From that time onward the young man told everyone he met this story, (and not just his friends) and always called his new friend, Sammy, "the snake monk." For that was exactly what he was: a monk who lived and prayed and who cleaned his temple -- with huge snakes - who happened to be his friends.

So who is the boy in the story?

The boy ... is me.

It's a true story, too.
 

March 2001, at Koh Sok, Surathani District, South Thailand,
Copyright © 2005, Timothy J. Malone
 

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