The White Snake

The White Snake

Long ago, there lived a king who people said knew almost everything in the world.

If an old tree fell somewhere in the forest, it seemed he already knew. If a stranger appeared at a distant border, the king knew where he had come from. And if two courtiers tried to hide a little quarrel, the king looked at them as if he had heard every word.

People wondered:

“How can he be so wise?”

No one knew.

The king had one curious habit. Every day after lunch, when the dishes had been cleared and everyone had left the hall, his trusted servant brought him one last covered plate.

The king always said:

“Set it down and leave me alone.”

The servant obeyed. He never saw what lay beneath the silver cover.

This went on for many years.

But one day, curiosity got the better of him.

When the king had finished his meal, the servant took away the plate. Instead of carrying it straight to the kitchen, he stepped into a small pantry.

“I’ll only take one quick look,” he whispered. “Just once.”

He lifted the cover.

On the plate lay a little white snake, slender and bright, as if it had been made from moonlight. Drops of clear juice glistened around it.

The servant bent down in surprise. One drop remained on the edge of the plate. He touched it with his finger and, without thinking, tasted it.

At that very moment, a commotion rose outside the window.

“I told you the crumb fell by the roses!” a sparrow chirped angrily.

“And I’m telling you I found it first!” answered a female sparrow.

The servant froze.

He peeked out the window.

Two sparrows were sitting on the sill.

“Can I… understand you?” he whispered.

The sparrows did not even notice him. They went on arguing about the crumb.

The servant quickly covered the plate and carried it to the kitchen. From then on, he could understand every animal: the horses in the stable, the cats on the roof, the mice behind the wall, and the ducks in the yard.

At first it was amusing.

The next day, it became very serious.

The queen had lost her favorite ring. They searched her rooms, the garden, and the stairs, but could not find it.

Because the trusted servant had access to many rooms, people began to suspect him.

“I did not take the ring,” he told the king.

“I want to believe you,” the king replied. “But by tomorrow we must find out what happened. Otherwise you will have to leave the palace.”

The servant went out into the yard, feeling sad.

Ducks were paddling in the pond, quietly chatting.

“I nearly choked today,” one complained. “I dived under the queen’s window for a shiny little thing. I thought it was a bug and grabbed it with my beak, but it got stuck.”

“What did you do?” another asked.

“I swallowed it. Now something heavy is inside me.”

The servant hurried over.

“That’s where the ring is!”

He gently lifted the duck and carried her to the cook.

“Don’t frighten her. Give her water and a little soft porridge. She swallowed the queen’s ring.”

The cook did not believe him at first. But soon the duck began to cough and flap her wings, and a little golden ring clinked onto the floor.

They let the duck return to the pond and brought the ring to the queen.

The king apologized to the servant for suspecting him.

“Choose your reward,” he said. “A place at court, money, a horse—whatever you like.”

The young man thought and answered:

“Give me a good horse and a little money for the road. I want to see the world.”

And so he set out on his travels.

One day, the road brought him to a pond that had nearly dried up in the heat. Three fish were flapping in a shallow puddle. The water had receded, and they could not reach the deep part.

“A little longer, and we’ll be done for,” one said sadly.

The young man heard them, jumped down from his horse, and used his hands to dig a narrow channel through the wet earth to the deeper water.

Water flowed along the little channel, and one by one the fish swam to safety.

“We’ll remember your kindness!” they called, flashing their tails.

Farther on, the path crossed a sandy hill. Suddenly, he heard tiny voices below.

“Careful! Careful! Our home!”

He looked down and saw an anthill right in the path. The horse’s hooves had almost stepped on it.

The young man dismounted and led his horse around by another path.

A tiny Ant King hurried out of the anthill.

“Kindness is never lost,” he said. “If you need us, call.”

Another day later, the young man entered a forest. Beneath a tall oak, three young crows were peeping. They had climbed out of their nest, but they could not yet fly well and were very hungry.

“Our parents are looking for food far from here,” the chicks complained. “We can’t wait much longer.”

The young man opened his travel bag. He had a little bread, cheese, and dried berries left.

