There was just enough moonlight for him to see the bottom of his door, so he blew out his candle and unsheathed his sword. Then he stood waiting.

He watched for hours wondering what the snake might do. What if it slithered through the window instead, crept up behind him, and struck him with its venomous fangs? What if it slithered to the top of the wardrobe and dropped down from above? He was thinking of fleeing for his life, when he finally saw the snake glide under the door-first its head, then its body, then its tail.

Slash! He swung the sword so quickly that the snake had no warning. And the tip of its tail began writhing, all by itself, there on the floor. The snake raised its head as if to strike, but then it hissed viciously and slithered out of the room. And when he looked down the hall, he saw it disappear under his uncle’s door.

The young man couldn’t stand looking at that quivering tail, so he scooped it up with his sword and flung it in a drawer. He hardly slept all that night, and when he did snakes chased him through his dreams.

The next morning, he opened the drawer a crack to look at the snake’s tail and was amazed to see that it had turned into human toes.

He raced back to the forest to tell the hermit what had happened. "And now my aunt is staying in bed, but do you know what my aunt said? She told him she hurt her foot while sleepwalking!"

"Either she will fear you now," said the old man. "Or she will try to get rid of you. Listen carefully. If you think you are in danger, you must search her bedroom for her snakeskin, and when you find it, burn it."

The young man thanked the hermit, but he was concerned. What would happen if he burned the snakeskin? He decided to give his aunt one last chance.

While she was recovering, she caused no trouble, but as soon as her wound healed, she resumed her nightly slithering about the house.

Sometimes, when the young man was lying in bed, he saw the snake slip in and out of his empty boots or up the sleeve of a coat he had worn. One dreadful night, he felt the snake wiggling under his pillow, and he jumped out of bed in a cold sweat.

His dreams grew worse. He had a terrifying nightmare in which his aunt was trying to choke him. He awoke gasping for breath and realized that something was coiled tightly around his neck.

It was the snake.

He pulled it off and threw it across the room. And after he caught his breath, he knew he had to follow the hermit’s advice.

The next day his aunt said her back was sore, but this didn’t keep her from going for a walk with his uncle.

As soon as they left the house, the young man slipped into their bedroom to look for the snakeskin, but he couldn’t find it. He was about to give up when he noticed dusty footprints on a chair. He stepped up on the seat and looked on top of the wardrobe, and there neatly coiled, lay the shiny snakeskin. But just as he picked it up, he heard the door open downstairs, and he knew that his aunt and uncle were home. He rolled up the snakeskin tightly and hid it in his fist before he raced back to his room. And that’s when he heard hideous sounds coming from the lower hall.

His aunt was shrieking, "Something is crushing me!"

When her nephew heard her cries, he almost lost his resolve. But then he remembered how he felt when the snake wrapped itself around his neck and tried to choke him.

He threw the snakeskin into the fire and watched it burn.

By the time he went downstairs, he was startled to see his aunt lying dead on the floor. He thought he was getting rid of the snake, but now his aunt was gone too.

"I’m sorry," he said to his uncle.

But the old man seemed relieved. "It’ssss only the poisonousssss onessssss who are dangerousssssss," he said, and he licked his lips.

月光剛好能讓他看清房門底下的地方，于是他吹滅了蠟燭，拔出劍來站在那等著。

一連幾個小時他都盯著那，腦袋里想著那條蛇可能會做些什么。如果它從窗戶進來，在身后爬到自己身上用毒牙攻擊自己那該怎么辦呢?或者，那條蛇要是先爬到衣柜上然后再從上面下來呢?他正琢磨著是不是要先逃命，這時終于看見了蛇從房門下面悄悄的爬進來，先是腦袋，然后是身子，最后是尾巴。

咔嚓!他迅速揮舞著手中的劍，蛇還沒有警覺到的時候尾巴尖就被削斷了，掉到地上以后還在扭動著。它抬起頭，似乎是要展開攻擊，但只是惡狠狠的嘶嘶叫了幾聲然后就爬出去了。他向樓下的客廳看去，只見蛇消失在了叔叔臥室的房門下。

看著那截還在扭動的尾巴，年青人心里直發(fā)毛，于是就用劍把尾巴挑了起來，甩到抽屜里去了。那晚上，他基本上沒怎么睡，因為，只要他一睡著，他就會夢見那條蛇在追他。

第二天早晨，當(dāng)他把抽屜拉開一條縫去看那段尾巴，然而驚奇的發(fā)現(xiàn)尾巴變成了人的腳趾。

他趕忙跑回森林與老隱士講了事情的經(jīng)過，“嬸嬸正在床上休息，但是您知道她是怎么和我叔叔說的嗎?她說自己是在夢游的時候把腳弄傷的?！?/p>

“要么她會怕了你，”老人說道，“要么她就會想辦法徹底除掉你。仔細(xì)聽著，如果你覺得自己有危險了，那就必須去她的房間找到蛇皮然后燒掉?！?/p>

年輕人謝過了老隱士，但是他也在琢磨著，燒了蛇皮以后會怎么樣呢?他決定還是再給嬸嬸最后一個機會。

嬸嬸養(yǎng)傷期間什么異常情況都沒有了，但是傷口剛剛?cè)院笏屠^續(xù)和以前一樣每晚在房子里面到處游走。

有的時候，年輕人正躺在床上，就看見蛇爬進他的靴子里面然后又爬出來，或者爬到他的大衣袖子上。在一個可怕的夜晚, 他感覺到蛇在枕頭下面蠕動著，嚇得他出了一身冷汗，馬上跳下床。

他的噩夢越來越嚇人。有一天晚上，他甚至夢見嬸嬸想要勒死他，真是太可怕了。他馬上就驚醒了，大口喘著氣，這時意識到有東西緊緊地繞在脖子上。

正是那條蛇。

他把蛇拽下來扔到了對面的墻上。喘過氣來以后，他知道自己必須要按照老隱士的建議做了。

第二天早上他嬸嬸說自己后背很酸，但這并不妨礙她跟丈夫一起出去散步。

他們剛一離開，年輕人就匆匆進入了他們的臥室去找那張蛇皮，但是沒有找到。他剛要放棄，這時發(fā)現(xiàn)一把椅子上有腳印的痕跡。他站上去檢查衣柜上面，只見有一張卷好了的蛇皮放在那，閃閃發(fā)光。他剛拿到手里，就聽見樓下開門的聲音，叔叔嬸嬸回來了。他把蛇皮緊緊卷好，攥在手里然后跑回了自己的房間，從樓下客廳傳來的聲音讓他心驚膽戰(zhàn)。

他嬸嬸尖叫著：“啊…，壓死我啦!”

年輕人聽到她的叫聲，幾乎動搖了信心。但是隨即又想到當(dāng)時蛇盤在他脖子上想要勒死他的情景，他還清楚地記得那時的感覺。

他把蛇皮扔進爐子里，眼看著被火燒成了灰燼。

他走下樓來，驚奇的發(fā)現(xiàn)嬸嬸已經(jīng)死在地板上了。他原來是想把蛇殺死，沒想到現(xiàn)在嬸嬸也死了。

“我很抱歉。”他對叔叔說。

然而，老人看上去有點如釋重負(fù)，說道，“只有有有惡毒的東西西西才是危險險險的，”他嘶嘶地說著，同時用舌頭舔著自己的嘴唇。