The Story of the Snake

Hush, hush, hush! Move nearer to me. Look into my eyes.

I have always been a charming creature, so gentle, so sensitive, so grateful, and wise, and noble, and so elastic in the curvings of my beautiful body! It will be a joy for you to see my quiet dance: now I will curl my body in rings; my scales will glitter dully, as I embrace myself so gently and in this tender-cold embrace multiply my body of steel.

Alone in the multitude! Alone in the multitude!

Hush, hush! Look into my eyes.

You do not like my swaying motion and my frank open glance? Oh, heavy is my head, and that is why I sway gently from side to side. Oh, heavy is my head, and that is why my look is so open and frank. Move closer. Give me a little warmth, touch my wise forehead with your fingers: in the beautiful lines of my forehead you will find the shape of the bowl into which flows the wisdom, the dew of the flowers of the night. When the curves of my body sweep the air, it retains their windings⁠—the tissue of a most delicate web, the interlacing of the charms of sleep, the fascination of noiseless motion, the soundless whistling of gliding lines. Silent, I sway from side to side; I look and I sway; ah, what a burden I carry on my neck!

I love you.

I have always been a charming creature, and tender was my love. Move closer. Do you see my beautiful little teeth, so white and so sharp? I bit, when I kissed! Oh, no! not painfully; no! gently. Tenderly caressing, I bit so lightly that but the first light drops appeared, and the cries resembled laughter when one is tickled. And this caress of mine was very pleasant; else those whom I kissed would not have come for more caresses. And now I can kiss but once, ah, how sad! But once. One kiss for each⁠ ⁠… it is so little for the loving heart, the feeling soul that seeks to blend with other souls in love! But it is only I, the sad one, that can kiss but once and then again must seek another love. He whom I kiss can know no other love; for him inviolable and eternal is this my only kiss, my wedding kiss so tender. I speak to you so trustfully and when my tale is done⁠ ⁠… I shall kiss you.

I love you.

Look into my eyes. Look, what a magnificent, majestic gaze I have, so firm, so open, piercing as cold steel pressed to one’s heart. I gaze and I sway here; I gaze and I charm you; in my green eyes I gather your fear, your love’s obedient and weary longing. Move closer. It is I who am a queen now, and you dare not gaze upon my beauty. And yet there was a time; such a peculiar time! The mere recollection of it makes me shudder! I was not loved. I was not honored. With cruel ferocity I was hunted down, scorned, and trampled into dust. What a peculiar time!

Alone in the multitude! Alone in the multitude!

I say to you, Move closer!

Why did they not love me?

For even then I was a charming creature, so kind, so gentle. And how I danced! But they tormented me, with fire they burned me. The coarse and heavy beasts trampled me down with the large hoofs of their madly-beating feet; the cold tusks of their bloody mouths tore my tender body. And I gnawed the sand in the impotence of my anguish, swallowed the dust of the earth, and died in despair. Every day I died, trampled into dust. Every day I died in despair. Ah, what a horrid time! The stupid forest has forgotten all this, but won’t you pity me! Move closer. Have pity on me, the long sufferer, so sad, so loving, so beautiful in the dance.

I love you.

How could I defend myself? I had but my beautiful, little, sharp, white teeth, fit only for kissing. How could I defend myself? It is only now that I carry this awful burden of a heavy head upon my neck, it is only now that my gaze is piercing and commanding. At that time my head was light, and my eyes were gentle. I had no poison then. Ah, heavy is my head, and it is so hard for me to hold it up! Ah, I am so tired of my own gaze. There are two stones set into my forehead, two stones for my eyes. Let them be precious jewels, those sparkling stones of mine, but it is so hard to carry them instead of gentle eyes; they press my brain⁠ ⁠… ah, heavy is my head! I look and I sway, and you appear to be in a greenish haze, so far away. Move closer.

