LITTLE BURMESE GIRL PREFERS KING COBRA 
AS PET 
We once read a very interesting article having to do with 
a little Burmese girl who inherited no fear whatever of ser¬ 
pents, but on the contrary had no sooner left the cradle and 
gotten out on the lawn than she made a playmate of a deadly 
king cobra, which made no attempt to harm her. 
One day her mother, who had been busy with her chores 
about the house and had, consequently, neglected her little 
daughter for some time, set out to look for the child. To her 
horror she found her in the corner of the lawn playing with 
the great serpent. The child insisted from the beginning that 
the snake would not bite her, and could not understand her 
mother’s alarm. In Burma, as well as India, the cobra is re¬ 
garded with veneration, therefore is protected, at least by 
certain sects. 
The snake was not killed on this occasion, and the child be¬ 
came more and more intimate with her scaly companion, and 
finally was brought to America, giving public exhibitions of her 
power of rendering the great serpent harmless. No matter 
how menacing his attitude, she would continue her rhythmic 
motions as he swayed back and forth until she compelled him 
to approach to her very lips and actually kiss her. However, 
she advised strongly against ill-advised attempts to duplicate 
her feat by any person feeling the slightest fear of reptiles. 
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