Never make promises which you will regret

Once upon a time there was a woman who lived in a vil lage and she was pregnant. She would wake up every morning and go and weed her fields which were far from her homestead.

One day she went to her fields as usual and a big snake came face to face with her. The snake talked to her and said it was hungry. The woman begged the snake not to swallow her. She said to the snake: "As you can see I am pregnant and when I give birth I will give you my child to swallow."

The snake got excited and asked the woman when she was giving birth. The snake knew that the child would be delicious compared to the woman since it would be fresh and tender unlike the woman who was old and had hard bones. The snake then warned the woman to keep her promise because if she lied, it will swallow both the child and her. Thereafter, the snake disappeared.

The woman was so shaken that she picked up her hoe and went home since she was too weak to do any weeding. On her way home she would jump aside when seeing a log, mistaking it for the snake. Another thing that worried her most was the thought that she has promised the snake her unborn child.

Since it was her month to give birth, and following the thought of what happened to her in the fields, she started to go into labour. She gave birth to a beautiful child and the next day she prepared herself to go to the fields to weed. The thought of the promise that she assured the snake to give it the child kept coming. On the other hand, she also thought that she cannot break the promise since something terrible could happen to her.

She went into her fields and when she got there found that the snake was waiting for her. The snake was really excited to see the woman and her child. "Thank you for being honest. Can I have the child now since I am very hungry," said the snake.

The woman passed her beautiful child to the snake and the snake swallowed the child. The woman cried after seeing her child being swallowed by the snake. The snake had been hungry for days and complained that it still felt hungry even after swallowing the child.

It turned to the woman and said, "I am still hungry". The woman replied "You might as well eat me as well since already I have lost my beautiful child". Without hesitation, the snake swallowed the woman as well.