The Cave of the Serpent

A common mythical tale, often told to young Dwarves to keep them from wandering too far, tells of the great serpent in the cave. While the cave in question often varies, as do the particulars of the story, the end result and the theme are almost always identical.

Summary

The most traditional form of the myth is that a young, strong, dwarven warrior sees a glint of gold in a cave. Ever the brave and gold loving sort, he rushes into the cave the retrieve the gold. Too late, he realizes he has actually wandered into the mouth of a great serpent, when he gets eaten. A relativly simple story. It often recieves imbellishments, such as companions of the dwarf, a different goal (though gold is always popular for young dwarves), or even the replacement of the serpent with a dragon. However all share the message of dont go charging into strange caves.

Historical Basis

People have charged into caves and never come back, it isnt the most complex of stories.

Spread

Almost every dwarf will have heard this tale at some point, and most will tell it to their children. Outisde the community however it is relativly uncommon, even rare.

Cultural Reception

Generally it is viewed as a good morality tale for dwarves, and is often twisted by adults to emphasise their own craft, i.e. "Dont go charging into a cave, figure out if it is stable first" or even pushed into slogans: "Dont charge into a cave without a Hanadihindin steel sword". Overall, like many tales told to young children, it is well ingrained into the minds of the dwarves, and frequently parodied or joked about.

In Literature

A common motif for a dwarf to show that a character is supposed to be stupid will be to charge into a cave without checking for snakes. It is far more common in its inversion, where a character will pause at the entrance of a cave, wait for their eyes to adjust to the light, and then continue, to show a character as intelligent.

In Art

A cave with suspicious teeth (and sometimes even a tongue) coming out of it can be seen in a lot of art in the dwarven world.