The python and the pomegranate – continued

The wily Dr. Leopard and his three assistant hyenas try to cure the python of his stomach ache and also try to use his talents to save their business .

There was a python who just loved to eat and sleep. That is what he would do all day long. Eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. Now, if you do this all day long and then day after day , then you are going to fall very, very sick. And that is what happened to the silly python . He became very, very sick. His tummy started hurting. Ow ! Ow ! Ow ! He howled. Now, if he had hands he would have clutched his stomach and howled just like you do. But pythons don’t have hands. Just a long body. So, he took his long body and stretched it and decided to crawl to the doctor. As the python was crawling to the doctors’ clinic he felt very hot and tired. So, he decided to rest under a tree. It was a tree with very red fruits hanging from it.

The python was very sleepy. He opened his mouth to yawn. Just then, PLOP, one of the red fruits fell into his mouth. The python gulped down the fruit as was his habit and fell off to sleep. When the python got up he was feeling much better but then, he thought to himself that since I have come so far I might as well see the doctor and find out why my stomach aches all the time. So, he crawled to Dr. Leopards’ clinic and lay down in the waiting room along with the other animals who also had some problem or the other .

Dr. Leopard asked the python to come into his examination room and asked him to lie down. The python said, “I am already lying down since I cannot sit.” Dr. Leopard made a face as he did not like anyone to correct him and said , “Yes, yes, I meant , lie down on the couch so I can examine you . Tell me, what is your problem?”
The python said, “I had a stomach ache but now I am fine. The stomach ache is gone.”
Dr. Leopard was surprised to hear that the python was feeling better without taking any of his medicines which were quite expensive. So he asked the python, ” Tell me Mr. Python, what did you do after you had the stomach ache ?
The python said, “Don’t you want to know how and when I got the stomach ache so you can cure me ?”
The leopard looked very silly in front of his helpers so he he smiled with his very sharp teeth and said,” Yes, yes! Please tell me what you eat and what you did ?”
The python said, “Well, in the morning I swallowed my breakfast in one gulp and went to sleep. Then, at lunch, I swallowed my meal in one big gulp and went to sleep and then, at dinner …….”
The leopard said, “Wait, I am a doctor, I know what you did. You gulped down your dinner and went to sleep!”
All the doctors’ helpers clapped at the doctors intelligence.
The python said, “I have been doing this for many,many days ! But then, yesterday, I had a BIG stomach ache, not the usual small ones. Maybe, it was because I went to a party and gulped down everything .”
“Hmmmmmmmmmm” said Dr. Leopard,” I see the problem now. You don’t chew your food. You must chew your food before you eat it .”

The python was very surprised that the doctor did not know that pythons don’t have teeth. He thought to himself, ” I better get out of here and find some doctor who knows his job. This doctor has a fancy coat but he does not know what he is doing.”

The python said, ” Now, that I am much better, I think I will go home.” He tried to crawl out of the room but Dr.Leopard blocked his way and said, “Wait, wait. You didn’t tell me what happened after the stomach ache. How did you get well? ”

The python was trapped in the room with the doctor and his assistants so he decided to clear the mystery of his wellness. He said, “well, I crawled all the way to your clinic which is quite a distance away. On the way, I was feeling sleepy so I slept under a tree. It was a tree with red fruits. When I yawned one of the fruits fell in my mouth and I gulped it down and then fell asleep. When, I got up I was feeling much, much better.”

Dr. Leopard said, ” It seems to me you slept under an apple tree and that is why you are fine now!”

The python said, ” I am sure it was not an apple tree!”

Dr. Leopard said, ” How can you be so sure that it was not an apple tree. You did say the fruits were red !”

The python said , ” I know it was not an apple tree because we all know that an apple a day keeps the doctor away . But, as you can see, here I am with you and you are a doctor and you are not going away and you are not letting me go away too ! So, you see it was not an apple tree . ”

Dr. Leopard was stunned by this intelligent answer. He thought to himself, this python is very smart. Maybe, I can use him to get more patients.

TO BE CONTINUED ……….

ALL RIGHT, HERE’S THE NEXT PART OF THE STORY ….

The doctor looked at the python and bared his very sharp, pointy teeth and said, “Well, Mr. Python, you seem to be very smart. I see that you don’t have a job as you told me yourself. So, why don’t you come and work for me ? I will pay you very well. “

The python was very surprised that the leopard was offering a job to him because as far as he knew the animals were afraid of him especially when he was hungry.

He asked Dr. Leopard, “ How will you pay me ? And in return what do you want me to do ? “

Dr. Leopard knew that if he told the python that he was planning to use him to get rid of the animals who refused to get cured by swallowing them he may not agree to work for him. That was his plan to solve his own problem and that of the python.

So he told the python, “ Mr. Python, you don’t have to do much work. You have to be as you were before. Just eat and sleep . The only difference is that you will eat what or who I tell you to eat and you have to do this in my clinic.”

The python thought to himself, “ This leopard is very clever but also very wicked. It’s not good to be with wicked people. So let me try to find a way so that this leopard does not kill off his patients he cannot cure. And there are too many of them. Even I will not be able to swallow so many of them because I only swallow when I am hungry not just for fun ! “

The python looked at Dr. Leopard looking eagerly at him as a solution to his problem of not being able to cure his patients and said , “ Dr. Leopard, why don’t you try some other way to help your patients ?”

Dr. Leopard said, “ Mr. Python, I know there are many other ways but this one is quick and foolproof.”

Actually Dr. Leopard did not know of any other way but he did not want to admit this in front of his assistants who thought Dr. Leopard was the cat’s whiskers. Also his assistants were a couple of hyenas who lived off the leftovers which the doctor could not finish.

Mr. Python said, “ Maybe your way is the quickest and foolproof and with no danger of being sued because there is no one to sue you or no evidence but sooner or later the animals of the jungle will realize what is going on and will stop coming to you. Then what will happen to your practice ? “

The assistant hyenas gasped at this possibility because they lived on the slim pickings left by the leopard and they were already very thin. Dr. Leopard also did not want to lose his very lucrative business ( which means a kind of work in which you make a lot of money ) so he asked Mr. Python, “ All right, what is your idea so that I can cure the patients who come to me ? “

Mr. Python said, “ It’s very simple Mr. Leopard.”

ALL RIGHT , LET ME KNOW WHAT WAS MR. PYTHON’S SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM AND THE BEST ONE WILL GET TO GO ON A TRIP TO HAWAII PAID FOR BY THEMSELF. IF I HAD THE MONEY I WOULD HAVE GONE MYSELF NOT SIT HERE WRITING THESE STORIES IN “ DULLSVILLE.” I WOULD WRITE THEM IN HAWAII .