Throwing the Book at Us (Tuesday october 15th, 11:30 pm)

[Shaper Jenn]

Chapter 1

A Chance Meeting 

It was lovely summer weather in the country, and the golden corn, the green oats, and the haystacks piled up in the meadows looked beautiful. The stork walking about on his long red legs chattered in the language of the Fire Elves, which he had learnt from his mother. The corn-fields and meadows were surrounded by large forests, in the midst of which were deep pools. It was, indeed, delightful to walk about in the country.
 In a sunny spot stood a pleasant old farm-house close by a deep river, and from the house down to the water side grew great burdock leaves, so high, that under the tallest of them a little child could stand upright. The spot was as wild as the centre of a thick wood. In this snug retreat sat a snake on her nest, watching for her young brood to hatch; she was beginning to get tired of her task, for the little ones were a long time coming out of their shells, and she seldom had any visitors. The other snakes liked much better to bask in the sunny spots in the canopy than to slither across the cool grass, and sit under a burdock leaf, to have a gossip with her.
At length, one shell cracked, and then another, and from each egg came a living creature that lifted its head and cried “Sss! Ssss!” 
“Sssssss” said the mother and they all hissed as well as they could.
“Are you all out?” Asked the mother. “No. I declare, the smallest egg has not yet hatched. I wonder how long this is to last. I am quite tired of it.” And she coiled herself again on the eggs.  
 That night, in the light of the full moon, a terrible sound roused the entire patch of the forest. A turkey cock, who had been born into the world with spurs, and fancied himself really an emperor, rattled about the burdock leaves as he chased a black cat. He was puffed out like a vessel in full sail and flew at the old cat with a kitten hanging in her mouth. Both were quite cloudy in the face with passion. Wump. Wump. 
 In two strikes, the cat lay pooled in the forest and the turkey cock galumphed away, proud to protect his flock.The kitten had soared through the air as a sparrow and landed comfortably on one of the large leaves, but passed out from exhaustion. 
The mother snake waited to be sure he was gone and then she drove forwards, eager to make a meal of the prize before anyone else could, because a cat would feed her and her brood for the whole summer. But as she approached, the cat moved with the last of its energy. Wump. The serpent lay dead and the shade of the burdock leaves tinged with blood. The mother cat swallowed the serpent whole, eager to get her strength, but did not account for the red and yellow bands touching among the snake’s sleek black scales.  She died within moments from a deadly poison, leaving the forest quiet except for the crickets that bore witness and whispered what they had seen to the winds on their tiny violins. They sung how the birds came and took away the bodies. They sung how brave the turkey cock was. They sung of how the moon shone on the blood in the forest.
They did not sing when the magpie, who could eat poison and really fancied himself a rogue, fluttered down to the nest and began to peck, peck, peck, and pick off the baby snakes one by one, no more than fat worms to his stomach. The shells went into the leaf litter, the snakes went into his crop. And when he flew away, the last egg began to crack.  
At length, the kitten roused and ambled, crying out “Meow? Meow?”
“Ssssss. Sssss.” Came a voice from the nest, and the very last snake slid out of the egg. 
The kitten, as curious as the idiom, wandered closer, and peered into the side of the nest, on account of the rim only being a few inches high. The snake stared back at her with huge, unblinking eyes and fluttered her tongue. 
“What sort of a creature are you?” Asked the kitten. 
“Not rightly sure. I’m only new to the world.” 
“You are exceedingly ugly. But that will not matter if you do not wish to call yourself a cat.” The cat had not been from her mother’s womb long and was very saucy.
“If you are a cat, that will be no trouble.” Replied the snake, and she shivered in the cold before daybreak, when even the summer is chilled.
The kitten slowly clambered into the nest and the snake boldly pushed against her warm fur. The cat rested her chin on the snake’s scales and fell fast asleep.