The Villager and the Serpent

　　Aesop tells of a peasant

　　Charitable, but not too wise

　　One winter's day was traveling

　　Around the land he tended.

　　He saw a serpent stretched out in the snow

　　Cold and frozen, paralyzed

　　Having little time to live.

　　The villager took him home

　　And, without considering the cost

　　Of such an action,

　　Laid him out before the fire

　　Warmed him and revived him.

　　The frozen serpent began to sense the warmth

　　Which revived his soul as well as his evil nature.

　　He lifted his head a bit and whistled;

　　Coiled his body and then struck

　　Against his benefactor, his saviour and his father.

　　"Ingrate!" said the peasant. " 'Tis thus you repay me?

　　You will die!" And with these words, in righteous rage

　　He took a knife and sliced the beast

　　Making 3 serpents with 2 cuts;

　　A trunk, a head, and a tail.

　　The evil one tried to rejoin himself

　　But 'twas to no avail.

　　Charity is a virtue but be careful toward whom

　　There's no point showing it to ingrates who seal

　　their own doom.