A man encountered a talking snake. It whined about slithering over rocks and the man took pity on it. He carried the reptile on his head. However, the man grew tired and asked the snake to descend. It refused and threatened him. Terrified, the man persuaded the snake to allow someone else to settle their dispute. They asked an elephant, a lion, a leopard, a hyena, a baboon and a buffalo, and all sided with the snake because they feared its poisonous bite (can you say 'juror bias'?).
Then they asked a fox. It duped the snake into coming down so the man could beat it to death. The man promised his savior a sheep as payment for the help. On his way home, he decided that he was too poor to surrender a whole sheep, and brought his dog to kill the fox.
Source: Ethiopian English Readers
Tale Type: ATU 155, "The Ungrateful Snake Returned to Captivity"
Variants: "The Ungrateful Snake, the Fox, and the Man" and "The Man and the Snake" and this curated list.
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