Primary 6 – Progression Test 1 – CA2

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Unit 1 – House and Home

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A Cobra In The Garden

Mahani Zubaidy Gunnell has written for Highlights Magazine for Kids. In this
text, Gunnell discusses her time living in Borneo, a large island of the
Southeast Asian country Indonesia, and the cobra that lived in her garden
there.

From the sky, parts of Borneo look like the top of a giant broccoli. Much of 1
the island is tropical rain forest. It’s the world’s third largest island, and it lies 2
in Southeast Asia, on the equator. I lived on Borneo in a small town called 3
Miri. My home was at the edge of a forest, and I was fortunate to have many 4
wild animals visit my backyard. 5
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I should say that it was I who was the visitor. I lived on land that was once 7
home to many kinds of wildlife. Many of them still lived there, because, after 8
all, there is no place like home. I was glad that some of the animals stayed
while others continued to pass by in their search for food.
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A horde of long-tailed macaques (muh-KAKS) visited most mornings and 10
afternoons. I always wished for them to leave soon. Macaques are monkeys
with shorter faces and smaller bodies than those of African baboons. 11
Macaques normally live in groups of about twenty led by a strong male. 12
Long-tailed macaques can be aggressive, so I made sure that our trash 134
cans were securely covered and that no food was displayed in the house. 15
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In the yard, the monkeys were a joy to watch. They browsed on bamboo 17
shoots and young leaves and ate wild figs from a fig tree in the garden. Each 18
time, the macaques stayed for about twenty minutes. 19

During the first week in our home, I found some leathery eggs crumpled and
empty in a bed of soft dirt under the bamboo grove. I was told they were the 20
eggs of a black spitting cobra. The snake was common in the area. Poison 21

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from its bite can kill a person in one to six hours, and the snake can squirt 22
venom with accuracy for up to eight feet, aiming at the eyes.
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However, a cobra makes its living by eating small animals such as rats and 24
mice. It strikes at humans and other large animals only in self-defense. We 25
could live with our cobra by being careful not to surprise or scare it. 26
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As a family, my husband and I and our three children thought of ways to be 28
on the lookout, especially when we stepped into the yard. We made up 29
chants and rhymes that we recited aloud or in our hearts so that we were
alert and aware whenever we set foot outdoors. One went: 30

Cobra, cobra, are you there? 31

Please don’t fall onto my hair. 32

One afternoon, the cobra surprised me. All six feet of it was stretched on
the lawn. Its skin was jet-black. It glistened in the sun and was startling 33
against the green grass. I froze, scarcely daring to breathe. I was about to 35
place one foot back carefully when the cobra began to slither away from me. 36
In its haste, the cobra bumped against a stone. It raised its head and for one 37
moment spread its infamous hood. As scared as I was, I could not help 38
noticing how magnificent it looked. 39

We saw her several more times in the garden. (Because of the eggs, we 40
decided it was a female.) That part of the yard became known as her
sunning spot.

It turned out that it was not her only favorite place. One Sunday afternoon
we had friends over for lunch. We had just finished eating, and a few of us
were sitting on the veranda when one of the guests saw the cobra. 45

The snake was on a branch of a frangipani tree, less than ten feet from
where we were sipping tea. The tree was in full bloom, covered in pink
blossoms whose honey-sweet perfume filled our home.

Everyone came out to see the cobra, and chairs were arranged as if for a
concert. The cobra lay still. Only through a pair of binoculars could we see 50
her breathing. She seemed to enjoy all the attention.

She remained still as we ate ice cream, took turns with the binoculars, and
read out loud from books on poisonous snakes of Asia. As soon as it
seemed we were losing interest, she slinked majestically along the
branches toward an oil-palm tree, whose fronds extended close-by. 55
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We were awed by her beauty. As we stared openmouthed at her grace, she

missed a branch and fell splat! to the ground. We burst out laughing as the
cobra recovered and wriggled up the palm tree.

I joked with my friends that it was funny the way the cobra was showing off
so much that it got a little too sure of itself and fell. My friend replied that 60
snakes probably do not think like humans.

By then, we had known the cobra for more than a year. Sometimes it felt as
if there was not a moment I did not think of the cobra.

In fact, I developed the habit of imagining the snake’s thoughts. Then I

realized that a snake would naturally stay near the oil-palm tree. Its nutty 65
palm kernels are a rich source of food for mice and squirrels, and therefore
the tree was a great place for a cobra: small mammals are the cobra’s
favorite meal. I had often raked under the frangipani tree, which stood next
to the oil palm, and I had not once realized that the cobra might have been
over my head on its branches! 70

We shared the garden with the black spitting cobra for the rest of our stay
and were sad indeed when we had to move and leave the island of Borneo.

Glossary
• Glisten (verb): to shine or glitter 3
• Haste (noun): speed or hurry, often made with urgency
• Infamous (adjective): well known for some bad quality
• Awe (noun): a feeling of respect and wonder

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