Snag

“ All the snakes in the river will come out to drink the milk, and the one that leads the way will be the queen of the snakes. You must stand in her way at the door, and say: "Oh, Queen of Snakes, Queen of Snakes, give me back my husband!" and perhaps she will do it. But if you are frightened, and do not stop her, you will never see me again.' And he glided away.
On the night of which the snake had told her, the princess got four large bowls of milk and sugar, and put one in each corner of the room, and stood in the doorway waiting. ”

“ Go down to the river and unfasten a boat which lies moored there, and throw the chips into the water. When the serpent rears up its body you will cut off its three heads with one blow of your sword. Then take the tip of each tongue and go with it to-morrow morning into the king’s kitchen. If the king himself should enter, just say to him: “Here are three gifts I offer you in return for the services you demanded of me!” and throw the tips of the serpent’s tongues at him, and hasten to the ship as fast as your legs will carry you. ”

“ You should see, hanging from a hole in some old apple tree, a long thin snake-skin! It is the latch-string of the great crested flycatcher. Now why does this bird always use a snake-skin in his nest? and why does he usually leave it hanging loose outside the hole? Questions, these, for you to think about. And if you will look sharp, you will see in even the commonest things questions enough to keep you thinking as long as you live. ”

“ In council it has been spoken. Your son can be one of us, and the men of the Snake Order will be as brothers to him if ever he comes back to the mesa where the Sun Father and the Moon Mother first looked on his face. In the days of the Lost Others, all the people had Snake Power, as they had power of silent speech with all the birds, and the four-foot brothers of the forests. Only a few have not lost it, and the Trues send all their Spirit People to work with that few. ”

“ When the great snake is coming there springs up a wind, and blows the dust about, and this goes on till the great snake glides into the courtyard and calls for his dinner, which must always be ready for him in those big pots. He eats till he has had enough, and then drinks a whole tankful of water. After that he goes away. Every second day he comes, when the sun is over the house. And he has seven heads. How then can you be a match for him, my son?’
‘Mind your own business, mother,’ answered the gazelle, ‘and don’t mind other people’s! ”

“ The Scroobious Snake,
who always wore a Hat on his Head, for
fear he should bite anybody.
There was an old man in a tree,
Whose whiskers were lovely to see;
But the birds of the air, pluck’d them perfectly bare,
To make themselves nests in that tree. ”

“ I am acquainted with several people, who have on such an occasion run so hard as to be quite out of breath, in endeavouring to escape the snake, which moved with the swiftness of an arrow after them. If a person thus pursued can muster up courage enough to oppose the snake with a stick or any thing else, when it is either passed by him, or when he steps aside to avoid it, it will turn back again, and seek a refuge in its swiftness. ”

“ The word, like so many sea terms, was borrowed from the Dutch, where smak, earlier smacke, is the name of a coasting vessel; it is generally taken as a corruption of snack, cf. Swed. snäcka, Dan. snackke, a small sailing-vessel, and is to be referred to the root seen in " snake," " snail," the original meaning a gliding, creeping thing. " Smack," taste, and " smack," a smart sounding blow or slap, also used of the sound of the lips in kissing or tasting, must be distinguished. ”

“ The man who does so wears the straw covering of a rice-bag by way of hat, and takes with him an axe and the gruel vessel, saying to each tree, "Will you bear—will you bear, of bags 1,000 bags, of sacks 1,000 sacks? ”

“ If, on the occasion of a sacrifice at the sacred tree, the elders chance to see a snake, they say that it is a ngoma, or ancestral spirit, which has taken the form of a snake, and endeavour to pour a little of the blood from the sacrificial ram on its head, back, and tail. ”

“ Neela yet kind and calm, Beholds a knot of Snakes, that fill A basket made of palm! No fear her blameless mind alarms: But quick with scornful joy, One basely holds her by the arms; One grasps her fondling boy. The sire himself, with gesture wild, His thoughtless offspring takes ”

