SLITHERING INTO THE NEW YEAR

As you are probably aware, according to the Chinese calendar, 2013 is the year of the snake...

And to mark that fact, here is a creepy little tale entitled The Man and the Snake written by Ambose Bierce and performed by me to music composed by David Hewson...

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A SERPENTINE TALE

There's an old joke set in the Garden of Eden which goes: God blamed Adam, Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the Serpent and the Serpent didn't have a leg to stand on!

Maybe the fact that the snake has been associated since antiquity with the Old Deceiver is one reason why most of us find these reptiles pretty repellent.

Ophidiophobia, or a fear of snakes, is very common and even some intrepid adventurers, such as Indiana Jones, break out in a muck sweat if they happened to come across one.

Some years ago (to be absolutely truthful, way back in the '90s), I collaborated with my friend, the composer David Hewson to create a recording of a disturbing little anecdote by the 19th Century American satirist and short story writer, Ambrose Bierce (famous for his scurrilous lexicon, The Devil's Dictionary) which may give you a few enjoyable creeps and – at the end of the tale (or tail) – possibly even raise a wry smile.

It is called...

The MAN and the SNAKE

Recording © Brian Sibley & David Hewson