Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce

12 - The Treasury and the Arms

The Broom of the Temple - 14

The Christian Serpent

A RATTLESNAKE came home to his brood and said: "My children, gather about and receive your father's last blessing, and see how a Christian dies."

"What ails you, Father?" asked the Small Snakes.

"I have been bitten by the editor of a partisan journal," was the reply, accompanied by the ominous death-rattle.

Contents

12 - The Treasury and the Arms

The Broom of the Temple - 14