The Grandfather and the Python

Meet the Author

• Ruskin Bond is an Anglo-Indian Author and poet known for his vivid descriptions of landscapes and insightful portrayal of human emotions.
• Born: 19 May, 1934
• Place of Birth: Kasauli, British India
• Major Books: The Room on the Roof, Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra, and A Flight of Pigeons.
• Best known for: He is known for transporting readers to visualise the landscapes of India, and depicts the complexity of human relationships.

Summary & Analysis

The story “The Grandfather and the Python” by Ruskin Bond begins with the grandfather buying an unusual pet while strolling through the bazaar. He pays a snake charmer four rupees to acquire a young four-foot python. He then displays it around his neck to the crowd of excited boys and girls in the market.

This act shows his daring spirit and the appetite for attention. He arrives home curling up the snake around his neck. His wife, the Grandmother, is not fond of his love for exotic pets and creatures. When she sees the python coiled around the grandfather’s throat, she nearly faints. She exclaims that the snake could strangle him to death and demands the grandfather to get rid of it.

Grandfather dismisses her concerns, insisting that it was a young creature getting used to the new atmosphere. Both he and Grandmother were worried about how they were going to deal with Aunt Mabel's reaction to the python being in the house.

Grandmother is certain that Aunt Mabel would get terrified of the python but Grandfather was not appealed with the idea. Accepting his wife’s advice, he decides to search for the snake charmer in the bazaar. Therefore, he leaves the python in the bathroom. Grandfather could not find the snake charmer and returned home. GRandmother was furious and asked him to immediately leave the snake in the forest across the river.

Grandfather agrees to do it but first decides to feed the python. So he grabs a plucked chicken heading into the bathroom along with the cook and Grandmother. When he opens the door and steps inside he realises that the python is missing. Grandmother suggests looking under the tub but the snake could not be seen. The grandfather then goes to check the windows to find it has been left open. He assures that the python must have escaped through that way. A thorough search was conducted around the house including the kitchen, the garden, the stable, and the poultry farm with no sight of the python.

Grandfather said, blushing at his own forgetfulness. “He must have gotten out that way.” A careful search was made of the house, the kitchen, the garden, the stable, and the poultry shed, but the python could not be found anywhere.

Aunt Mabel arrives the next day for a three-week visit and a couple of days. For a couple of days, the grandfather and the narrator remain on edge worried that the python might appear at any moment. Upon checking for continuous three days without any signs of the snake, the Grandfather concluded that it had gone for good.

However, towards evening everyone was startled by a scream from the garden. Aunt Mabel bursts onto the veranda gasping for breath. She explains that she saw something on the guava tree. She describes it as staring at her menacingly as if it was about to devour her alive.

“A snake!” sobbed Aunt Mabel. “A great boa constrictor. It must have been twenty feet long! In the guava tree. Its eyes were terrible. And it looked at me in such a queer way. . . .”

Grandmother insists on further details, to which she recounts seeing a snake twenty feet long in the guava tree. Grandfather wanted to resolve the chaos as soon as possible. So he decides to find the snake and leave it in the forest. The grandfather taking forth an umbrella ventures into the garden but as soon as he reaches the guava tree, the python vanishes.

After this encounter, the python makes several appearances in the most unexpected places. When Aunt Mabel sees the python again beneath the cushion, she quickly packs her bags and decides to leave.

Meanwhile, the grandfather twice finds the python curled up on the dressing table captivated by its own reflection in the mirror. He was fascinated by his reflection growing increasingly vain due to the attention he got from everyone in the house. Realizing vanity could be the key to capturing the python, the grandfather devises a new plan.

The grandfather constructs a large cage with a mirror on one end and places a juicy chicken, and several other tasty things set with a trapdoor at the opening. There was no sign of the python for a few days, but one morning when he left for school, he found the python trapped in the cage.

The python had eaten everything and was curled up in front of the mirror smiling contentedly. The narrator invites us to imagine the face of what a python might look like while smiling. Thankfully, the python doesn't seem to notice them. The Grandfather and the Grandmother swiftly load the cage onto the Tonga and transport it across the river bed. They had opened the trap door and left the cage in the jungle. To their surprise, the python had neither made any attempt nor tried to escape but still gazed at the mirror remaining in the same spot.

Grandfather remarks that the python seems unable to tear away from its reflection. He did not have the heart to take away the mirror he exclaimed. He quotes with a touch of humor that he had never seen a snake fall in love.

He was seen in the garden and ascending the iron ladder to the roof. Then we found him on the dressing table a second time, admiring himself in the mirror. “All the attention he’s getting has probably made him conceited,” said Grandfather.

Moral of the story

The story “The Grandfather and the Python” in a humorous manner the python's vanity becomes his own downfall. The humor lies in the contrast between the initial fear and the eventual realization of the python's harmless vanity. Grandfather's observation that the python is "unable to tear away from its reflection" and his playful remark about the snake falling in love with itself add a touch of whimsy to the situation. The image of a python preening in front of a mirror is inherently comical, and it undercuts the earlier suspense.

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