WILD PASTURES 



where the sunburnt pasture path begins 

 again I was in for another shudder, for 

 here the dragon had entered fairyland. 

 He came, writhing his horrid length 

 along the path, his scales shining in the 

 sun, his great mouth gaping, and up near 

 his abnormally great head two little im- 

 potent forelegs wriggling. Who would n't 

 turn and run before such a creature as 

 this? To be sure he was scarce three 

 feet long, and his curiously mottled- 

 brown back was that of the common 

 adder, one of our harmless snakes, though 

 he looks ugly enough to be stuffed with 

 venom. But this great gaping head 

 and the wriggling forelegs; never did 

 flat-head adder have such a front as 

 this! 



My compassion for snakes that had a 

 right to their dinner vanished before this 

 creature. It is different when it seems 

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