We were sitting to tea under a cool peach-tree near Maria Rovenza´s fence when out – through it – shot a lizard at high speed ( quite near my quiet feet ) pursued by a very long snake, it also at high speed. The lizard accelerated even more.
Ditto the snake ( – ignored us completely – ) , her head held high, jaws wide open for imminent dinner. Very long and thin and mean and hungry and super-fast! Up on its
high horse, it lepped, swayed, danced, undulated, bucked and then SPRANG after the little victim which was streaking across flower-beds and terrace, hoping against hope to reach the road-gate. I grabbed a stick and, yelling, chased the chasing Schlanknatter ( Coluber Najadum ) chasing its speeding morsel. Only as I got near enough to attempt a whack did it slow down, eye me malevolently; it then dived into the roses. Where it no doubt still is, sulking, hungry. Little lizard lucky.
I´ve been asking; nobody here has ever heard of a snake speeding so fast and with the whole body bicycling up and down like something in a Disney nature-film of them fifties.
This was ” Quasi Una Visione” alright . Some snake´s hunger. Not a viper. ( – Franco killed a huge ” Viperone” down in Maria´s long grass last week. )
No hysteria ; but still it´s foot it on the cautious toe. And it´s back to shnake shticks , so it is.
More snake stories as this long, hot summer enfolds. I hope not vipers. No.
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