The Young Boy, The Rattlesnake, The Path, The Journey

Once upon a time there was a young boy, a young Native American Indian boy, and in his tribe the custom was to send the young men out into the wilderness at the age of fifteen to fend for themselves. So, the young man, he set off on his journey, and after thirty days all the men in the tribe would come and find him in the wilderness and bring him back and initiate him into the tribe … into full adulthood.

So, he began to wander in the wilderness and for the first few days there were no problems, there was plenty of food. There were no wild animals, and he found comfortable places to sleep … and everything, for the most part, was fine … but about the sixth or the seventh day food became scarce … and on the eighth day, the young man, he found no food at all and he went to bed hungry that night. On the ninth day he found no food, either, … and the tenth, and the eleventh, and the twelfth, … and on the thirteenth day, when he hadn’t eaten for several days he was starving … and he came to a mountain … and he looked up the mountain and he thought to himself, “Perhaps if I wander up that mountain, somewhere on the mountain, I will find some food”.

So, the boy began to wander up the mountain, and as he wandered up the mountain he discovered a path and he began to follow the path to the top of the mountain.

As he got to the top of the mountain he still had found no food. So, he became a little discouraged and right towards the summit of the mountain a rattlesnake came across the path in front of him. The boy saw the rattlesnake and the rattlesnake saw the boy. They stood head to head and stared at each other for a long moment and then the snake said to the boy,

“Boy, I’m lost up here in the mountain … I cannot find my way down. I know that you know the way down the mountain. Please, will you show me my way to the bottom of the mountain?”

The boy said, “No, I know what you are, you’re a rattlesnake, and at any moment you could strike out and bite me and I would fall to the ground. You could even kill me.”

The snake said, “Boy, you look very hungry.”

The boy said, “I am hungry. I haven’t eaten for many days.”

The snake said to the boy, “Boy, if you lead me down the mountain, I will lead you to food in return.”

The boy said, “No, I know what you are, you’re a rattlesnake, and at any moment you could strike out and bite me, kill me.”

The snake said, “Boy, if you lead me down the mountain, I promise you I will lead you to food, and I promise you, I will not hurt you.”

The boy said to the snake, “Do you promise?”

The snake said, “I do”.

So the boy began to lead the snake down the mountain, and when they got to the bottom of the mountain the snake lead the boy to food. All types of food. The boy ate and he drank and he felt like a king.

The snake danced and the boy watched the snake dance. The snake was so beautiful when it danced. Then the boy decided he would like to dance, so the boy danced … and the snake danced … and they ate some more … and they drank some more … and they partied into the night … and the boy felt like king of the world.

Then, all of a sudden, the snake struck out and bit the boy!

The boy fell to the ground in the most intense pain and he screamed and he cried … and the snake slithered over to the boy and the boy looked at the snake and the snake looked at the boy … and the boy screamed at the snake. He said, “YOU PROMISED … YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN’T HURT ME”.

The snake looked calmly into the boy's eyes and he said, “You KNEW what I was when you picked me up.”

The question the fable presents is … “What is it in your life that, sooner or later, is going to turn on you and strike you down? What is it in your life that sooner or later is going to turn on you and strike you down? … We all have rattlesnakes … they back us up into a corner and they prevent us from making the journey … What are your rattlesnakes?”




Transcribed from the Lighthouse Catholic Media CD “Our Lives Change When Our Habits Change” (2011) by Matthew Kelly, excerpted from a presentation recorded in 1999 (phone number – 866-526-2151, email – CDClubinfo@LighthouseCatholicMedia.org), the story first appeared in the Matthew Kelly book "A Call To Joy", please visit his website www.DynamicCatholic.com