Fables of the Past

Cup Bow Snake Reflection

Have you ever drank snake tea? Wang-Gung did!

One sunny day, Wang-Gung visited his friend. Yu-Lang walked into the kitchen and poured a cup of the tea he was making. He sat Wang-Gung in the living room, and they started talking about school and what they are looking forward in the future.

"I'm thinking about becoming a scribe, for the king," Wang-Gung said.

"I don't doubt that you won't become one," Yu-Lang said, "Besides, you've been writing your hand off everyday, trying to learn how to read and write! If he doesn't accept you, I'll give him a good beating, myself!"

They both laughed. As Wang-Gung put the cup up to his lips, he saw a small snake in the tea. Wang-Gung looked and studied the entire cup. Yu-Lang looked at his friend, confused.

"Are you okay, Wang-Gung?" he said, "You seemed to look at bit sick. Is something wrong with the tea?"

"What?" Wang-Gung said, "O-o-oh not at all. It's just, the way glass cups are made, I guess I'm just much too curious."

"Ha, just like you."

Wang-Gung then looked at the snake that was in his cup. I don't want to hurt Yu-Lang's feelings, he thought. He took a big gulp from the cup and drank the entire thing, in one sitting. He gave the cup back to his friend, and looked outside the window.

"I should probably get going," he said, seeing the sunset "I have things to do tomorrow, and I wished to get started on that today."

"I understand," Yu-Lang said, nodding and putting the glasses in the sink, "Come back next week?"

"O-of course."

On the way home, Wang-Gung's stomach twisted and turned. He felt sick, once he got to his front door. He flopped his way to his bed and felt a headache approaching his temples. He massaged them, but his stomach churned and whirled.

The next morning, Wang-Gung felt horrible. His head still hurt, he lost his appetite, since yesterday's events, and he felt woozie.

"What was in that tea?" he mumbled, "Ugh, I should've told him that I didn't want anymore tea. That, or I should've just forgotten about the tea."

He couldn't get any of his work done, and as the week passed by, he felt sicker and sicker. It was like the snake was poisoning him. Just then, he heard a knock on his door. He slowly opened it, and Yu-Lang was standing there.

"Oh my, Wang-Gung!" he said, "You look horrible! How long have you been sick for?"

"Oh," he said, "I became sick after something I ate, a while back."

"Was it my tea?"

"I'm not sure what it was, but it probably wasn't your tea."

"Here, come to my house. I have medicine that I could give you."

Wang-Gung agreed and slowly followed Yu-Lang to his home. When they were there, Wang-Gung sat down in the living room. Before Yu-Lang could go anywhere, he stopped him.

"Yu-Lang," he said, "Last week, I saw a snake in my tea cup."

Yu-Lang was confused.

"What do you mean there was a snake in your cup?" he asked.

"Remember when I was studying the cup? That was because I saw a snake in the tea."

"That's impossible!"

"You can look for yourself."

As Yu-Lang was pouring himself a cup of tea, he sat in the same spot as Wang-Gung was, and he saw the snake! it wiggled around in the cup, and Yu-Lang turned it to another angel. Once he did so, the snake vanished.

"What in the world?" he said. He then looked up and saw his bow. He looked at it, and adjusted the cup back to the angel before. The snake was back. Yu-Lang knew exactly where the snake was coming from.

"Wang-Gung, the snake was my bow," he said, pointing to his hanging bow.

Wang-Gung looked up and blushed with embarrassment.

"Oh," he said, "I must've mistaken that for the snake. Now I feel silly."

They both laughed at the funny misconception. After that day, Wang-Gung made sure that any tea really didn't have anything in it.

K.C.T: HOLY CRAP! 12 DAYS SINCE I'VE UPDATED HIS BOOK! I am SO sorry for not updating anything. I've just so busy with school, family, and even Thanksgiving plans! Again, this story was told to me by my cousin. I experienced hallucinations, when I was younger, and he told me this story. After he told me this, I stopped experiencing a lot of hallucinations. Anyways, hopw you enjoyed! <3