Once upon a time there lived a very poisonous snake. This snake lived near a small village and used to bite and kill people of the village. Everyone in the village was frightened of the snake. One day, a holy man passed by. He saw how everyone was scared of the snake. He went to the snake and advised him to give up his evil ways and lead a good life. The snake liked the holy man and what he said made a lot of sense, so from that day on, it stopped biting or attacking the villagers.

After some time, the people of the village saw that the snake had changed. It was not biting anymore. Everyone felt happy. But some villagers were not very nice. When they found out that the snake would not bite, they went after the snake and stamped on it and hit it with clubs. The snake remembered what the wise man had taught about not hurting anyone so he just kept quiet and suffered. After some time the wise man returned to the village. He went to visit the snake and saw the poor snake bruised and bleeding. The snake said. "O wise man, you told me not to bite, I listened to your advice and see what has happened to me?"

The wise man said, 'Oh, foolish snake, I told you not to bite, but I never told you to stop hissing, if someone comes to harm you. If you had just hissed, you would have been safe from evil people. Hiss but do not bite. Then you can live happily and safely.'

Like the snake, we have to hiss to protect ourselves. If someone tries to bully us, we must not suffer in silence. We must make a fuss and let everyone know about the bullying. This is like hissing but not biting in order to protect ourselves.

Reference: Primary Hinduism by Seeta Lakhani (Ch.4, 'What Hindus Believe', p.51)