THE SNAKE. 



209 



than to play pranks, which the dame has peremp- 

 torily forbidden. 



In the village of Walton there is a cross road 

 known by the name of Blind Lane. One summer's 

 evening, as an old woman, named Molly Mokeson, 

 was passing the causeway in this lane, a man, by 

 name Wilson, saw a snake gliding onwards in the 

 same direction. " Molly," said he, " look ! there s 

 a snake running after you." She turned her head 

 to see what was the matter ; and, on observing the 

 snake approaching, fear seized her withered veins." 

 After getting some twenty yards further up the 

 causeway, she took refuge in a neighbour's house, 

 and sat down in silent apprehension, not having 

 breath enough to tell her troubles. In the mean 

 time, Wilson had followed up the snake, and, being 

 without a stick, he had tried repeatedly to kick it, 

 but had always missed his mark. All of a sudden^ 

 the snake totally disappeared. Now, the true solu- 

 tion of this chase is nothing more or less than that 

 the snake had been disturbed by the old woman, 

 and had taken its departure for some other place, 

 but, on seeing a man coming up from behind, it had 

 glided harmlessly along the path which the old wo- 

 man had taken ; and then, to save its life, it had 

 slipped into the weeds in the hedge-bottom. 



Nothing was talked of in the village, but how that 

 Molly Mokeson had been chased by the devil ; for 

 the good people of Walton, wiser in their generation 

 than the sages of Philadelphia, never dreamed of 

 taking this animal for a real snake ; knowing full 

 well that snakes are not in the habit of chasing men 

 p 



