Mani Stone Of A Serpent (蛇精的宝石)

My Bangladesh and Indian friends believe that when a serpent lives long enough, it shall possess a mani stone and that it shall carry this stone on its head where ever it goes. Normally this serpent shall come out to feed only twice a day only. If it comes out, it will only come out between 3am ~ 5am and while it was drizzling in the sky.

It is said that when this serpent feeds, it shall temporarily put down this mani stone that is always on its head and feed in the vicinity. The snake shall not leave the stone too far as it fears someone will steal it. If anyone has gotten his/her hand on this snake’s mani stone, then it is worth billions of dollars.

My Bangladesh friend told me that there was a huge tree nearby where he lives. A giant white serpent with a red ruby stone on its head used to be seen active around the area. It didn’t disturb my friend but the tree was chopped down some time ago, and after that; the serpent was nowhere to be seen since.

According to my friend, he has not personally seen the said mani stone; but his cousin did came across one about 15 years ago:

My friend’s cousin known as Ahmed was a poor farmer who earned a living by planting the fields of a rich landlord. One day as he was hurriedly to the field after a drizzle; he suddenly kicked a stone and fell onto the ground. As Ahmed was inspecting his foot injuries, he saw the culprit was a round stone. Without thinking too much, Ahmed picked up the stone and tugged it near his waist and proceeded to the field where he encountered his landlord, Ali.

When Ali enquired about Ahmed’s reason for late to work, he told his landlord the story and showed Ali the stone. Ali was a learnt person, he immediately knew what the stone was and the value it carries. So Ali told Ahmed to hand over the stone and he shall reward Ahmed with 4 cattle and 500kg of rice. Since Ahmed was a simple minded person, he didn’t think of the incident too much and happily handed over the stone to Ali and went home.

Problems arose when Ahmed returned home and told his father the story. The old man was eager to have a look at the stone so he went to Ali’s place to ask for the stone’s return. Somehow Ali denied that he has the possession of the stone and a fight eventually broke out and the old man was seriously injured by Ali.

The commotion eventually stirred up the authority and all parties were brought to police station. After some interrogations, Ali finally admitted that he has kept the stone is a huge iron safe. Since the judge was also eager to have a look of the said mani stone, he ordered the safe to be opened.

And… to everyone’s surprise, there is no stone but a 6 feet living white cobra! As when the crowd was about to do something, the cobra suddenly vanished into thin air…

Well, that was some sort of anticlimax, but I made my pal promised that he shall bring me to his hometown to look for the mysterious mani stone.