Hiss!
Enigmas
Ground-level view. A sea of green. Moving along at a rapid pace. The green are blades of grass, seen up close. Far, far above is a milky white sky with smears of pale blue peeping through the haze.
You are a snake slithering in the grass and you’re heading straight for a pair of bare legs planted in your path. When you reach them, a long arm reaches down and stops before you. Without hesitation you slide right onto it and climb, wrapping around and around the golden skin. It is soft and smells of olives.
The view now reveals you from the outside. You are a lovely grass snake with glittering eyes that resemble faceted jet beads. Scales ripple in the sunlight like water, smooth and iridescent.
Your human carrier begins to walk. He is one of many, all walking in the same direction, all carrying serpentine cargo. Some have snakes around their legs, some have them draped about their necks. Most carry them on their arms, and all of you are moving towards a village and the cloudy mountain range behind it.
The solemn procession continues through a cobbled street. It is an ancient place, dating back to the Middle Ages. Narrow buildings rise on either side of the thoroughfare, three to four stories tall. People lean out of the open windows and line the street, watching. The mood is lively and joyous, and there is much chatter and laughter floating in the air.
As the men pass by with their cherished riders they are feted with bits of paper confetti and fragrant white flower petals. The snake carriers get to the end of the street and keep walking, away from the village and up into the hills. The farther the procession goes, the quieter it gets until the only sound is the crunching of feet on the rocky ground and the breeze moving gently.
When the group gets to a large meadow, they stop. One by one, the men release the snakes, setting them down to flow into the rocks and brush. You find a hole and slide into it, descending beneath the earth. You move through a subterranean passage carved out by some nocturnal creature you can feel and hear, but not yet see.
The annual tradition has been fulfilled. You and your ophidian cohorts will rest here for the winter; safe, warm and fed until you slowly make your way once again down the mountain to the fallow fields of summer below.
🐍🐍🐍
Love it! I love your voice as a writer.
Many are afraid of them, but snakes are some of my favorite animals.
And I didn't know about this festival until reading this and then looking it up. Very cool
I love how you described this. I really enjoyed this.