 Khushwant Singh's short story "The Mark of Vishnu" (1950) adapts the situation of the fable to an Eastern background.A Brahmin priest, assured in the belief that a cobra has a godly nature and will never harm others if treated courteously, is nevertheless killed by the snake when trying to heal and feed it.Oscar Brown Jr. adapted the fable in the form of a poem he called "The Snake" and then in 1963 set it to music.