One sunny afternoon, I coiled

in the grass, and later wriggled

my way through the woods,

though scaly and limbless I am,

yet uniquely created and

outstanding amongst Beasts.

My charming rhythmic

movement caught the attention

of the hunter, who though struck

by awe, yet desired my lurid

green scales.

On approaching me, the glitter of my

Divinely adorned skin, revealed in the

pasture land by the scorching

rays of the Tropical Sun, calmed his fevered

nerves.

There never was such natural

beauty ever seen by him, in fact if he

were deeply inclined to his ancestral beliefs,

perhaps he would have numbered me with the gods.

Neither the Lilies of the Valley nor

the Garden of Roses

in their astonishing array of colours

could my beauty be likened to.

What manner of creature? said he,

long beautiful belt-like features

fit to adorn the tunics of a goddess.

Yet he sojourns like a priceless

jewel in the midst of the thorny woods.

But who could he possibly be? A fallen Angel?

A reptile with a twin-forked tongue? A mermaid

on the terrestrial? Or even Lucifer himself,

the fairest of Angels all.

But I for the thick woods went

for fear of an age-old foe,

wriggling steadily, steadily along the path,

ready to vanish from

his dreadful sight.