Snake and Monkey

This pair carries two listings that seem to pull apart. 巳 and 申 are one of the 六合, the Six Harmonies, joined in the fourth month when the sun and moon meet at 申 and the Dipper points to 巳. They also fall in 三刑, the Three Punishments, in a cycle where 寅 punishes 巳, 巳 punishes 申 and 申 punishes 寅. The Sanming Tonghui opens its punishment chapter with a line from the Yinfu Jing, that favor grows from harm and harm from favor, and treats punishment as something arising out of combination.

By element 巳 is fire and 申 is metal, and fire melts metal, which gives the calendar side a third thing to weigh. Popular zodiac books often settle on a shrewd Snake and a quick-witted Monkey who admire each other's cleverness while keeping an eye on it. Popular charts split over this pair, perhaps because the tables themselves point two ways.

Closeness and friction can come from the same source. What do you most admire in the other person, and when has that same quality been hard to live with? Let each answer without interruption.