Many years ago, Indian braves would go away in solitude to prepare for manhood. One young Indian hiked into a beautiful valley, green with trees, bright with flowers. There, as he looked up at the surrounding mountains, he noticed one rugged peak, capped with snow.

"I will test myself against that mountain" he thought. So he put on his buffalo-hide shirt, threw his blanket over his shoulders and set off to climb the pinnacle.

When he reached the top, he stood on the rim of the world and there he could see forever, and his heart swelled with pride. Then he heard a rustle at his feet. Looking down, he saw a snake, and before he could move the snake spoke.

"I am about to die" said the snake. "It is far too cold for me. Please put me under your shirt and take me down to the valley"

"No," said the youth, "I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake and if I pick you up you will bite and your bite will kill me"

"Not so," said the snake. "I will treat you differently. If you do this for me, I will not harm you."

The youth resisted for quite some time but the snake was very persuasive. And so at last the youth tucked the snake under his shirt and carried it down to the valley.

There he laid it down gently in the grass. Suddenly, the snake coiled, leapt, and bit the young brave deep in the calf of his leg.

The boy spun as pain shot up his leg, cold chills ran down his back and the blood drained from his head.

"But you promised," cried the youth.

The snake stopped in his path, looked back at the
boy and in a cold voice said,
"You knew what I was when you picked me up!"

(One is too many, and a thousand is never enough!)