靈異故事:Snake Anut 3(我的阿姨是條蛇 3)

He knew he must seek help, so he ran into the forest to find the wise old hermit who lived there. The old man examined him carefully and handed him some leaves. "These are best for snakebite," he said "Bind them around your arm and keep them wet."
"But I wasn't bitten by a snake," said the young man. "Those marks were made by my aunt's fingernails."
The old hermit shook his head in despair. "The touch of a snake-woman is even worse," he said, "but try these leaves. They should help"
The young man was appalled. "Is my aunt really a snake- woman?" he asked.
"If you want to find out," the hermit replied, "stay awake tonight, and if a snake enters you room, cut off the tip of its tail."
The young man wasn't sure how this would help, but he thanked the hermit for his advice and returned to his uncle's house. By afternoon, he was happy to see that the wet leaves had reduced the swelling.
He watched his aunt closely that evening, but he didn't notice anything strange until she tasted her soup. She said it needed more "ssssseasoning" and lingered on the "s" as if she were hissing. Her nephew felt gooseflesh rise from the tips of his toes to the top of his head. He excused himself from the table and went up to his bedroom, but not to sleep.
He planned to watch for the snake all night long.
他知道自己必須要找人幫忙，于是跑進森林去了，那有位聰明的老隱士。老人仔細檢查了他的傷口然后給他幾片樹葉。“這是治蛇咬傷最好的藥了，”他說，“包扎在胳膊上并且保持濕潤。”
“但是我并不是被蛇咬傷的啊，”他說道，“傷口是被我嬸嬸用指甲摳的。”
老人絕望的搖搖頭，“如果是蛇女那就更糟糕了，但是也先試試這些葉子吧，會有幫助的。”
年輕人覺得不寒而栗，“我嬸嬸真是個蛇女?”他問道。
“如果你想知道答案，”老隱士說，“今晚別睡覺，要是有條蛇進了你的房間，把它的尾巴尖割下來。”
他并不知道這些會有什么用，但還是謝過了老人給他的建議，隨后回到了叔叔家。到了下午那樹葉起作用了，傷口腫得已經(jīng)沒有那么利害了，年青人很高興。
晚上他仔細打量嬸嬸，但是并沒發(fā)現(xiàn)什么異常。直到她喝湯的時候才有點不對勁，她說湯有點淡并且把“嘶”的音節(jié)拉得很長，就好像是蛇嘶嘶叫著的聲音。聽到這個聲音，年輕人就覺得雞皮疙瘩從腳底一直長到了頭頂，于是找個借口離開飯桌回屋去了，但是并沒有睡覺。
他打算在夜里等著那條蛇。