A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
A woman driven from her home and later slandered by her brother wanders with her child. Her missing right hand had been cut off by that brother during an earlier quarrel over her productive pumpkin plant. When a snake approaches, she expects danger. Instead it asks to hide in her small earthen vessel, offering reciprocal protection. She covers it and misdirects another snake that is pursuing it. After the threat passes, the sheltered animal speaks with her and invites her to follow it home. The two snakes are separate actors: the pursuer is not the future benefactor’s alternate form.
At a lake the woman loses her son in the water. The snake urges her to put in both hands, including the injured one. She finds the boy and draws out a restored hand. The helper then takes her to its elders, who welcome and support her. When she leaves, it advises her to request the father’s ring and mother’s casket rather than bulky wealth. The ring later produces a furnished house, making possible her reunion with her husband and the exposure of her brother’s lies. The account does not describe a human transformation of the snake or identify its parents’ bodily forms. Its protection, counsel and family connection drive the sequence.
Origins & earliest records
Steere names Khamis bin Abubekr, also called Hamisiwa Kayi, among the contributors and assigns this tale to him in the preface. Steere compiled the Swahili text and facing English translation; the publication date is not a first oral date.
Records & interpretation
Complete Blessing or Property, pp. 391–409, independently read; snake shelter and lake recovery pp. 403–405, family gifts and ring-produced house p. 407, reunion p. 409.
In the literature
“Take leave of my mother and father.”
Blessing or Property, English p.407, snake’s counsel before the woman’s departure · Edward Steere
The rescued snake identifies its parents before recommending their gifts.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Swahili Tales, as Told by Natives of Zanzibar
Blessing or Property, pp. 391–409; selected snake episodes on English facing pp. 403, 405 and 407.
- 02
Swahili Tales, as Told by Natives of Zanzibar — Blessing or Property
London: Bell & Daldy,1870, actual title-page OCR. Complete selected Blessing or Property, bilingual pp.391–409, English narrative pp.393/395/397/399/401/403/405/407/409 independently read, with relevant preface v–x and explicit Hamisi wa Kayi/Khamis bin Abubekr credit at ix. Facing Swahili placement inspected, not independently translated. No whole-volume claim.
Family, evolution & connections
Grateful snake’s explicitly identified parents — Steere
Blessing or Property, English pp. 393–409; parent identification on p. 407.
Scroll sideways to see all branches. With a keyboard, focus the tree and use the arrow keys.
- Snake’s unnamed mother and father
The snake explicitly identifies both parents; family addresses to the woman are excluded from biological branching. All three serpent-household figures are unnamed. The human woman’s actual parents and brother occur in a distinct opening household. Father/mother/brother language following rescue does not establish biological kinship across those households or a formal adoption ceremony.
Snake’s unnamed mother (Blessing or Property)
The grateful snake tells the woman to take leave of its mother and father. The mother possesses the casket; she is distinct from the woman’s biological mother, whose death occurs in the opening.
Snake’s unnamed father (Blessing or Property)
The snake identifies its father and directs the woman to ask for his ring. The father’s gift and blessing are narrated; no personal name or wider serpent lineage is given.
Rescued woman in Blessing or Property
The snake’s parents call the snake the woman’s brother, and she addresses them as father and mother. The opening separately identifies her human parents and biological brother; these later family terms do not establish human–snake biological siblinghood.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Swahili Tales, as Told by Natives of Zanzibar — Blessing or Property
London: Bell & Daldy,1870, actual title-page OCR. Complete selected Blessing or Property, bilingual pp.391–409, English narrative pp.393/395/397/399/401/403/405/407/409 independently read, with relevant preface v–x and explicit Hamisi wa Kayi/Khamis bin Abubekr credit at ix. Facing Swahili placement inspected, not independently translated. No whole-volume claim.
- A sheltered snake guides an expelled woman to recover her child and lost hand, then helps her acquire gifts and return.
The family’s witch accusation is false within this narrative, not an established power of the woman. Snake parents and human parents remain distinct; later daughter/brother language does not establish biological human-snake kinship. No species identified, medical recipe endorsed, prayer copied or ring effect attributed directly to the snake’s body.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Bilingual collected primary narrative; digitized edition OCRSteere 1870 — Grateful Snake of Blessing or PropertyResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.