amaya’s left hand in his. She began to swing happily back and forth in their arms as they continued their walk in the jungle. 

Nassir may have been a little hungry, but he still had about a day or so before his stomach started growling enough that it would give him away. For now his curiosity outweighed his hunger and he decided to follow them. After about an hour of walking through the jungle they reached a man village. Fortunately, Kaa had warned them that no sane animal goes near a man village since that would just get them killed, skinned and eaten. 

Unfortunately, Nassir wasn’t feeling particularly sane that day as he let his curiosity draw him closer and closer until they reached the edge of a small pool of clear water just outside the village gate. Amaya pointed to the water eagerly and hopped up and down as she pleaded them to let her stay and play in the water. Mowgli shrugged and Shanti leaned down and told her to be careful. Then Shanti gave her a bundle wrapped in leaves. 

“Here’s your lunch. We’re going into the village for a while, so you had best behave while we are gone.” She said. 

Amaya beamed up at her and promised to be careful. Then she seemingly forgot all about her parents as she rushed down to the lake to play in the shallow water at the lakes edge. Shanti sighed. Then she took Mowgli’s hand and disappeared into the man village. 

This couldn’t be more perfect! Nassir thought as he slowly slid down the tree and into the lake at the opposite end to where the girl was playing. He let most of his long body sink into the water so that only his eyes and nose appeared above the surface. Then he slowly and silently made his way across the lake. As he came closer, he noticed the girl had set her bundle down to one side, far enough from the lake that it wouldn’t get wet, and was jumping up and down in the shallow water. Nassir hoped he could get close enough while the girl was distracted to get at least one coil around her. Sadly, as soon as he got within reach, she jumped out of the water with a small scream of fright. Nassir flinched back at the sound and sudden movement going under water for a brief moment. 

More than enough time for that delicious girl cub to escape. He thought bitterly as he slowly resurfaced, but as he turned to swim away again, he heard the little girl’s voice behind him. 

“Are you hungry mister snake?” She asked. Nassir turned back to find that the girl had opened her bundle and was now holding what looked like a dark piece of meat. Nassir flicked out his forked tongue. It smelled like meat too, but with a few other things mixed in. The smell was enticing nonetheless and he found himself drawn to it, but held back. 

Food didn’t just offer itself to you so easily in the jungle. Maybe she was going to try to catch him and skin him. He doubted it. Besides, the smell was getting to be too much to ignore. He groaned inwardly. 

You’re going to regret this Nasssssir. He thought hissing at himself. 

As he slowly made his way towards the young girl, she watched him trembling with excitement. He could so easily hypnotise her if she kept staring like that. Then again why shouldn’t he? Just as he reached for the tantalizing meat he looked deep into the girls eyes and felt his own eyes turn into a sea of colors. As soon as he had the meat in his mouth however the girl lunged forward and grabbed him. Nassir had been so caught up in staring into her eyes he had been caught completely off guard. He struggled at first but then the girl leaned back holding him in a tight hug and began stroking his scales. 

“It’s ok mister snake. I’m not gonna hurt you.” She said softly in his ear. 

“I just want to pet you ok? You can have my lunch if you want.” She offered as she grabbed another piece of meat from the bundle and held it over her shoulder in front of Nassir’s nose. Nassir had been too caught up in the shock of the moment to notice how good the meat had tasted but now as he slowly calmed down he took the second piece of meat and savored the taste. It was just as good as it smelled. The pieces were small but after she had given him a third piece he was satisfied and allowed her to pet him. His head lay over one shoulder as she held him there and continued to pet him. Her warm hand felt soothing as she slid it along his neck. Nassir slowly brought the rest of his body out of the lake and coiled around and over her legs as she sat cross legged on the shore. Most of his coils ended up in her lap and behind her back giving her a bit of extra support. Nassir was getting cold after his dip in the lake, but Amaya’s body heat warmed him right back up.

"Good snake. You're a nice snake. Good Mr. snake." Amaya cooed.

Nassir started to relax under her ministrations, her warmth and her soft, comforting words.

Then he heard a shrill scream.

His body jolted awake and tightened on instinct while his head curled around Amaya’s shoulders to look for the source of the scream. Shanti was flying down the hill from the village as she saw a snake coiled around her daughter. Nassir didn’t know why, but his first instinct was to curl protectively around Amaya. Putting himself between her and the incoming threat. 

“Wait mom!! It’s ok!” Amaya yelled as she held Nassir’s neck against her body while he bared his fangs at Shanti. 

“Amaya get away from that evil snake this instant!” Shanti yelled. A bit of anger breaking through as she saw her daughter defiantly hug the snake closer to herself. 

“No! Mister snake isn’t evil. He was letting me pet him but now you’ve made him all mad!” 

Nassir flinched back slightly as Shanti came to a stop just outside of his reach. She wasn’t foolish enough to get within range of his fangs. She pursed her lips as she wondered what to do. Amaya tried to clam Nassir down. 

“It’s ok mister snake. Mommy isn’t going to hurt you either.” She said petting him. Nassir wasn’t that stupid even if he had been dumb enough to get in this position in the first place. He could see that Shanti had every intention of harming him and wasn’t about to let that happen. He shook off Amaya's soothing hand and hissed at Shanti warningly. 

She backed up a little but still had a determined look on her face. The stalemate might have gone on for a while, but Mowgli arrived to stop the snake he had heard about. Fearing it was Kaa he had sprinted across the whole man village. Seeing that it was not Kaa but a much smaller and younger snake he breathed a sigh of relief. Still, he was not about to let some random snake have his daughter. He had picked up the language of the jungle when he lived with the wolves and spoke it now. 

