Chapter 2: Bed Time Story - A Story I Never Forget

In the 1950'2 and 1960's, having electricity supply connected to residential dwellings by utility company is a rarity. My village house as well as the surrounding neighbouring houses which were at a mere 2 Km distance from the town centre did not have electricity. Electricity was only available to shop-houses in the town centre, institutional buildings and a few government quarters nearby.

For night time lighting, we depended on kerosene lantern, kerosene lamp and candles.

A typical kerosene lantern and a typical kerosene lamp.

In normal week days, we had dinner fairly early at around 6 pm to 6.30 pm just before darkness set in. The lantern would then be activated to enable us to do our home works and other house chores by my mother. My father normally came back just after 7 pm after his dinner in the work place. By 7.30 pm or latest 8 pm, we would have finished our home work and ready for bed. Occasionally, the three older boys would pester the mother for story. She was a good story teller and had told quite a number of stories though sometimes were repeats. Of all the stories told, there is one which is still very vividly stuck in my memory which I would never forget. She told us that the story was told to her by her father who came to North Borneo (now called Sabah) when he was a working adult.

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"A long long time ago in China, people were very poor. For a poor kid who wished to free himself from the cycle of poverty, the only way was to pass the government examination. Once a scholar passed the exam (Zhuang Yuan), he would be assured of a job as a governor or an administrator.

There was this poor scholar who lived in a faraway farmland. He studied very hard and later enrolled to sit for the government examination. The distance between his village where he stayed and the examination centre in the city was very far apart. To reach the examination centre, he had to set out a couple of days before the examination date and walk miles and miles along hardly identifiable trail in the jungle. There was hardly any sign of people along the trail. Occasionally, he took a break and rested in one of the dilapidated sheds built by the side of the trail by some kind people earlier.

One afternoon as he was walking, he found a centipede trapped under a fallen tree branch. The centipede had been struggling for quite some time to free itself but was unsuccessful. The poor scholar was kind-hearted and immediately lifted the tree branch and set the centipede free. Because of injury, the centipede could not move and the scholar decided to help it further. He carefully placed the centipede into a small empty container perforated with breathing holes. He then put some bread crumbs inside the container and then carried it with him along the way. He intended to set it free once the centipede had recovered.

After about two days, he observed that the centipede had recovered and he decided to set it free. Just then, he saw a very huge snake (the diameter of a steel bucket according to my mother) and it was moving fast toward him. He gathered all his belongings including the container containing the centipede and ran as fast as he could. Just when the snake was about to catch up, he saw a little hut and he quickly ran inside and locked the door. That was the only way to avoid being swallowed up by the huge snake.

He waited and waited inside the hut hoping the snake would move away. To his horror, he suddenly realized that instead of moving away, the snake began to wrap around the hut rendering the hut in total darkness and sealed up all air gaps on the wall. As time passed, the scholar began to sweat profusely and was about to die due to the lack of oxygen.

At that moment, he remembered the little centipede. He managed to open the container and poured out the centipede in darkness and said, "I am going to die, but you being so small should be able to find a little gap and craw out to safety. Go!". Then, he waited to die. Just before he lost total consciousness, he began to see light along the small cracks on the wall. He was able to catch his breath with fresh air coming in. He could hear sound of struggling outside the hut. When it was all quiet and after he regained his strength, he opened the door and went out. What he saw truly broke his heart!

He saw the huge snake lying dead with a centipede whose mouth was gripping tightly at the snake's throat.  The centipede was dead too. It was crushed to death by the snake as the latter rolled and twisted trying to break free from the centipede's bite.

The scholar was heart-broken and was very grateful to the centipede for sacrificing its life to save him. He placed the dead centipede inside the container and dig a hole and buried it. Before he moved on, he knelt and bowed three time to the grave of the centipede.

He later reached the examination centre. He sat for the examination which he passed later on. He was appointed as a government official and he performed his duties diligently and well."

After the story telling, there was total silence and we felt a deep sense of loss. As usual, the command came as soon as the story telling ended: "Here ends the story and it's time to go to bed !".

Though it is a simple story, the elements of rendering kindness in return for kindness received to the point of  sacrificing one's own life are life lessons that make this story truly extraordinary.

Post addition (18 May 2020): A video which I received does show that a centipede is able to kill a snake!