幸運的小蛇-後來呢？
The Lucky Snake: What Happened Next?
18th January 2022
Authors and Illustrators 許晉維 何亭君 陳冠橞 孫筠婷 夏培藝
Story inspired by
The Lucky Snake on Story Meets Story
The Lucky Snake from What Lives in Your Imagination story collection
(中文故事)
在躲過巨石、凶狠的鱷魚以及可怕的大熊後，過了許多年，小蛇長成了一條有著多彩鱗片的九頭大蛇。
他的身體比任何一條河都還要長；他的嘴巴非常大，能一口氣吞下整座山；他的下顎強而有力，能輕易咬斷硬邦邦的東西，像是骨頭和樹幹。
雖然小蛇外表長得像頭怪物，內心卻十分善良。他只會吃死去的動物和枯萎的樹，甚至有時還會幫助被其他大型動物欺負或攻擊的弱小動物。
有一天，他在爬山時，眼角瞄到了一個熟悉的東西。
是一顆好～大的石頭，而那顆大石頭正從山丘上向他滾來！！！
但這次，小蛇並沒有打算要逃跑。
碰！
大石頭撞向小蛇，但對現在的小蛇而言，這只是顆小石子。它甚至完全沒損傷到他美麗的鱗片，也就是說，小蛇毫髮無傷。而那顆石頭，在撞到小蛇後崩解，分裂成
大大小小的碎石散落 一 地。
你們或許會想說：「大象呢，他們在哪裡？」
大象在幾英里外看到小蛇巨大的身影，便嚇得逃跑了。
在不小心把石頭弄碎之後，小蛇離開了山丘。過了一會兒，他來到了一條河邊，那裡住著成群的鱷魚，他們肚子餓得咕嚕咕嚕叫，正拚命追趕著三隻小熊。
小蛇將他其中一顆頭低向河面，向那群鱷魚說道：「他們還只是孩子，放過他們！」
鱷魚早已餓昏了頭。他們對小蛇大吼：「滾開！否則我們就先吃了你，再將那些小熊當作飯後甜點！！！」
小蛇無視鱷魚的警告，鱷魚便決定攻擊小蛇。
但這些鱷魚有辦法打敗一條強大的九頭蛇嗎？他們咬向小蛇如鑽石般堅硬的鱗片，牙齒就掉得一顆都不剩。最後只好夾著尾巴逃跑，哭著去找醫生求救。
「叔叔你人真好，謝謝你救了我們一命。請問你的大名是？你看起來既高大又強壯。」其中一隻小熊向小蛇問道。
「我沒有名字。」小蛇溫柔地回答，接著又說：「但有一種名為人類的生物，他們稱我為『勒拿九頭蛇』。」
(English Text)
Many years after escaping from the rolling boulder, the fierce crocodiles, and the frightening bear, the little snake grew into an enormous snake with nine heads and colorful scales.
His body was longer than any river in the world. His mouths were so huge that he could swallow a mountain whole. He had mighty jaws to help him chew something hard, such as bones and trunks, easily.
Despite his monstrous appearance, the snake had a kind heart. He only ate dead animals and rotting trees. Sometimes he even helped weak animals bullied or attacked by large animals.
One day, when the snake slithered through a hill, he saw something familiar from the corner of his eye.
A BOULDER. COMING RIGHT DOWN THE HILL, ABOUT TO HIT HIM.
But this time he didn’t try to slither away.
BANG!
The boulder hit the snake, but it was just like a pebble to him, so it didn’t even leave a scratch on his beautiful scales. He was in one piece. In contrast, the boulder cracked, lying on the ground in pieces.
What about the elephants? Where are they? You might want to ask.
Elephants had run away when they saw the snake’s gigantic body from miles away.
After injuring the boulder by accident, the snake slithered away from the hill. A few moments later he arrived at a river where lived a bunch of hungry crocodiles, and those crocodiles were chasing three bear cubs.
The snake lowered one of his nine heads to the surface of the river and told those crocodiles, “They are still kids. Leave them alone for now!”
The hunger made those crocodiles lose their mind. They shouted at the snake “GET OUT OF OUR WAY, OR WE’LL EAT YOU FIRST, AND EAT THOSE CUBS FOR DESSERT!”
The snake showed indifference to the crocodiles’ warning, so the crocodiles decided to attack the snake.
Could the crocodiles defeat the mighty nine-headed snake? Well, the crocodiles’ teeth all fell off after biting the snake’s diamond-like indestructible scales. They had no choice but to run away and cried out for doctors.
“Thank you for saving our lives, sir. You are so kind!” “May I ask your name? You look so big and strong,” one of the three cubs asked the snake.
“I don’t have a name,” the snake answered gently. “But there is a kind of creature called humans, they named me Lernaean Hydra.”