interesting, a couple weeks ago I learned indo-europeists think that "strong man kills snake thingy" may be a shared proto-indo-european tale[0] (think Indra, Thor, Hercules).
I wasn't too convinced and hearing now that it might be from a non-indo-european tradition is quite fun, thanks :)
Also the Yamata no Orochi slain by Susanoo in Japan.
Actually looking at the page for Yamata no Orochi contains a description of both what the parent was talking about and a list of myths where man kills snake-thingy (or Chaoskampf in German, also known as Drachenkampf): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamata_no_Orochi#Mythological_...
The Indo-European one might have been an actual snake at one point, too.
Fish stories, flood stories, and snake stories all have something in common. The subjects of the stories tend to get larger and larger as the tales go down the generations.
I wasn't too convinced and hearing now that it might be from a non-indo-european tradition is quite fun, thanks :)
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/*Trito