mentality of dasa in the story a snake in the grass?
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One afternoon the members of a family were taking rest inside the hosue. A cyclist rang the bell of his cycle and announced that he had seen a snake entering the compound of the house. Making announcement, he followed his way.
The family consisting of the mother and her four sons assembled at the gate after listening it. They found their old servant Dasa sleeping in the shed. They woke him up and made him known about the entry of the snake in the compound of their bunglow. The servant tried to ignore the matter. They forced him to search the cobra. They threatened him to dismiss if he failed to trace the snake out. Some neighbours, too gathered there and charged the servant with being lazy. The servant defended himself saying his regular demand of a grass-cutter machine. They talked over it and its price for a while. In the meantime, a college-boy of the family came in. He read out the statical data, he had collected about the death of people due to snake-biting.
The boys of the family brought in bamboo-sticks and pressed one into the hands of the servant also. They worked with creepers, bushes and everything in the garden but they could not find the snake. When there was nothing more he done, the servant asked triumphantly where the snake was.
In the meantime, an old she-beggar cried at the gate for alms. They asked her not to disturb as they wee hunting a snake. Hearing this, the old woman announced it to be G Subramanya ang forbade its killing. Mother agreed to her statement remembering her promised ‘Abhishekam’. She gave a coin to the old woman.
Shortly an old man appeared at the gate and announced himself as a snake-charmer. They gathered around him. He narrated the story of his victories over snakes. They asked him to catch the cobra but helplessly, he said to them that he could do nothing unless they show him where the cobra was. He gave them his name and address and asked to call him if they saw the snake.
At five in the evening, they threw sticks and started talking about their strategy to meet the critical situation. In the meantime the old servant appeared with a pot in his hand and declared that he caught the snake. The servant bragged about his bravery and asked them not to blame him calling a dull and idle. He talked to hand over the snake to the snake-charmer who was living nearby. The mother appreciated him and he went away.
It was five minutes since Dasa had gone when the youngest son cried, “See there ! a cobra came out of a hole in the compound” It paused for a moment to look at the gathering and then crawled under the gate and disappeared along a drain. A mystery remained whether there were two snakes there or not. If not, what was in the pot, the servant had gone out with. Had they checked the pot, it would have been cleared.