THE FABLE OF ST. PATRICK’S COUSIN, OAS
by Terry Trussel, ©2014, Operation American Spring
(Mar. 17, 2014) — At this time of year, all things Irish (and green) are in sharp focus, especially St. Patrick, Ireland’s patron saint. As tradition would have us believe, St. Patrick single-handedly rid Ireland of all its snakes—certainly a feat worthy of widespread fame and historic adoration. Further research, however, offers evidence that the emerald island nation of Ireland has never been inhabited by serpents, leaving St. Patrick’s claim to fame without basis.
However, there’s another side to this story that throws cold corned beef in the face of secular doubters. Since so many faith-based stories and legends are allegorical in nature, it seems in St. Patrick’s case, ‘snakes’ are an analogy for sin. Not a far stretch considering the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden being tempted by the serpent. Snakes are an obvious and easy mark for vilifying anything or anyone through comparison or equivalence. So in this case, St. Patrick driving sin from Ireland is not only noteworthy; it is befitting every bit of his popularity and fame.
The St. Patrick-versus-the-snakes story has another chapter; it features a different island, called Deceus, which is also infested with snakes—so many snakes, in fact, that no moral or righteous man could escape without becoming infected by the poison of these snakes. But Deceus is also home to sharks, barracudas, skunks, myriad and assorted parasites, sloths, and rats—lots of rats—all of which feed on the unsuspecting and undeserving to the point there is little left to even fight over. Unlike the Irish experience, though, the swamp island of Deceus lies in close proximity to a large continent, Marica, a land of lush beauty and bountiful harvests—in fact there is so much to eat and enjoy, Marica appears to offer an endless repast for our slithering swamp of sneaky, seditious sycophants.
The head snake, Buroq, is covetous of his neighbor’s abundance and puts together an insidious scheme to expand his feeding fields into his neighbor’s domain. Under cover of darkness, Buroq sends out his army of rats to offer wondrous gifts to the Maricams, who at first believe Buroq’s beneficence is a manifestation of his innate goodness and generosity. In fact Buroq’s gifts are so generous, several Maricams wonder aloud, “From where does Buroq harvest his bounty that he can be so free with his treasure?” “Shhhhh,” say others, “If Buroq hears you questioning his largess, he might become angry and stop giving us all these wonderful gifts.” So the Maricams hold their peace, hoping Buroq and his army of rats will never stop their flow of presents. But there is one Maricam, Oas, whose curiosity gets the best of him. Now, Oas is a smart and persistent man, and reputed to be as good as the day is long.
Early one morning, Oas decides to follow Buroq, to see where he hides his cache of treasure. Sure enough, Oas followed Buroq and his trail of rats as they scurried and slithered along the old swamp road, but Buroq wasn’t going in the direction of Deceus, but into Marica’s very own vault of valuables! Oas hid behind a gnarly old oak tree in the early morning darkness and watched as Buroq and his rats stole the bounty of the Maricams! Without a word, Oas then followed Buroq and his rats as he made his way back to the brook where he always delivered his gifts to the waiting Maricams.
Then Buroq did a most curious thing. Before he was to share ‘his’ treasure with the Maricams, he spread the riches out before him and set his rats to divide it into two piles, one much larger by ten times the other. The larger of the two piles, Buroq put into a heavy woolen bag. The smaller pile, he put upon the gifting table next to the brook. When the sun arose and the Maricams gathered round to see what wondrous treasure Buroq had brought them, they ooed and ahhhed as he spread his hands over the table laden with gold and gems.
Oas could stand Buroq’s deception no longer, so he stepped forward from the darkness, and cried for his fellow Maricams to awake from their trance and know that Buroq was not the snake he pretended to be. He told them how he followed Buroq and watched him and his rats as they stole the Maricams’ treasure, keeping the larger portion for himself, then sharing but a pittance with the Maricams as way of gaining their trust. The people of Maricam were outraged at being so deceived. They shouted at Burog, “We trusted you, Buroq!” But Buroq just hissed, “Oh, you can always trust a snake, my friends—to always act like a sssssssnake.”
Oas tells them that if he had not caught onto Buroq’s deception, he would have soon drained their treasury and left them penniless and bankrupt. The people of Maricam were so greatful to Oas, they dubbed him St. Oas, and pronounced Buroq crazy, and banished him and his Buroq rats from Maricam, the beautiful, forever.
And now you know the rest of the story.
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Written by: Terry Trussel
Graphics courtesy of OAS Graphics Team