Bashe

Serpent That Swallows Elephants

Giant python of myth that swallows elephants whole; slain by the archer Houyi at Dongting.

Bashe, the serpent of Ba, appears in the Shanhaijing as a snake so vast it can swallow an elephant whole, taking three years to digest the bones. It was among the monsters Houyi slew, cut in two at Dongting, and its bones were said to pile into the mound of Baling. The proverb “a man’s heart is never full, like a snake that would swallow an elephant” draws on the same image of boundless appetite.