Having worked all day nourishing his cattle, an exhausted farmer slid into his bed at night. His mind, unable to handle the battle between today’s rush and tomorrow’s plan, was pushing him into a state of unnerving weariness. Eyelids were getting heavier, and the mind traveled to the depths of consciousness.
But one thing, in particular, was keeping him anxious. One of his cows had been drooling all day and had lost appetite. He had planned to feed it with a gulp of jimsonweed, as advised by his friend, but had restrained himself to wait for the next day; hoping a miracle to happen. “I’m going to do it tomorrow” — he thought while he yawned.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
In a typical cycling position, the tired being lay in his bed falling slowly into the warm lap of heavenly relaxation, when a moo! of his cow suddenly woke him up. Followed by it, goats bleated as if they were terrified. The peace of the night was broken.
Anxious and surprised; the farmer couldn’t keep himself and made hurriedly into the cattle house. It was right behind his home and only took a minute. The moon lighted the sky and a fraction of its light reflected into the farmhouse through the broad windows. Once inside, he saw the goats, which called him louder as he approached near. It felt like something was threatening them, and he didn’t know what it was?
As he reached inside, he saw that one cow was on the loose. It had pulled off the hitch, which was supported by an old tree wood lamely buried in the soil for support. “I thought you were the weakest one” — he scowled at the cow, which stared at him as if it was about to speak. With no delay, he fixed its cord on the hitch.
Photo by Manuel Sardo on Unsplash
He also grabbed a flexible piece of rope to tie its hitch firmly to the wooden support. While he hurriedly tied the hitch with this piece of cord, he felt it was remarkably elastic. A sharp wooden needle in the ground pricked his finger. “Damn!! he cried and looked at his fingertip, but couldn’t see much in the dark.” Suspicious of bleeding, he pressed his finger with his thumb and continued to fix the support.
He sensed no danger inside the farmhouse and barely understood what was bothering the cattle.
He also looked around for any signs of danger, but everything seemed at peace. The animals had calmed down and his already exhausted body was urging him to get back to his bed. So he did. His finger was throbbing but was forgotten in a while, as he slept a long night’s sleep.
Early the next day, he woke up dizzy, but the pain in his fingertip was gone. He barely remembered the night’s happenings. It looked like a normal day with animals. He untied them for water, grass, and for milking while he routinely cleaned the farm. The sickly cow started chewing; a miracle had just happened. Nights passed, but the cows never made that call again.
Months later, while the farmer was cleaning the farm saw something unusual that shocked him to his core. The support to the same hitch had gone loose, and wrapped to it was a dry, fleshy rope. This rope was nothing else but a dead and dry snake tied around the wooden shaft.
He suddenly recalled the night, the cow’s call, and the sickly animal. Probably, it was bitten by this creature and had fallen sick. But more dreadfully was that he grabbed this horrible creature in the dark assuming a rope and in the course, something sharp had pierced his fingertip.
Photo by 🇸🇮 Janko Ferlič – @specialdaddy on Unsplash
Afraid, he looked at his index finger, which revealed two small wound spots of the fangs which were already healed. “Oh, my god! I was bitten.” The man got goosebumps all over his body.
Thrilled and worried, sweat dripped down the farmer’s head. He finally sensed the grave danger that was in at the farmhouse.
Deeply scared; the farmer felt weak and feeble at that very moment. He stared at the fingertip almost every minute that day and recalled every detail of the night. The fear grew so intense that his body was trembling and could not work or concentrate.
On the same day, an itch developed on this fingertip. The intensity of itchiness grew every moment, making him rub and scratch the finger vigorously. He scratched the fingertip violently once and again, and the upper skin peeled off, leaving it wounded.
Untreated and itchy, the wound spread rapidly on his finger with each passing day. Infection followed, and the farmer grew severely ill. His health condition deteriorated with each passing day. He started drooling and mentally worn down. Unable to recover from the illness, the farmer died after a week.
What killed the farmer? For sure, it wasn’t the snake venom. But Negative Thinking.
