SNAKES AND SNAKE STORIES 429 



SAVE ALL LIVE HOOP-SNAKES. 



I received a very interesting letter from a man 

 in the State of Washington, who claims not only 

 to have seen 



TWO HOOP-SNAKES, 



but to have killed one himself. Unfortunately he 

 requested me not to publish his letter and I must 

 hold such requests sacred. It can be said, however, 

 without fear of contradiction, that there are prob- 

 ably many very many people who have seen, 

 not only hoop-snakes, but have seen the hazel-rod 

 turn in the hand of a diviner and point to the water 

 beneath, though we are of the opinion that the 

 water would have been found just the same with- 

 out the mummery of the forked hazel twig and 

 its appeal to the aid of the old god Thor. Hoop- 

 snakes, hazel-rods, lucky stones, horseshoes, and 

 the thread of red worsted which the old peasant 

 woman still ties to her cow's tail before sending it 

 out to pasture, all these are heirlooms from the 

 faith of our superstitious ancestors, who lived in 

 a world in which fairies and gnomes, hobgoblins, 

 witches and mermaids, 



THE UNICORN AND THE SEA SERPENT 



played a very real part. 



Under the fierce, cold electric light of this age 

 of scientific investigation, these things in which our 



