If someone said they knew a serpent story about a mother who threw comfort to the winds for the safety her young, most people would imagine a human mother dashing out to rescue her child from a snake.
Two years ago, when the greenery at the park had not been cut back so much, there was a bush at Corner Cove on which I saw an Ao Daisho, a nonvenomous tree climber snake. All of a sudden, it released the branch it seemed inextricably coiled around and fell into the creek below with a splash. Almost in the same instant--and then I realized it hadn't fallen off the branch; it was a purposeful DIVE, and its tail had HACKED the water intentionally--I saw it curled around and hurriedly ushered tiny tapeworm-like snakes into a side rivulet. Safe.
From her perch on the branch above, had she seen a predator in the water about to prey on her little ones? I don't know how reptilian mothers feel about belly flops or headaches due to sudden changes in air pressure, but I do know even the staunchest, most dangerous swimmer below would have been scared away by suddenly descending shadows from the sky accompanied by exploding tsunami sound.
Thanks, mom.
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Most snake stories make the serpent the "bad guy". This was the first time I even thought of associating a Snake with Mother's Love!
