Snake charmer

“ This is quite enough to cause alarm, for, naturally, no one likes to have such fellow-lodgers, and the snake charmer is paid a certain sum for each reptile he may catch, besides being given the snake itself. He pops it into a bag, and in due time it forms part of his corps de ballet.
Now the chief snake charmer in Cairo, whose name was Abd-el-Kerim, had for some time been prowling about the French Consulate, peering in at the doors and windows, and shaking his head in a manner which was far from encouraging. ”

“ AN EGYPTIAN SNAKE CHARMER
Every one has heard of snake charmers. There are many of them in India, and not a few in Egypt too. They walked about the streets of Cairo—or used to do so, for I am speaking of a good many years ago—with boxes and baskets, which contained every imaginable kind of reptile. ”

“ It is not true, as was formerly believed, that the snake-charmer can entice snakes out of their holes by the soothing tones of his flute and make them dance to his piping. The dancing is a much simpler affair. When the captured snake rears up and sways the upper part of his body to and fro, the charmer holds out some hard object, perhaps a fragment of brick. The snake bites, but hurts himself, and after a while gives up biting. Then the charmer can put his hand in front of the snake's head without being bitten. ”

“ Dale let out a yell and retreated, and so did the other boys.
[139]
“They are harmless,” called out George Strong. “They are common wood-snakes. See, they have crawled out of sight already. They are more scared than you are.”
“I must say I hate snakes,” said Jack. “I am willing to leave them alone if only they will leave me alone.”
“The trouble is, most folks know very little about snakes,” said the teacher. “Why, a snake can be made a great pet, just like a cat or a dog, or a bird. Many snake-charmers really make pets of their snakes.” ”

“ Sometimes snake charmers will allow their pets to bite them, and, when the blood appears upon the surface of the skin, they place lozenges of some black absorbent upon the wounds to suck up the blood and afterward sell them at high prices for charms and amulets. ”

“ Let those who are snake-charmers play with snakes; if harm comes to them, they are prepared for it. But these boys are so innocent, all the world is ready with its blessing to protect them. They play with a snake not knowing its nature, and when we see them smilingly, trustfully, putting their hands within reach of its fangs, then we understand how terribly dangerous the snake is. ”

“ Snake charmers are found in every village. They are usually priests, monks or sorcerers, and may generally be seen in the neighborhood of Hindu temples and tombs. They carry from two to twenty hideous reptiles of all sizes in the folds of their robes, generally next to their naked bosoms, and when they see a chance of making a few coppers from a stranger they draw them out casually and play with them as if they were pets. Usually the fangs have been carefully extracted so that the snakes are really harmless. ”

“ The snake-charmers wind the strange pets around their necks and bodies, and play with them in many ways; and when all their tricks are concluded the serpents are returned to the baskets, and a collection is taken for the benefit of the showman. ”

“ These are the especial favourites of the professional snake charmers.
When it is borne in mind that snakes have been tamed by persons of only slight experience, we can easily comprehend that with a life’s practice, and with inherited facilities, the Oriental jugglers must acquire peculiar expertness in dealing with their ‘charmed’ specimens. ”

“ At this the giantess laughed and said, "Foolish girl, drive away these gloomy thoughts. None of us will die, save at the hands of him alone who will, in one breath, reach the white column of crystal under yonder tank, take out the large snake hid in it, and placing the animal on his breast, despatch it with one stroke of his sword. But for every drop of the snake's blood that may fall to the ground, there will start into existence seven thousand beings like us." ”

“ Most of them are beautifully marked and spotted, and some shine like gold in the sun, while others have pale, soft tints; but these lovely colours fade in death, just as those of fish do; so that a snake in all its glittering beauty can only be seen when alive. They often change their skins, creeping out of the old and appearing ready-dressed in the new. A traveller along the banks of the Nile has often found these cast-off skins in the fields; they are always turned inside out, for the old skin, which is very soft, folds back as the snake slips out of it. ”

“ Swift as a snake she turned, clinging fiercely about him, pressing fiercely again to his her insatiable sweet fervent lips, crying that here must he dwell unto eternity in the intoxication of perfect love and pleasure. ”

“ Circe's venomed flagon embruted less than doth the Lamia's wine,
Than Comus' cup more perilous to sup—
As snakes are worse than swine.
The poet's snake enchanted, who so flaunted her borrowed robes amidst the daffodils,
Hath piteous touches. She, from Fate's clutches, free some brief space, "escaped from so sore ills,"
Moves our compassion. But this modern fashion of Snake Enchanter looks unlovely all.
Greed's inspiration its sole fascination.
Low selfishness its thrall. ”

“ He recognizes it equally in the snake that glides from under the stones of the tumulus, in the beast or bird that crosses his path after the offering of prayer to his deified ancestor, in the shadowy form that eludes his prying gaze amid the dense shades of the primeval forest, and in the vague human shape that stands beside him in his dreams, and whispers into his ear uncertain warnings or dim promises for the future. ”

“ What has become of the classical slime I cannot tell, but it is a fact that the skin of a modern snake is always delightfully dry and clean, and as smooth to the touch as velvet.
The next thing that attracts attention is their beauty, not so much the beauty of their colours as of their forms. With few exceptions, snakes are the most graceful of living things. Every position into which they put themselves, and every motion of their perfectly proportioned forms, is artistic. ”

“ She, too, has been picking berries, and has come suddenly upon a monster snake just gliding from a cedar bough almost over her head. When her fright subsides he at once hunts for and kills that reptile with far more satisfaction than he ever felt in killing one before. It is an ungrateful return, for although the boy knew it not, the snake has done him a greater kindness than he ever realized. Then when all danger is removed, how sweet it is to sit beside her in the shade and talk over schooldays while he looks into her tender blue eyes. ”