“ Their amazement knew no bounds when they saw a beautiful youth standing before their daughter with the snake’s skin lying on the floor beside him. In their excitement they burst open the door, and seizing the skin they threw it into the fire. But no sooner had they done this than the young man called out, ‘Oh, wretched people! what have you done?’ and before they had time to look round he had changed himself into a dove, and dashing against the window he broke a pane of glass, and flew away from their sight. ”

“ I can conceive of no more terrible close-up than that of a Snake Priest, coming toward one with eyes glaring, cheeks and chin painted black, his mouth a huge white daub, and snakes, some of them with rattles, feeling around his ears, through his hair, and about his face and neck. ”

“ The noises stopped; the figures ceased to move; it was as if the coin-in-the-slot had given us our pennyworth. Instead, something which, from my point of view, was very much more objectionable began to happen.
From the immediate neighbourhood of the figure on the throne snakes’ heads began to peep. There was no mistake that they were all alive-oh! The evil-looking brutes began to slither over the sides. I never could abide snakes, either in a figurative or a literal sense. The mere sight of one puts my dander up. ”

“ Thick darkness broods not upon this land, for twelve great hooded snakes lie coiled upon the bank, and the breath of their mouths is a flame of fire, gleaming upon the dark water and upon those who dwell in the Duat. ”

“ It appears that the bird being sent by a god with a cup for water, loitered at a fig tree till the fruit became ripe, and then returned to the god with a water snake in his claws, and a lie in his mouth, alleging the snake to have been the cause of his delay. ”

“ He would creep and crawl, in ditches and gullies; hide behind stumps and bushes, and practice so much of the cunning of the serpent, that Bill Smith and I—between ourselves—never called him by any other name than "the snake." ”

“ If you come unexpected on a snake in a path, and he sees your foot coming down on him, he lets you know he’s about, and that foot of yours is jest fixed in the air. Well, suppose that snake is not in the path, but jest stretched out ’longside, he don’t call out. For why? ’Cos he knows it’s safer for him and for you that he should keep quiet. I tell you there’s not a man here who hasn’t time and again passed in the dark within a few inches of a snake. ”

“ And Rag Bag Mammy goes every morning and every afternoon with the rag bag on her back across and around the town. And sometimes people say to her, 'The next time the wind blows us away—the next time the wind will blow us so far there won't be any cloud to fasten hat pins in—and you will have to tell us what is in the rag bag.' And Rag Bag Mammy just answers, 'Yes, yes—yes—yes,' and goes on her way looking for the next boy or girl to say, 'Gimme' (once, like that) or 'Gimme, gimme' (twice, like that) or 'Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme' (more times than we can count) . ”

“ So I brought out a ravanâstron, such as professional beggars use, a thing with two strings and a gourd covered with snake-skin. To my surprise the boy's face lost its impassive melancholy in palpable anger.
"The Presence does not understand," he said quite hotly. "We do not beg; Seeta and I fill ourselves with songs. That thing whines for money, money, money, like the devil who made it. Rather would I live by this than by mine enemy." And as he spoke he struck the snake-skin with his supple fingers till it resounded again. ”

“ From parade ground to gymnasium, from gymnasium to swimming-bath, from swimming-bath to running-track, from running-track to boxing-ring, from boxing-ring to gymnasium again. Work, occupation, forgetfulness. Forget the Snake for a little while—even though it is surely lurking near—waiting, waiting, waiting; nay, even beneath his very foot and moving....
Well, a man can struggle with himself until the Thing actually appears in the concrete, and he goes mad—but Night! Oh, God grant deep sleep at night—or wide wakefulness and a light. ”

“ If a man was bold and dexterous enough to catch one of these eggs in his cloak before it touched the ground, he rode off on horseback with it at full speed, pursued by the whole pack of serpents, till he was saved by the interposition of a river, which the snakes could not pass. ”

“ Some people, in the dark or through some other cause, mistake the rope for the snake, but when knowledge comes, the snake vanishes and it is found to be a rope. By this illustration we see that when the snake exists in the mind, the rope has vanished, and when the rope exists, the snake has gone. ”

