Limestone cliffs wherein lies the 1,000 year old cave

A word about pythons: “Python reticulatas,” in case you've never seen one at the zoo (or in your bedroom), can be as LONG as your family's automobile, and as WIDE as your daddy's arms. They have bright red, green and yellow colors painted on their thick scaly skin, from their mouth to the tip of their tremendous tail. They really are very pretty when you look at them a certain way. Except, of course, that when they are hungry they sneak up on a bird, rabbit or a monkey (and in rare cases, even a person). Then quick as a fly they wrap around the mammal like they are giving them a big hug — and squeeze them to sleep — before they eat them for dinner.

But Sammy wasn't scared. Why? Because when Sammy cleaned the temple the snakes laid out on the floor like it was their couch (which it was). And they were asleep, snoring, fast asleep. Sammy would not pet the snake gently on the scales if they were awake. (They probably think he is a fly or a mosquito.) Sammy always made sure he finished sweeping BEFORE the lumbering giants awoke and slithered back into the hole in the cave wall that was their comfy home. That is why he swept the cave at 4:00 a.m. when it was pitch dark outside: the snakes don't like to wake up until at least 5:15!

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