It is a metaphorical fable — a hierarchical metamorphosis. A mouse, endlessly devoured by predators, a mere prey within the cycle of nature, decides to change its life. It no longer wants to be just the weaker link others feed on. The skin along its spine cracks, and the mouse pulls it aside and casts it off. Now it is someone new: a strong, bloodthirsty predator — a snake. It takes its existence and direction into its own hands (though it now has none) and slithers toward its goals.
Yet because the snake has experienced what it is like to be a small mouse, it does not forget its roots. It can empathize with weaker creatures and consumes only as much as it needs to survive. The remnants of the mouse’s fur cling to its body like tattered prison garments. The predator does not forget that it can, at any moment, become someone else’s prey again.