“ If he asks you what you would like, you would, perhaps, do well to reply, 'The ring on your right hand, and the famous pot and spoon which you possess.' With these in your possession, you would never need anything, for the ring is such that a man has only to speak to it, and immediately a beautiful furnished mansion will be provided for him, while the pot and the spoon will supply him with all manner of the rarest and most delicious foods."
Attended by his three companions the man walked to the well and prepared to jump in, according to the snake's directions. "O master!" ”

“ WHAT THE SNAKE SAW
A little girl and a big ugly man
Went down the road. The girl was crying
And asking to go home, but when she ran
He hit her on the head and sent her flying,
And called her a young imp, and said he'd break
Her neck unless she went with him, and then
He smacked her on the cheek.—I was a snake
At that time crawling through a robber's den,
And diamonds were sticking to my tongue—
(That's the best dodge) , but when I saw the way
He beat the little girl I up and flung
A stone at him. My aim was bad that day
Because I hit the girl ... and she did sing! ”

“ Life ran so cold and numb within, it seemed scarce worth the cost spent in keeping. My scrip was still at my side, but my sword was gone, my clothing torn to ribbons, and a more buffeted messenger never eyed askance the scroll that led him into such a plight. ”

“ The shepherd answered, ‘I desire nothing but the language of animals.’ The snake king, however, said, ‘That is not good for you, for if I give it you, and you tell any one about it, you will instantly die. ”

“ And, as worshiping a Snake may seem very extravagant to such as are unacquainted with the Religion of the Negroes, I shall inform the Reader of the Reasons given for it by the People of Whidaw. This sort of Snake is peculiar to their Country, being of a very singular Make; for they are very big in the middle, rounding on the Back like a Hog, but very small at the Head and Tail, which renders their Motion very slow. ”

“ An Americanism for a photograph taken instantaneously with a portable camera. “Snap” is, however, a good old English word. We speak of a person being “snapped off” by disease--i.e. carried off suddenly.
Sneesh-box. Scottish for a snuff-box.
Snob. This term arose out of the expressions on the part of the vulgar whenever a conceited person who aped gentility was encountered: “He’s a nob,” “He’s not a nob,” or “He wants to make people believe he’s a nob,” until they resulted in the simple exclamation “Snob.” ”

“ They make my might their porter, they make my house their path,
Till I loose my neck from their rudder and whelm them all in my wrath.
"I draw the gliding fog-bank as a snake is drawn from the hole;
They bellow one to the other, the frightened shipbells toll. ”

“ I call this a most inhospitable way to receive me! What do you mean by stopping up my favorite chimney? Never mind, I'll forgive you, for this is an unusual occasion. Here, some of you fellows, lend a hand and help me out with my sack. ”

“ This thought was in my mind when I heard a rustling of the foliage on the outside near where I stood, and that instant I made as if to copy the example of my companion.
"It is too late now," he said in a low tone. "The snakes are creepin' off satisfied that they are like to get the worst of such a game. They will hatch up some other plan before troublin' us again." ”

“ Courtship.—On the wings of the south wind comes the first wisp of snipe, the will-o-the-wisp of the marshes, here to-day and gone to-morrow, coming and going under the cover of darkness. All through the spring migration and all through the nesting season we may hear the weird winnowing sound of the snipe's courtship flight, a tremulous humming sound, loud and penetrating, audible at a long distance. ”

“ In one of the tricks I seemed to join a piece of string which was cut by the people, and the illusion was so complete that I saw one man going off with it into the corner and pulling at the apparent joining till he sank red furrows round his hands. ”

“ As he rises, the carrier places his snake between his lips or teeth, usually holding it well toward the neck, but often enough near the middle, so that its head may sometimes move across the man's face or eyes and hair, a really harrowing sight. ”

“ She took snuff with exquisite nicety and with the gestures which young people of the present day who have had the happiness of seeing their grandmothers and great-aunts replacing their gold snuff-boxes solemnly on the tables beside them, and shaking off the grains which strayed upon their kerchiefs, will doubtless remember. ”

“ As they sing songs in honour of the snake deity, the young female members of the family, who have been purified by a bath, and are seated, begin to quiver, sway their heads to and fro in time with the music, and the tresses of their hair are let loose. ”