Stories about Snakes

First Story.

There once was a little child whose mother gave her a small bowl of milk and bread every afternoon. The child sat in the yard to eat. As she began to eat, a snake came creeping out of a crack in the wall. It dipped its little head into the bowl and ate with her. The child liked this. When she sat there with her bowl and the snake did not come at once, she called,

"Snake, snake, come quickly, Come here, you tiny thing, You shall have your crumbs of bread, You shall refresh yourself with milk."

Then the snake came quickly and enjoyed its food. It was grateful, for it brought the child all kinds of pretty things from its hidden treasures: bright stones, pearls, and golden toys. The snake only drank the milk and left the bread crumbs.

One day the child took her little spoon and gently tapped the snake on its head, saying, "Eat the bread crumbs too, little one." The mother, who was standing in the kitchen, heard the child talking to someone.

When she saw that the child was tapping a snake with her spoon, she ran out with a log and killed the good little creature.

From then on, a change came over the child. As long as the snake had eaten with her, she had grown tall and strong. But now she lost her pretty rosy cheeks and grew thin. Soon the funeral bird began to cry at night, and the robin gathered twigs and leaves for a funeral wreath. Before long, the child lay on her deathbed.

Second Story.

An orphan child sat on the town wall spinning. She saw a snake coming out of a hole low in the wall. Quickly she spread out a blue silk handkerchief beside the hole. Snakes like blue silk and will only crawl on it.

When the snake saw the handkerchief, it went back, then returned with a small golden crown. It laid the crown on the handkerchief and went away again. The girl picked up the crown. It glittered with delicate golden filigree.

Soon the snake came back, but when it no longer saw the crown, it crept up the wall and beat its little head against it in grief until it lay dead. If the girl had left the crown where it was, the snake would certainly have brought more treasures out of the hole.

Third Story.

A snake cries, "Huhu, huhu." A child says, "Come out." The snake comes out. The child asks about her little sister: "Have you not seen Little Red-stockings?" The snake says, "No." "Neither have I." "Then I am like you. Huhu, huhu, huhu."