The Duel

This story was interesting as well. The nature of animals is very peculiar and some would rather die with pride and stay true to themselves. It started off with two men sitting at the beach, an older one and a younger one. The older one, who was obviously wiser was completely sober while the younger one drank the entire day. The story went into detail about the clean beach and clear water. It painted this beautiful picture and I thought about what it must have been like to land on a beach without a high rise, hundreds of people, and dirty sand. Then the older man begins to tell the other about the bloody battles between mongooses and the habu snake. I guess it could be best described as a dog/chicken fight but with a mongoose and snake. The younger man assumed the mongoose would win because of size but every once in awhile it will loose. He explains that the mongoose's instincts tell it where the fangs are located in the mouth so it will bite and chew on the snakes head until it bleeds to death. If the mongoose's mouth is hurt by the snake in the process, it is really impossible to tell who the real winner is since the mongoose may die later that night. The habu snake is very astigmatic, so once it bites its enemy, it delivers one gram of venom and slithers away. Something else interesting about this snake is that it is half blind and strikes only from noises and heat radiation. One gram of it's venom is said to kill thousands of rabbits, a human being, its own kind, dogs, and eels. This snake's parent leave as soon as the eggs are laid so from day one they learn to fend for themselves. Once captured and put in a box, it will refuse to eat or drink. It is said they will refuse to eat a rat even if it is in it's box for up to a year. The snake will hold it's head high and die of starvation. This snake will only use it fangs and will refuse to suffocate an animal; such as a mongoose, to win the fight. The two men arrived at a vacant lot to see the fight. The snakeman took out one of the snakes to show it would not wrap itself around him, but it ferociously attacked the box and venom dripped the whole way down. The man lifted the gate between the mongoose and the snake. Right away the mongoose jumped on the jaw of the snake and viciously broke and chewed up the snake's face. The two rolled and battled but the snakes head was bloody and half gone. The fangs fell out onto the ground as the snake laid in a puddle of its own blood. The mongoose continued to eat the snake. The young man commented that the two do not even wrestle; the elder replied no mercy allowed as they walked away.


I thought this story was kind of sad. I am not a fan of snakes but I really felt bad for this one. Although it is very lethal, it did not kill for pleasure and refused to make human captivity work. I was hoping the snake would win just to see if it would eat the mongoose or slither back into its cage. The mongoose seemed thirsty for blood so I was not a fan of him. People who make animals do those kinds of things are sick. How could you watch two animals kill each other and view it as a good way to make some extra money?