While browsing through the literary pages of this newspaper's Weekend supplement recently, I came across a reference to a book with the intriguing title The Snakebite Survivors' Club. Apparently, in the southern Appalachians, part of the Sunday worship of the members of the Holiness sect includes handling rattlesnakes. And, in a small town in southern India they hold an annual cobra festival, which includes a how-high-can-your-cobra-go competition.
This set me to thinking that few species have had such a bad press as snakes. To compare someone to a snake is almost certainly an insult. The characteristics we associate with snakes are cunning, deceit, betrayal and treachery. Is there any other species that has been quite so vilified as snakes?
It all began with The Book of Genesis. In the Garden of Eden, the devil took the form of a serpent in order to trap the unsuspecting Adam and Eve and so bring perpetual pain and suffering on the human race. For this foul deed, God cursed the serpent, and this curse has followed it ever since. But wasn't the serpent the innocent party in the struggle between good and evil? The devil decided to take its form; the poor old serpent had no say in the matter. But from then on, it was downhill all the way.
In the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, it was, once again, a viper that bit Eurydice and caused her death shortly after the couple's marriage. This condemned Orpheus to a life of sorrow and eventual horrific death.
Were there any extenuating circumstances in this case? The story is really about Orpheus. The storyteller wanted to emphasise his courage and fidelity but, most of all, his musical prowess. Eurydice could have died any old way; it wasn't necessary to make a snake the culprit and blacken the species even further.
And what about the stories of Sinbad the Sailor? He was an ordinary Arab who became fabulously wealthy as a result of seven voyages he made. One of the places he went to was the Valley of Diamonds. He had some bother getting the diamonds because they were guarded by hideous snakes. Another time he went to the Land of Sea Serpents where every grain of sand was pure gold dust but guarded by monstrous sailor-eating snakes.
Now I would be the first to admit that snakes have their faults. What species has not? But I doubt that avarice can be laid at their door. I'm not at all convinced that they have the least interest in diamonds or gold. But it made Sinbad seem so much more heroic that he got away with the loot from under the forked tongues of the creatures.
Then there was Cleopatra, of course. It's amazing the number of great lovers that snakes have reputedly managed to come between. The historical Cleopatra was a bad piece of goods, by all accounts. She almost certainly poisoned her younger brother who was a possible rival to the throne of Egypt. On hearing of Antony's suicide, she decided to imitate him by taking poison. But the writers must have it that the bite of an asp was the way she did it.
We in Ireland have contributed our bit to the anti-snake culture so pervasive in the world since that incident in Eden. Our beloved patron saint is reputed to have banished the species from the island. When the Catholic Church revised its list of saints some years ago, it decided that Patrick no longer fulfilled all the requirements. You may recall a sketch by comedian Dave Allen, pretending to be an irate Irishman phoning up the Pope and shouting: "Quick, Father, put him back on the list, the snakes are coming back!" Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing.
Most snakes are remarkably adaptable to captivity and become quite tame. They are nervous and excitable when caught, but respond quickly to gentle care. Some of them rattle and hiss to warn enemies when disturbed in the wild. So there is no excuse for getting bitten.
Many snakes are, of course, completely harmless. I'm not sure why St Patrick banished them but, whatever their crime, they have more than paid their debt to society by now. I think we should invite them back.