POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 95 



Beliefs and superstitions relating to snakes are exceedingly 

 common. These reptiles, by their graceful and sinuous move- 

 ments and the terror of their bite, appear at once to command 

 reverence and awe. The worship of the tree and the serpent was 

 a cult of aborigines of India, the Turanians ; and evidences of 

 ophilolatry, or snake worship, appear in other parts of the world. 

 Kneph, the grand serpent of Egypt, is the father of Hephaes- 

 tus, the god of metals ; and Hi, the serpent god of Chaldea, the 

 master of all wisdom, is also guardian of treasures.* In the 

 mythology of several peoples of the Old World the serpent is asso- 

 ciated with the guardianship of golden treasures and mines. The 

 god serpent of Greece, Cadmus, was regarded as the first miner, 

 and he was, according to Pliny, the first workman in gold.f 



Stories are extant of an exchange of form between human be- 

 ings and snakes, an interesting example of which was at one 

 time currently reported in South Whitehall, Lehigh County, 

 Pennsylvania. Further reference to this will be made presently. 



A very common belief is to the effect that if one kills the first 

 snake met with in the spring, no others will be observed during 

 the remainder of the year. In Swabia, tales are still told of home 

 snakes which appear to bring good luck, but which must under 

 no circumstances be killed. These snakes come to the children 

 and sip milk with them out of their bowls. Tales of this class 

 were common a score of years ago, and I remember hearing of a 

 child eating bread and milk from a saucer, while a huge black 

 snake drank freely from the same dish, but at short intervals the 

 child would playfully tap its spoon upon the snake's head, saying, 

 " Du musht me" mok'ka fres'sa," to cause it to drink less milk 

 and to eat more of the bread. 



Occasionally we hear of black snakes found in pastures where 

 they suckle cows, so that these animals daily resort to certain 

 localities to secure relief from a painful abundance of milk. 



Some of these house and farm snakes wear crowns, and are 

 then termed king snakes. Such were reported from several local- 

 ities in Lehigh County, one of which was said to abide in a large 

 pile of rocks near Macungie. It was seldom, however, that this 

 golden-crowned serpent was seen ; still, the greater number of resi- 

 dents thereabout were firm believers in the truth of the report. 



As an illustration of the belief in the transformation of human 

 beings into serpents, I will relate a circumstance said to have 

 occurred during the first half of the present century. Near Trex- 

 lertown, Lehigh County, dwelt a farmer named Weiler. His wife 

 and three daughters had, by some means or other, incurred the 



* Jones. Credulities Past and Present. London, 1880, pp. ]2<), I'il. 

 f Jones. Op. (if., 121. 



