There was just enough moonlight for him to see the bottom of his door, so he blew out his candle and unsheathed his sword. Then he stood waiting.

　　He watched for hours wondering what the snake might do. What if it slithered through the window instead, crept up behind him, and struck him with its venomous fangs? What if it slithered to the top of the wardrobe and dropped down from above? He was thinking of fleeing for his life, when he finally saw the snake glide under the door-first its head, then its body, then its tail.

　　Slash! He swung the sword so quickly that the snake had no warning. And the tip of its tail began writhing, all by itself, there on the floor. The snake raised its head as if to strike, but then it hissed viciously and slithered out of the room. And when he looked down the hall, he saw it disappear under his uncle's door.

　　The young man couldn't stand looking at that quivering tail, so he scooped it up with his sword and flung it in a drawer. He hardly slept all that night, and when he did snakes chased him through his dreams.

　　The next morning, he opened the drawer a crack to look at the snake's tail and was amazed to see that it had turned into human toes.

　　月光刚好能让他看清房门底下的地方，于是他吹灭了蜡烛，拔出剑来站在那等着。

　　一连几个小时他都盯着那，脑袋里想着那条蛇可能会做些什么。如果它从窗户进来，在身后爬到自己身上用毒牙攻击自己那该怎么办呢？或者，那条蛇要是先爬到衣柜上然后再从上面下来呢？他正琢磨着是不是要先逃命，这时终于看见了蛇从房门下面悄悄的爬进来，先是脑袋，然后是身子，最后是尾巴。

　　咔嚓！他迅速挥舞着手中的剑，蛇还没有警觉到的时候尾巴尖就被削断了，掉到地上以后还在扭动着。它抬起头，似乎是要展开攻击，但只是恶狠狠的嘶嘶叫了几声然后就爬出去了。他向楼下的客厅看去，只见蛇消失在了叔叔卧室的房门下。

　　看着那截还在扭动的尾巴，年青人心里直发毛，于是就用剑把尾巴挑了起来，甩到抽屉里去了。那晚上，他基本上没怎么睡，因为，只要他一睡着，他就会梦见那条蛇在追他。

　　第二天早晨，当他把抽屉拉开一条缝去看那段尾巴，然而惊奇的发现尾巴变成了人的脚趾。