62 A BOOK OF MORTALS 



their previous companions. Such fear is not found to any 

 great extent amongst these companions. Dogs often kill 

 snakes as they would rats, and cattle trample them to death. 

 Again the process of sloughing being done in seclusion is 

 one seldom to be observed ; so that many who have passed 

 their lives in snake-infested countries have never seen it. 



Easy enough also, with other theorists, to point out how 

 much of the universality of serpent worship may be ex- 

 plained by pre-supposing in the emerging man another 

 mysterious dread, similar to his supposed fear of Darkness — 

 namely, dread of the mystery of Birth. But surely just as, 

 during the slow process of evolution, the mind of man must 

 gradually have perceived and accepted the mystery of day 

 and night as part of the inevitable routine of daily life, so 

 his mind must also have become accustomed to that other 

 mystery ? Could we imagine him becoming suddenly 

 aware of either, his fear might be explained ; but we cannot 

 do this, for day after day the sun must have been swallowed 

 up in darkness, day after day new life must have come to 

 the world, day after day his growing perceptions must have 

 become accustomed to their task of experience. 



No ! The mystery of the serpent is further to seek. 

 There is indeed, as yet, no theory which fits the fear of the 

 snake which has haunted the hearts of man and woman 

 since the very beginning. For none can deny that ages, 

 long ages ere the Biblical account of the Fall was written, 

 the trail of the serpent was on Man's world. 



Why .? 



None know, though some, like Rabbi Bechai, say sadly, 

 " It is the secret of the Holy Language that a serpent is 

 called saraph as an angel is called seraph." 



