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I am reminded that truths can be contradictory. “The early bird gets the worm” and “great things come to those who wait” are both true and yet they seem to teach the opposite advice. In these scenarios the moral of the first fable seems to be to beware of conmen. I am not even sure that the snake needed to be saved or if it just preferred to be carried rather than the difficult task of slithering to the destination on the belly. Perhaps a more modern day moral could be to leave wild animals alone (thinking of the people that packed up a bison calf in their car and took him to the ranger station because he looked cold).
In the second scenario I would perhaps like it better if there were 3 different snakes in the fire. Each time the man rescues a snake he gets bitten. Finally he uses the protective mechanism or boundary of a stick. The mans pure intent to help the snakes becomes tempered by his need to not expose himself in the process. I believe that there is wisdom in this.
I’m more interested in which story I needthan which one I prefer. This has changed over time. I needed the first story as a child and as a teenager. I need the second story as an adult. The second wouldn’t have made sense to me as a kid. I didn’t have enough experience to understand that sometimes, when you help someone, you have to be prepared to get hurt. In particular, I’d never really helped someone I cared about deeply, someone who didn’t want to be helped but needed it, someone who needed help to change but would backslide, or someone in great pain who just needed another soul to sit and hurt with them.
As an adult, I prefer the first story because I know (mostly) which things in life are like venomous snakes, and I have enough self-control to not pick them up. The story allows me to pat myself on the back. But that’s all it does for me, which makes it irrelevant to me now.
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