Do you see? Even in sadness I am beautiful, and my gaze is languid with love. Look into the pupil of my eye: see, now I expand it, and now I contract it. I can make it twinkle with the peculiar glitter of the night star, I can make it sparkle with the wonderful play of every jewel, the brilliant diamond, the green emerald, the yellow topaz, the bloody ruby. Look into my eyes: a queen, I place a crown upon my head. That which is burning, glittering and sparkling in my eyes, which robs you of your senses, your will, your life, that is my poison, the little drops of my poison.

How did it happen? I know not. I never wished the living evil.

I lived and I suffered. Silent, I concealed myself. Hurriedly I crawled away, when escape was possible. But no one saw me weep, for I cannot weep. Only my quiet dance became more rapid, more beautiful. Alone in the stillness of the desert, alone with the grief in my heart, I danced on. They hated my rapid dance and would have gladly killed me, as I danced there. And then, suddenly, my head began to grow heavy. It was still the same little, beautiful, wise head, and yet it had become dreadfully heavy; it lowered my neck to the earth and hurt me. Now I am used to it, but at that time I was very uncomfortable. I thought that I was ill.

And suddenly⁠ ⁠… Move closer. Look into my eyes. Hush, hush, hush.

And suddenly my gaze grew heavy, stern, and piercing. I was even frightened. Sometimes I want to look at something and turn my gaze away⁠—but no. My gaze is straight, direct; it pierces further, further, as though I were becoming petrified. Look into my eyes. It seems as though I have become petrified and everything I look on turns to stone. Look into my eyes.

I love you. Do not laugh at my confiding story, or you will anger me. So every hour I open wide, confidingly, my heart, and yet I am alone. A ringing anguish fills my last embrace and kiss; and yet I have no lover, and once more I seek for love and tell my tale in vain. I cannot bare my heart; my poison stupefies me, and my head grows heavy. Am I not beautiful in my despair? Move closer.

I love you.

Once I was bathing in a forest marsh. I like to be clean, for it is a sign of noble birth, and so I bathe often. And bathing there, and dancing in the water, I saw my own reflection and fell in love with it. Ah, how I love the beautiful and wise! And suddenly, upon my forehead, amongst the ornaments of nature, I saw a strange new sign. Perhaps it is this sign that causes my head to be so heavy, my gaze so sharp and steel-like, my mouth so sweet with poison. Here, here it is, this cross upon my forehead, here, you see? Move closer. Is it not strange? I did not understand it then; I was even fond of it. Let there be still another ornament, I said. And on that day, that awful day when first the cross appeared, my kiss, my kiss, became the first and last kiss I could give, the kiss of death.

Alone in the multitude! Alone in the multitude!

Ah!

You like precious stones, but think, O my beloved, think how much more precious is a small drop of my poison. It is so small; have you ever seen it? Never, never. But you will know it. Think, my beloved, what horrid pains, insults unbearable, and impotent, self-gnawing wrath, I had to suffer to bear that little drop. I am a queen! I am a queen! In this one drop, borne by me, I hold the death of all the living, and boundless is my kingdom, as boundless as grief and death. I am a queen! Relentless is my gaze. My dance is terrible! How beautiful I am!

Alone in the multitude! Alone in the multitude!

Do not fall. I have not finished. Move closer. Look into my eyes.

Ah!

And then it was I crawled into the foolish forest, my present kingdom. I was gentle as a queen, and graciously, so like a queen, I bowed to everybody. And they⁠—they ran away! I bowed to them, bowed graciously, bowed like a queen, and they, the fools, ran fast away. Why did they run away? What do you think? Look into my eyes. Do you see there a twinkle, a glitter? Do you? The rays of my bright crown now blind you; now they turn you to stone; you are lost. Ah, now I shall dance my last, last dance. Do not fall. Now I shall curl my body in rings, my scales will glitter dully, as I embrace myself so tenderly and in this tenderly-cold embrace multiply my body of steel. Here am I! Accept this bridal kiss of mine, this only kiss. Ah, there is in it the deathlike anguish of all lives oppressed!

Alone in the multitude! Alone in the multitude!

Bend over me. I love you.

Die!