Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Serpents
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
196 J 22 FABLED STORIES FROM THE ZOO.
myself into an earthen jar, and be caught. I
understood from this that they did not want to
kill me; so I had to submit, and disgorged
my little ones in my narrow prison, to the no
small surprise of the captors, who thus got a
whole family by one capture. I intended first
to let them loose before creeping into the pot;
but I dreaded the ash-leaves even more, for
they would have been certain death to them."
" By the earthen jars, I judge you are all from
India," said a splendid cobra in a neighbouring
cage, twined round a bit of a tree-branch. I
could now more plainly discern the
articulations, and began to speculate whether he could
have inherited the power of speech as a
legitimate legacy fi;om the primeval eldest serpent
that lived in Paradise, and is said to have
spoken direct to our first mother, and to have
accompanied her out of Eden when he had
brought the first curse upon man, the sin of
disobedience. However, I had no time to
reflect, but listened.
" Some thousands of years ago my
ancestors lived in Egypt, and were worshipped
by its people, and commemorated to this day
in their mummies and sarcophagi."
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
