Snake Story by Anne, March 2008

One day, Stuart and I were walking along Santa Rosa creek and he spotted a beautiful, large king snake gliding along the underbrush parallel to the edge of the path. It was about 3-1/2 feet long and quite striking looking with its white rings against a dark brown background. We slowed to nearly a halt, fascinated, and kept pace with the snake as it explored every gopher hole and tiny game trail along the grass. At times we were only a foot or two away from it, walking as quietly as we could so as not to disturb it. As we walked, I began to realize that I felt hungry. I became concerned about whether I could make it through the whole walk, even though it was not a very long one, and we had often walked this way before. I wanted to run home and empty the refrigerator! But the snake was so interesting that I decided to wait until we had parted company with it to decide about turning back or not. Eventually the snake's search took it away from our path and down to the creek. As we continued our walk, my hunger completely disappeared. It was then that I realized that the snake had been exploring all the animal holes because it was hungry -- it was hunting. What I had felt was the snake's hunger, not my own! Animals' feelings are quite open and available to us, once we learn to tune in. Sometimes they come in ways we may not expect.

Home Stories