A small village had a problem.  Two snakes, as big as fire hoses, lived in the center of the village.  They slithered around at their own leisure, eating cats, dogs and small children along the way.  The men of the village would, from time to time, attempt to exterminate the reptiles.  Their knives broke against the snakes’ iron scales; their bullets ricocheted and kill members of the hunting party.  The women moaned and lamented the men’s impotence and their children’s deaths.  The only action they had against the snakes was to destroy the eggs in the snakes’ nest, so there would not be any more snakes. 

            One day, thousands of rats crept out of the sewers and overran the streets.  The villagers could not even take a single step without hearing the cracking of a rat’s backbone.  The rats ate the villagers’ grain.  The rats spread diseases among the villagers.  It seemed that for every rat they were able to kill, two more took its place.

            Distraught, the villagers went to the snakes for help.  “Please, good snakes, help us rid ourselves of the rats.”  The snakes replied, “On one condition, stop killing our eggs when they are in our nests.”  The villagers agreed.

            Within a day, the snakes had grown fat off of eating the rats and not one rodent was seen.  Before a year could pass, twenty baby snakes were seen on the streets of the village.  There were no more rats in the village, but there were also no cats, no dogs, and no small children.

            “What did you expect?” hissed out the snakes, “That if you allowed us to breed, we wouldn’t take advantage of your folly?”

If you seek protection through evil, you allow evil to grow.