Flo and Mo and the Winged Snake

© 2008 by Sarah Matanah

Flo and Mo were playing in the field outside their cave when they looked up to see a giant winged snake circling above them. It was much bigger than even their Mama D, so big that when it flapped its wings the whole mountain flashed in and out of shadow. Suddenly it folded its wings and dove straight at them. Flo and Mo ducked behind rocks. About 20 feet from the ground its wings sprang open and cupped the air. It floated down to land right in front of the two dragons.

“Greetings, cousins,” the snake said. Her voice was old and strong and very gentle, a great grandmother’s voice. The snake’s head was bigger than Mo’s body. He peeked out at it from behind his rock.

“Mo, you’re being rude,” Flo whispered. She approached the snake, who was shaking out each of her wings before she folded them against her body. “Are you our cousin? I don’t remember our moms mentioning you.”

The ends of the snake’s forked tongue flicked out to touch the ground near Flo.

“There are no other winged snakes,” the snake said. “But dragons are another type of winged snake, or winged reptile anyway. That’s why I consider us cousins, and feel that I can ask for your help; I don’t have any other relatives. I am the guardian of the tree of life. It is my duty to take care of it, and it is being destroyed. I need someone smaller than me, who can get under the roots. Will you help me?”

Mo was starting to feel silly hiding. He came out to stand by Flo, pretending to pick at a loose scale to cover his embarrassment.

“Of course we’ll help,” Flo said.

“Do you mind if I carry you?” the snake asked. “I’m sure you can fly very quickly for your size, but even so I doubt you could keep up with me.”

The only way that they could hang onto the snake was if they clung to the place where the snake’s wings attached to its body. Mo wrapped himself around as well as he could and dug his claws into its scales. He couldn’t see Flo. He couldn’t see anything except the snake’s feathers on one side and its scales on the other. Suddenly there was a jolt that flattened Mo against the snake’s shoulder. Then a rhythmic motion flung Mo’s entire body repeatedly into the air and then toward the ground. He dug his claws into the snake as tightly as he could, hoping he wasn’t hurting it, and wished that he and Flo had insisted on flying themselves, slow or not.

After a short flight, an especially big bump jarred Mo loose. He fell, stomach dropping, but hit the ground immediately. They had landed. The snake folded her wings.

“See,” the snake said, gesturing with her tongue. “The tree of life.”

It was a tree large enough for the snake to twine itself in its branches. Mo could hardly see around it.

“Look up,” the snake said.

Above them Mo saw something he’d never seen before: a wilting tree. Its magnificent branches drooped. The leaves were brown in the middle and looked brittle. Some withered apples hung among them.

“But what did you think we could do to help?” Flo asked.

The snake led them to a tunnel between the roots of the tree.

“You can fit in here,” the snake said. “I can’t. The tree gets all its water from an underground river. Someone or something is stopping the tree from drinking. Would you please go down there for me and take care of the problem?”

Mo glanced at Flo. He was feeling a bit nervous. Whatever was at the end of that tunnel might be as powerful as the snake, but less friendly toward dragons. Flo avoided meeting his eyes. She stepped toward the snake instead.

“Of course,” Flo said. “Leave it to us.”

Mo didn’t want them to know that he was afraid, so he dived into the tunnel ahead of Flo. He had gone only a few feet when it became so dark that he had to keep a flicker of flame going to see at all. Even then he could barely see under his feet. His heart pounded. He forced himself to keep walking steadily into the dark.

Finally the tunnel opened up. He was in a large chamber filled with a steady, pearly light. At first he could only see that something was glowing. Then he saw that the glow came from tiny snakes, so small and unformed that their little rib cages and hearts could be seen beating through their skin. They all had wings, withered little things like tiny pale apricots shriveled up next to their bodies. Each of the snakes was sucking on the end of one of the tree’s roots. They dangled over the dark water of an underground river.

“Mo, what is it?” Flo asked.

 “Babies,” she said, after Mo moved aside so she could see. “They’re just little babies, but they’re killing the tree.”

Mo made a flying dive for one of the little snakes. He pulled it off its root as he went past. It immediately curled up in his claws and started sucking on its tail.

 “You shouldn’t have done that,” Flo said. “How do you know they won’t die if they can’t suck on the roots?”

“Well, we can’t just leave them,” Mo said. “I want to take this one to show the snake.”

The snake was fascinated by the babies. She smoothed a tiny crinkled wing with one of the tips of her forked tongue.

“Little brothers and sisters, how wonderful! I’m not the only winged snake in the world any more.”

But even as they examined it the little snake had stopped glowing. And its skin, which had been smooth when Mo had first taken it from the root, was starting to wrinkle and mold around its tiny ribs.

“There are lots of them,” Flo said. “They’re sucking the tree’s life out of its roots. Didn’t you know?”

“No. I remember coming out of the tunnel. I had been somewhere dark, drinking something delicious and syrupy, but there were no others, just me. I was about your size. I remember that the tree looked sickly when I came out. It took me a while to nurse it back to health.”

The little snake felt as light and limp as a leaf in Mo’s hands.

“I think it’s dying,” he said.

“We’ll have to let it go back to sucking,” Flo said.

“I can’t sacrifice the tree,” the snake said. “Not even to feed the little ones. The tree is more important.”

Mo looked into the branches above them. The leaves were dry enough to rattle in the wind.

“What about apples?” he said. “Maybe they have the same stuff in them that the roots do.”

Mo flew up, still cradling the little snake in his claws and pulled down an apple. It was nearly as dry and withered as the little snake. He plunged a claw into its center and pulled it out full of apple. He stuck it into the tiny snake’s mouth. It immediately started sucking, pulling at Mo’s claw. The little snake was so frail that he could watch as its tummy bulged out. Then its skin became smooth. Once again the little snake glowed.

“Okay,” said Flo. “I’ve seen enough. Let’s save that tree.”

They ran through the tunnel, this time scarcely noticing the darkness. Once inside the cavern Flo flew around snatching the little snakes off of the roots. She passed them to Mo, who gathered them up in his wings for the run back through the tunnel. When he got to the tree he began feeding them with his claws as fast as he could. Soon Flo came out with another batch of little snakes. They discovered that they could attach them directly to apples that were still growing on the tree. Once the snakes got a good suck going they could hold on with their tiny fangs.

Soon the tree was covered with little snakes on apples. Now that its roots were free the tree was already starting to look better. The last apples that Mo attached to snakes were much fuller and juicier than the first ones.

“We should go back,” Flo said when she’d attached her last snake. “Our moms might be wondering where we are.”

Mo nodded. He was starting to feel as hungry and withered as the little snakes had looked.

“Can we come back and visit?” Flo asked the giant snake.

“Yeah,” Mo said. “Can we come back later and see how they’re doing?”

“Of course,” the snake said. “These are your cousins too. I haven’t forgotten our relationship just because I now have closer relatives. Besides, I might still need your help.”

As they started on the long flight home Mo looked back to see the tree glowing behind them with the light of healthy baby winged snakes.