` When I find it , an enlightenment will surely be given . This , I feel , is not the place . O littlest among the waters , if only thou couldst tell me where runs my River ! But be thou blessed to make the fields bear ! ' ` Look ! Look ! ' Kim sprang to his side and dragged him back . A yellow-and-brown streak glided from the purple rustling stems to the bank , stretched its neck to the water , drank , and lay still -- a big cobra with fixed , lidless eyes . ' I have no stick -- I have no stick , ' said Kim . ' I will get me one and break his back . ' ` Why ? He is upon the Wheel as we are -- a life ascending or descending -- very far from deliverance . Great evil must the soul have done that is cast into this shape . ' ' I hate all snakes , ' said Kim . No native training can quench the white man 's horror of the Serpent . ` Let him live out his life . ' The coiled thing hissed and half opened its hood . ` May thy release come soon , brother ! ' the lama continued placidly . ` Hast thou knowledge , by chance , of my River ? '
` Never have I seen such a man as thou art , ' XXXXX whispered , overwhelmed .
Kim brother cobra deliverance hood lama rustling shape snakes streak