Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 March 1890 — THE COBRA. [ARTICLE]

THE COBRA.

Indian and Ckineie Superstitions About ' the Venomous Snake. Some very i nteresting facts havfe been brought to general notice on the alleged avenging habit of the cobra in India and Chinese folk lore. The belief in India is that a wounded cobra which escapes will sooner or later revenge itself on the man who has caused the injury, wherever he may go or whatever he may do. > This belief is also deeply rooted in IndoChina and China itself as well as in India. In China there is also a strong prejudice against killing a cobra, lest its spirit should the slayer ever after. In that country cobras are, therefore, shunned rather than pursued and attacked. Popular stories of the dire consequences of slaying them keep up the superstition. A high official who had killed one died soon afterward of some mysterious disease, and the death was, of course, attributed to the slain snakes The spirit of the snake is, furthermore, supposed to enter into possession of it, slayer and employ the vocal organs of the latter in uttering imprecations on himself until death mercifully removes him. The marvel is that any snakes at all are killed in China, so many dreadful punishments are supposed to overtake their destroyers, and it is considered a work well meriting favor, here and hereafter, to purchase captured snakes and liberate them. Nevertheless, poisonous snakes are not numerous in China, probably because their presence is inconvenient to Chineses farmers, and they are therefore destroyed, folk lore notwithstanding.