28 "FASCINATION" AND THE BASILISK. 



much like an old knot, or scar, or excrescence on the bark, that few per- 

 sons — provided they caught sight of it at all — would think of its being 

 the home of a bird, unless they happened to espy the owner entering or 

 leaving it. 



But in spite of the great care with which this tiny dwelling is hidden, 

 snakes' sharp eyes sometimes find it, as they do the nests of almost all 

 other birds, and they stealthily crawl out on the bending branches, grasp- 

 ing stronger ones with their tails, lest the slenderer supports should break, 

 until they are able to devour the callow young, or to suck the eggs. 



Frequent contests between birds and serpents, in which the reptile 

 sometimes comes off victor, and afterwards eats the bird, have given rise 

 to a widespread notion that the snake's eye has a singular and irresistible 

 influence over most small birds, causing them, in spite of every effort, 

 to draw nearer and nearer, and at last fall senseless into the reptile's open 

 jaws. It has even been said that our common blacksnake "draws" cat- 

 birds down from the tops of tall trees to certain death, by a charm which 

 they had no power to break ; and other incidents, equally hard to believe, 

 are told of the fascination of a serpent's eye. The older these tales are, 

 the more they savor of the marvellous ; for they began to be believed 

 long before any books were written. At last the ancient poets imagined 

 an animal called the basilisk, or the cockatrice, as it is translated in the 

 Bible. They described it as born from an egg laid by a very old cock, 

 and hatched by a reptile. In general shape this fabulous animal was 

 like a chameleon ; but it had a head and eight feet like a cock, and short 

 wings on its shoulders. Its very presence was fatal to all other animals, 

 including man ; its breath poisoned the air, and its glance was death. 

 Presently sceptics began to deny, one by one, these malignant powers, 

 since few fatal cases could actually be traced to that source, until at last 

 the basilisk was bereft of all except the fabulous power to lure any ani- 

 mal to destruction by the fascination of its glittering eye. This idea sur- 

 vives even to this day. People who believe that the really rather dull 

 eye of the blacksnake, or rattlesnake, or tiny grass-snake can charm an 

 active bird into dropping into its jaws, could have believed easily in the 

 griffins and harpies, coquetting sirens, and incombustible phoenixes of the 

 old Greeks. 



At the same time there is a grain of truth in each of these marvellous 

 tales of imaginaiy animals and their deadly qualities. The bird knows 

 perfectly well the danger which lies in getting too near that gently wav- 

 ing head, with its gleaming scales and flaming tongue ; it knows the 

 power of that snake to spring at it and strike it a fatal blow; and the 



