84 



the sun, with its extended hood. 



A common behef is that if a man steps on a 

 cobra, the latter will look at him. If the man is 

 blind, the snake will not hurt him, but if the man 

 can see, it will at once bite him. 



The Singhalese do not attribute to the cobra 

 the malicious and aggressive nature so often given 

 to it by Europeans. They regard it rather as a 

 symbol of justice. A protecting genius to those 

 who treat it well, but a symbol of death to those 

 who maltreat it. But apart from the supernatural 

 powers they endow it with, their idea of the nature 

 of the cobra is very accurate. 



But whereas they regard the cobra as a symbol 



of justice, they consider the Russell's Viper (Tic 



Polonga) as a personification of a devil. The 



following legend gives a very good illustration of 



their convictions in this respect : — 



The Cobra << A Small child allowed a cobra to drink out 



RusseiPs of her chatty. When going away the cobra met a 



Viper (Tic tic polonga. The latter asked the cobra where it 



Polonga). (,Q^ij £nd somc watcr to drink, as it was very 



thirsty. The cobra replied : ' There is a child not 



far from here, with a chatty of water, who will give 



you a drink, only if I tell you whereabouts she is, 



you must promise not to bite her.' The polonga 



promised, and the cobra directed it to the child. 



'' The viper went, and having drunk from the 

 child's chatty, bit the child. The cobra, however, 

 had mistrusted the viper, and had followed it, to 

 see whether it kept its promise. By sucking the 

 poison from the wound the cobra saved the child's 

 life, and afterwards killed the viper ; the cobra 

 being unusually virulent, having the viper's poison 

 as well as its own in its system. 



" Ever since there has been enmity between 

 the cobra and the tic polonga, and the former has 

 always been able to swallow the latter." 



