Snakes Bite

Last year, I heard Joseph Sobel tell a Br’er Possum and Br’er Snake story based on Jackie Torrence’s version of the tale. This week, I listened to a recording of Torrence telling the story and then, looking back to the original Aesop version, commonly known as "The Farmer and the Snake" and a variant entitled "The Little Girl and the Ungrateful Snake," published by Ann Landers in 1998, took the story on myself for a set I’m devising. And so, the archetype I’m pondering today is monster. According to the OED, the Latin origin is “monstrum,” which interestingly enough includes not only “monster,” but also “omen” and “sign.” Once referring to only animals of great size or disfigurement, the term wasn’t applied to people "of inhuman cruelty" until the 1550s. This sheds interesting light on considering the presence of Snake as monster in the story, and the monstrous atrocity he even warns Possum could in fact happen if she (I’ve changed Possum to a female) fails to recognize him for what he is.