The mystery of the Bashe swallowing an elephant in "Classic of Mountains and Seas": How big were snakes in ancient times?

"Human greed is like a snake swallowing an elephant" is a classic saying that is often used by people to persuade those who are very greedy. There are many allusions about the snake swallowing an elephant, such as:

In ancient times, there was a woodcutter who saved a snake while he was out hunting. The snake then practiced cultivation and often helped his descendants after the woodcutter's death.

Many years later, a man named Xiang appeared among the descendants of the woodcutter. He learned that the daughter of a wealthy man had a disease that could only be cured by the gallbladder of a well-cultivated snake. Xiang was overjoyed and hurried to find the snake. After explaining his purpose, the snake agreed to Xiang's request without hesitation, opened its mouth and let Xiang crawl in to take the snake's gallbladder. After Xiang saved the daughter of the wealthy man, he married her and became a wealthy man.

However, the good times did not last long, as Xiang was not satisfied with the status quo. Coincidentally, at this time, the emperor's daughter also needed snake gall to save her life. Xiang saw the opportunity to become a royal consort, so he went to get snake gall again. However, when he climbed into the snake's mouth, he never came out again. From then on, the snake that had protected the woodcutter's descendants for generations disappeared.

Another theory is that the snake in “the greed of human beings leads to the snake swallowing the elephant” refers to the Ba snake, which first appeared in the ancient book “Classic of Mountains and Seas: Southern Classic of the Sea”: “The Ba snake eats elephants, and its bones come out after three years. A gentleman who eats it will not have any heart or stomach diseases. The snake is red and black, and one is called a black snake with a green head. It is west of the rhinoceros.” “Classic of the Sea” also recorded: There is a country called Zhujuan, where there are black snakes with green heads that eat elephants.

These two records clearly point out that there was such a thing as a snake swallowing an elephant in ancient times. Of course, those who think that "Classic of Mountains and Seas" is a mythical story will say that this is nonsense that the ancients had a lot of imagination. How could a snake swallow an elephant? However, the truth may not be that simple. Let's take a look at how big the snake in "Classic of Mountains and Seas" is and what the truth is.

We know that in the natural world today, the largest snake is a 14.85-meter, 447-kilogram python found in the Indian jungle. This python has been certified by Guinness. It is easy for it to swallow an adult, but it is impossible for it to swallow the smallest Asian elephant. Of course, if we insist that it swallowed a baby elephant, it would be a bit exaggerated.

From this, we can see that no giant python in the world, such as the anaconda in the Amazon basin, has the ability to feed on elephants. So what exactly is the "big snake" recorded in the ancient book "Classic of Mountains and Seas"? The editor has the following interpretations.

The ancient Ba people were very good at organizing various sacrificial activities, and the word "Ba" means big snake. Therefore, the Ba snake eating elephants is probably a behavior, that is, it is the process of the ancient Ba people taming elephants during sacrifices. It is also possible that the Ba people released snakes to drive away elephants. The snakes here are not big, or they do not exist at all. Of course, this explanation must not satisfy everyone's appetite. Let's take a look at a more imaginative interpretation.

The second interpretation is that this giant snake that can swallow an elephant is actually a creature similar to a carnivorous dinosaur. It's just that for some unknown reason, the creature recorded in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" is no longer there, or has become extinct. This view is based on the images of many snake creatures recorded in the book.

"The Classic of Western Mountains": Sixty miles to the west is the Taihua Mountain, which is square and five thousand feet high and ten miles wide. No birds or beasts live there. There is a snake there named Feiyi, which has six legs and four wings. When it is seen, there will be a severe drought in the world.

The Feiyi snake recorded here is a creature with feet and wings, not the snake we usually see. So in ancient times, snakes should refer to a class of creatures, among which there are creatures that can swallow elephants. And the largest "snake" among them should be Zhuyin. According to the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", Zhuyin is a thousand miles long.

Since the ancient "Li" in "Classic of Mountains and Seas" is different from that now, there are many opinions. The lowest conversion method is that one Li is equal to 23.7 meters. That is to say, the largest "snake" in ancient times was 23,700 meters long!

Of course, this is just a result of speculation and there is no basis for verification. There are also a lot of mythological factors involved. It is also possible that the author of "Classic of Mountains and Seas" could not measure such a giant creature and just said a number at random. After all, if such a creature really existed, no one would have the courage to go near it.

However, if what the Shanhaijing says is true, there may have really been some large carnivorous creatures similar to dinosaurs in ancient times, but they later became extinct. They are collectively called "snakes" because of their similar scales or other reasons.