MATTIE'S CHRISTIAN PAGES

Long ago an old lady lived on a farm. Each summer her grandchildren would come to visit. She had two old bull snakes that nested in the outdoor bathroom or the barn. The snakes kept down the mice and rats and other pests.

This summer, one of the grandsons saw a snake and killed it, thinking he had done a good turn killing the snake for his grandmother. He went into the house and told her what he had done. The old lady began to cry, “You have killed my pet snake that has been here for ages to keep down the mice and rats. Now the other snake will leave and we will be overrun with rodents!”

The boy was very sad at having killed a pet snake. He tried to make amends; but all in vain. He went from place to place looking for another snake; but all in vain. He came back to his grandmother’s house and went to the bathroom. There was a family of bull snakes nesting where he had killed the one snake. He rushed into the house to get his grandmother. She was very happy to see the little ones as the mother wouldn’t desert her babies and soon the little ones would be big enough to keep down the unwanted rodents.
*A true story