Summary of 'The Snake and the Mirror' (Class 9)

The narrator was a poor homeopathic doctor who lived in a small, un-electrified, rat-infested rented room. One hot summer night, he was sitting in his chair, looking at himself in a large mirror. He was very proud of his looks and was making important 'earth-shaking' decisions: he decided to shave daily, grow a thin mustache to look more handsome, and marry a rich, fat lady doctor (so she couldn't run after him if he made a mistake).

Suddenly, a fat snake fell from the roof onto his shoulder and tightly coiled itself around his left arm. Its hood was spread out just three or four inches from his face. The doctor was paralyzed with fear. He couldn't move, cry out, or even breathe heavily. All his pride and vanity vanished instantly. He realized that if the snake bit him, he didn't even have any medicine in the room. He felt he was a "poor, foolish, and stupid doctor."

While coiled around his arm, the snake slowly turned its head and saw its own reflection in the large mirror on the table. Fascinated by its own beauty, the snake slowly uncoiled itself from the doctor's arm and crept onto the table to look closer at the mirror.

Taking advantage of this distraction, the doctor quietly got up, ran out of the room, and sprinted all the way to a friend's house. When he returned the next morning with people to move his belongings, he found that a thief had stolen everything except his dirty vest.