Cobras, ye be warned!
An uninvited visitor came to the Priory! While our secretary was working quietly on his computer, he could feel something crawling under his chair.
Alarmed, he found a huge snake slowly making his way inside our office room. It was easily over two meters long. This sleek, agile, alert and ‘little fat’ snake is one of the most venomous snakes in the world. In fact, it is also an icon to all snake enthusiasts - luckily, I am not one of those!
They say their venom is not, milligram by milligram the most potent. Among land snakes that honor appears to belong to Australia. I distinctly remember the instructions I received when I was preaching a retreat in Goulburn. “You may walk there but be aware of such snakes!” Cobra’s venom lacks that kind of potency, but it does make up for it in volume. It seems a King Cobra’s venom can kill a fully-grown elephant in an hour!
After a few seconds of alert, our boys were there, and a major battle started. Forget about the vain threats of President Trump to Iran, our boys will not tolerate any intrusion! The very word ‘Cobra’ just attracted them. Usually when you spot a such poisonous snake - you leave everything and run away from
the spot. But it was not the case with ours. They did leave everything (i.e. their homework) and ran towards it. They very well know that if the snake was killed - then they must return to their studies at once. So, to avoid one ‘horror’ (homework) - they started to prosecute this poor snake - the slowest possible death! Now the poor snake was repentant of his intrusion, but it was too late. I must congratulate the boys for giving this poor creature copious time to make a long ‘act of contrition’.
Cobras, ye be warned!
Fr. Therasian Xavier