SERPENT WORSHIP, ' CHARMING; ETC. 531 



lure, any more than an intentional intimidation, as discussed 

 in chap, v., I hesitate to affirm. 



'Fascination,' then, may be sometimes imputed to curi- 

 osity, sometimes to an anticipated morsel. It may partake 

 of fear, or i-t may be an involuntary approach ; it may be 

 the struggles of a poisoned creature unable to get away, or 

 the maternal anxieties of a bird or small mammal whose 

 offspring has fallen a victim to the snake. Divesting it 

 of all poetry or magic, it will admit of several matter-of- 

 fact, albeit sometimes tragic explanations. 



>^ 