“I can manage with less,” he said, and crumbled some food for the chicks.

They ate their fill and cawed happily:

“We’ll remember you, too!”

Several weeks passed. The young man reached a great city where everyone was talking about the king’s daughter.

The princess was clever, read a great deal, knew several languages, and did not want to choose a life companion based only on fine clothes or a grand title.

She told her father:

“If someone wants to meet me, let him show patience, resourcefulness, and a kind heart—not strength.”

The king agreed.

When the traveler heard about this, he grew curious. He did not know whether the princess would like him, but he asked permission to try her challenges.

The first was by the sea.

The king showed him a golden ring.

“We’ll put it in a shell and lower it into the sea. You must find it before sunset. If you do not, nothing terrible will happen. The challenge will simply be over.”

The young man stood on the shore and watched the waves.

“How can I find one little shell in the whole sea?”

Just then, three familiar fish heads appeared above the water.

“You opened a way back to the water for us. Now it’s our turn!”

The fish dived down. Before long, one of them brought a shell and placed it at his feet.

Inside was the golden ring.

The princess was surprised.

“Good. But a lucky chance isn’t everything. Let’s try a second task.”

She scattered a few bags of millet in the garden and mixed the grains into the grass.

“Gather it all by morning without damaging the garden.”

The young man knelt down and began picking up the grains with his fingers. After an hour, he realized it would take him a week.

“If only those who know how to work together were here,” he sighed.

A tiny voice came from beneath a stone:

“We’re already here.”

The Ant King brought thousands of ants. All night, they hurried through the grass, picked up the grains, and placed them into the little bags.

By dawn, not a single grain was missing.

The princess grew even more curious.

“You have unusual friends.”

“I just didn’t step on their home one day,” the young man answered.

“That is why I want to give you one last task. It is not because I doubt you, but because I want to know whether you can keep going.”

She told him about the Apple of Life, which, according to legend, grew somewhere beyond three kingdoms.

“Bring me one apple. But if you cannot find it, come back. No task is worth losing yourself on the road.”

The young man set out.

He walked across fields, crossed rivers, and spent nights in villages and beneath trees. He passed through one kingdom, then a second, then a third.

But nowhere could he find the Apple of Life.

One evening, he lay down beneath a great oak and thought:

“Tomorrow I’ll turn back. I promised not to wander forever.”

Suddenly, wings rustled in the branches.

Three black birds flew down to the ground.

“Do you recognize us?” one asked.

They were the same crows he had fed in the forest. Now they were grown and had flown far beyond the seas.

“We heard you were looking for the Apple of Life,” said the second.

“It grows very far away, where the human road hardly reaches,” added the third.

One crow held a golden apple in its beak.

“Take it. Once, you shared your last food with us.”

The young man thanked the birds and returned to the city.

When the princess saw the golden apple, she did not say, “You have won.”

She asked:

“Tell me how you found it.”

The young man told her about the fish, the ants, and the crows. He told her how he had helped them without expecting a reward, and how each time he could not complete a task alone, kindness had returned to him from an unexpected direction.

The princess listened for a long time.

Then she smiled.

“Now I understand what I truly wanted to test. Not whether you could find a ring, gather grain, or bring back a magic apple. I wanted to know whether you leave friends behind you.”

She cut the golden apple in half.

“Shall we taste it together?”

“If you like.”

They each ate half.

They say the Apple of Life did not make them immortal. It gave them something better: long years, clear minds, and the ability to remember that true wisdom does not come from magical secrets, but from noticing those around us.

In time, the young man and the princess chose to marry. They traveled often, and in the palace garden they always left water for the birds, flowers for the bees, and little paths where no one would disturb the anthills.

The young man never told anyone the secret of the white snake.

But sometimes, when sparrows in the palace garden began arguing loudly, the princess noticed her husband trying not to laugh.

“What are they saying?” she asked.

He smiled.

“Believe me, this time it’s better not to know. They’re arguing over one crumb as if it belonged to the whole world.”

May this story leave a little light in your heart ✨