“Get off my cub now snake!” He roared as he sprinted down the steps. 

Nassir for his part was shocked to hear the jungle language coming from a human and stopped hissing looking at him in confusion. Mowgli stopped beside Shanti and growled deep in his throat. 

“I said get off my cub snake.” He said threateningly. Nassir curled around Amaya one more time. 

“I will not.”

Mowgli's frown deepened but before he could do anything Nassir continued.

“She gave me delicious food and she is warm.” 

“And pets.” Amaya added. Nassir nodded. 

“And pets…” He trailed off realising she had just spoken the language of the jungle too. Both Shanti and Mowgli were standing stunned as well. 

“What?” Amaya asked. “I hear daddy talking to the jungle animals all the time.” She said in human. 

Then she grabbed her last piece of meat from the bundle and held it out to Nassir. He looked at it, then at Amaya, then at Mowgli and Shanti before swallowing it up and licking his lips. Mowgli relaxed slightly. 

“What is your name snake?” He asked in the jungle language. 

“Why thank you for asking. My name is Nassir.” Nassir replied in the human language. He smiled slyly as he saw both Mowgli and Shanti’s jaws drop as they stood stunned again. 

Amaya’s not the only one who can speak more than one language Nassir thought with a satisfied grin. 

“Wow, mister snake can speak human too!” Amaya cheered clapping her hands happily. 

“Can I keep him dad? Can I? Can I?” She asked excitedly hugging the snake. Mowgli rubbed the back of his head. 

“Well you see Amaya; Nassir is a wild snake and needs to live in the wild. The other people in the man village won’t want a snake in the village. Especially a talking python. He’s too much like another snake me and your mother met who tried to eat us.” Now Nassir remembered them. Kaa was always complaining about how they had escaped from him time and time again. Making him eat boulders and smacking him on the nose. He really disliked these man cubs and that was partially the reason why he had decided to move his home far away from the man village. It seemed the feeling was mutual. 

“Don’t worry Mowgli.” Nassir said speaking his name out loud for the first time. “If you are talking about that old serpent Kaa, I am nothing like him. In fact, I can’t even eat most prey anymore. Most of the jungle animals are just to cute for me to eat so I stick to predators when I can and have the odd prey when I have too.” He said sincerely. 

“Why should we believe you?” Shanti asked. 

“And why would you even want to live in the man village.” Mowgli added. Nassir thought about it for a moment. “Well, I guess I am just an honest snake.” He said to Shanti. 

Too honest some would say. He thought bitterly as he was reminded of all the teasing the other snakes had done. 

“As for why…well, I liked the food Amaya gave me and she let me wrap around her which was very warm and comfy.” He paused for a moment before looking down at the jungle floor sheepishly. 

“I…I liked getting pets as well…” He trailed off. He knew that was exactly the kind of weak, prey-like thing he would get made fun of for. But when he looked up, he saw Mowgli rubbing his chin. Nobody seemed to think it was strange or even teased him about it. He glanced at Shanti who shrugged then Mowgli sighed. 

“You will have to make sure he is well fed…” He began as Amaya’s face lit up with joy. “…bathed and given exercise. And you will be responsible for keeping up with your chores, ok?” He continued. Amaya nodded. 

“And finally, you will have to clean up after him, and take responsibility for anything bad he does. Do you understand?” Amaya nodded. 

"Thank you daddy!” She squealed in delight and she tried to get up to hug him but found she was weighed down by Nassir’s coils. Nassir quickly untangled himself from her and she threw her arms around Mowgli’s waist giving him a hug before moving to Shanti and giving her a hug as well. 

“Thank you so much! I promise to be a responsible girl and take care of Nassir.”

Nassir chuckled. He could take care of himself just fine, but he liked the idea of the little girl fawning over him, so he let it go. 

“Alright, now let’s go home. We’ll figure out what to do about a home for Nassir later. For now, he can sleep in your room Amaya.” Shanti said as she walked up the stairs towards the man village. Amaya caught up with her and held her hand as they continued up the stairs. Nassir slithered behind them as Mowgli walked beside him. 

“You had better not hurt my daughter snake. If you betray us, I will hunt you down. Even if I have to tear the whole jungle apart to do it.” Mowgli threatened. 

Nassir slid him what he thought was a comforting smile. “Don’t worry. I would never dream of hurting her. Besides if I had wanted to do anything to her…” He said grinning wide enough to show his fangs. “…I would have so done already.” He said in his best evil villain voice. 

“So, don’t worry.” He said dismissively with a friendly smile. “I’m just a friendly talking snake.” He said jokingly as he slithered ahead to join Shanti and Amaya.

Mowgli followed keeping an eye on the snake as it smiled and talked in a friendly manner with Shanti. He couldn’t let his guard down no matter how friendly this new snake seemed. He looked like a smaller version of Kaa, but with green and slightly yellow scales instead of brown and black. He knew how powerful his old enemy was and hoped he wasn’t making a big mistake letting this new snake into the man village.

Comments

Here is my first story about my main snake Nassir. All he wants is a slow easy life and maybe a few pets here and there. Who can blame him? Finding suitable prey was a hassle and now he gets all the delicious food he wants. Although it seems like Mowgli still has some suspicions and doesn’t like him too much.

As always, I appreciate your feedback on my writing and hope you enjoyed!