“ But the serpent also is beautiful—superficially smooth, tapering in form, elegantly elastic, absolute in symmetry, undulating in motion, every element of beauty in woman finds its counterpart in the snake; yet we love the one, loathe the other—loathe it because we have inherited the instinct that tells us it is one of our natural enemies, whose touch is destruction ”

“ In the evening, by lamp light, they become lively, and then, twisting about and flashing forth their snaky splendors, they present a fine spectacle. The snake-room, with its walls of glass, behind which the snakes live, reminded me of the old northern myth of Nastrond, the roof of which was woven of snakes’ backs, the final home of the ungodly—an unpleasant, but vigorous picture. ”

“ I have elsewhere pointed out the small part which the Great Plumed Serpent plays in this ceremony, and the absence of fetishes or idols of this personage in the secret portions of the ceremony. The only symbol of the plumed snake which is found is on the kilts of the snake priest. As nearly as I can judge of its place in the components of primitive supernatural concepts, it seems to be an example of animal totemism and ancestor worship in which special powers to bring the rains are believed to belong to the reptiles, descendants, like the living participants, of a snake mother. ”

“ Snakes seem to be able to “charm” or mesmerize small animals, and sometimes even human beings, by fixing their gaze steadfastly upon them. The victim appears to be smitten dumb and motionless with terror, and a bird thus charmed will presently flutter straight toward the open mouth of the snake. ”

“ At times the great snake would stop and, raising its head two feet from the ground and swaying back and forth, would stare here and there with fixed lidless eyes while the white patch on its lower jaw gleamed in the sun, and its long, black forked tongue played in and out like the flicker of a flame. ”

“ It was alive!—writhing!—cold as the body of a monster snake, and just as vicious and savage in the way that it whipped down and about him in the gloom of the starless night.
The thing was alive! It threw its coils around his body in an embrace that left him breathless; a slender tendril was tightening about his neck; his hands and arms were bound. ”

“ Indeed we meet the serpent there with absolutely identical significance and in dementia præcox also in other pictures which are of dream-like construction, for example, in delusions, hallucinations, wish deliria, etc. There are snakes which creep into the genitals or bite near them. They are cold, disgusting (as with Oda) , they have the same tendency to produce terror, and a feeling of uneasiness that so often adheres to the anticipation of the sexual. Snake dreams are very common with hysterical women and can almost always be traced to this signification. ”

“ The Fetish attendants become skilled in managing their reptile gods, and are not slow in investing themselves with especial powers for their office. And to this may the origin of the so-called ‘charmers’ be traced; [515] for ‘snake charming,’ like snake worship, dates back to the very earliest ages. With a more intimate knowledge of the reptilian class which modern zoology has brought about, comes happily a clearer insight into the tricks of the snakemen, jugglers, and charmers of Egypt and the East. Snake-taming to-day is not confined to Saadees and Samp Wallahs ”

“ The fascinating power ascribed to the black snake is an error. When a snake is discovered in the vicinity of a nest, the male bird mounts a spray, and in great agitation flutters his wings in a threatening manner, till an opportunity offers of flying down to the attack. In these encounters the snake sometimes succeeds in biting the bird, and in injecting its venom, when the effect of the poison is so sudden, as to paralyse the further efforts of the latter; hence has arisen the supposed power of fascination, and the story of birds flying into the snake's jaws. ”

“ These curving forms, these scintillant colourings create at once, upon sight, more relentless animosities than do shake barbaric tribes. To be born a snake is to be thrust into a place a-swarm with formidable foes. To gain an appreciation of it, view hell as pictured by priests who are really skilful.
As for this snake in the pathway, there was a double curve some inches back of its head, which, merely by the potency of its lines, made the man feel with tenfold eloquence the touch of the death-fingers at the nape of his neck. ”

“ How much is due merely to gentleness of touch and fearlessness, and how much to any personal peculiarity which pleases the senses of the snake, it is difficult to say, for the instances, though not few, and perfectly well authenticated, are sufficiently rare to be popularly regarded as his own voice, attract to himself and handle with impunity all the snakes which might be within hearing in any thicket or dry stone wall, such as in that country is their favourite refuge. ”

“ Those few who, in their journey in the wilderness, have “dreamt” of a snake and made it their “spirit,” become invariably “Medecines.” This reptile, though always harmless in the western countries (except in some parts of the mountains on the Columbia, where the rattle-snake abounds) , has ever been looked upon with dread by the Indians, who associate it with the evil spirit. ”

“ They thoroughly understand the movements of the sluggish and timid serpents with which they are toying; and while keeping up a perpetual gabble to divert the attention of the spectators, aggravated by the tum-tumming and so-called ‘music’ to which the snakes are supposed to ‘dance,’ they themselves keep just beyond striking reach, and provoke the snake to follow the waving motion of their hands. ”

“ It should never be allowed to sit shivering, as it were, in the expectation of some dreadful thing—not, that is to say, before the snake obliges it to do so. Another most important point is this. Under nature, and in their own homes, snakes are in possession of their full muscular and vital energies during the time of year at which they are abroad, and take their meals. ”

“ From time immemorial, the poor snake—who is comparatively a harmless animal, and whose deadly powers have been greatly exaggerated—has been hated and persecuted by man more than any other creature; thus fulfilling in a remarkable manner the prophecy of the Sacred Book. ”

“ None the less, medieval medicine and modern folklore testify to the deep impression made by terror of the snake upon popular imagination, and it is significant that Pliny gives to snake-bite the place of honour in his list of ills which may be remedied by simples. ”