The snake, in the minds of many people, is often associated with fear, danger, and harm. In various cultural backgrounds, snakes are often given negative symbolic meanings and are commonly linked to images such as being insidious and cunning. However, in folk traditions, the snake is revered as a "money - bag," symbolizing wealth and good luck.
The reason why the snake is called a "money - bag" is closely related to its shape. The snake has a long and slender body, similar to ancient copper coins, both in a long string. Therefore, it is regarded as the "essence of ancient copper coins."
There is a folk belief that if a snake appears in the house or is found in the foundation when building a house, it indicates the coming of wealth. In addition, encountering a snake while traveling or in a dream is also considered a sign that wealth is about to arrive.
In folk beliefs, the snake is regarded as an envoy of wealth, capable of guiding people to find buried treasures.
In "Youyang Zazu," a book specifically recording strange anecdotes, there is a story about a black snake speaking human words. It is said that Wang Qing from Luoyang Village worked hard every day and saved five taels of silver by doing manual labor. He bought a withered chestnut tree, planning to cut it down and sell it as firewood.
However, this tree was coveted by a greedy neighbor. At night, the neighbor secretly went to cut the tree with tools. Just as he was almost done, suddenly a black snake as thick as an adult's arm rushed out and said in human words, "I am Wang Qing. Don't chop!" The neighbor was so frightened that he fled home in a panic, rolling and crawling.
The next day, Wang Qing came to the tree with his family to cut it. When they dug to the roots, they were astonished to find two large vats buried underneath, filled with copper coins. Thus, Wang Qing became extremely wealthy overnight and became a well - known rich household in Luoyang Village. To commemorate this strange encounter, he used some of the money to build a vivid - looking snake and named it "Wang Qingben."
Similarly, "Gengsi Bian" also records a story about a giant snake. In the early Ming Dynasty, in a village in Fengdu, a giant snake as thick as a bowl and several zhang long often appeared, biting to death poultry and stealing food. The villagers tried to catch it several times but failed.
There was an open space behind the village's Buddhist temple, which was rented by a villager as a vegetable garden. One day, when the villager was weeding, he suddenly saw a giant snake slithering towards him. He swung his hoe with all his might. The snake burrowed into a cave, and only its tail was injured.
Surprisingly, the sound when hitting the snake was as sonorous as hitting copper or iron. The villager approached and found countless copper coins scattered at the entrance of the cave. He guessed that this snake might be transformed from copper coins, so he called his wife and younger brother to dig together.
When they dug more than one zhang deep, they finally found a large vat filled with copper coins, a total of one hundred thousand. The life of this family changed dramatically, and the giant snake never appeared again.
The "Chao Ye Qian Zai" in the Tang Dynasty also describes a story of a family getting rich because of a snake. A family in Xia County, Jiangzhou, Sui Dynasty, newly built a house. It was originally a happy event. However, on the day of moving, countless snakes poured out of the house, densely covering the ground.
Coincidentally, someone passing by claimed to know the talisman method to suppress the snakes. He took four peach branches, wrote talismans on them, and pasted them around the house. The snakes gradually retreated and finally disappeared into a large hole in the center of the main hall. To prevent future troubles, the homeowner had people boil hot water and pour it into the hole. The next day, they dug with shovels. When they dug one chi deep, they found two hundred thousand strings of copper coins and thus lived a prosperous life from then on.