Adjusting it to their lips, they began to play;
and the music was not bad, and it appeared to be capable of charming the
cobras, for they raised their heads out of the baskets.
The melody produced a strange effect upon the reptiles, for they began to
wriggle and twist as they uncoiled themselves. They hissed and outspread
their hoods, and instead of being charmed by the music, it seemed as though
their wrath had been excited. They made an occasional dart at the human
performers, who dodged them as though they had been in their native
jungles, with their business fangs in order for deadly work. But the Hindu
gentleman explained that they could bite, though they could not kill, after
their poison fangs had been removed.
Then one of the performers stood up, and seizing his snake by the neck, he
swung him three times around his head, and dropped him on the floor. There
he lay extended at his full length, as stiff as though he had taken a dose
of his own poison.
"I have killed my serpent!" exclaimed the Hindu with a groan. "But I can
make him into a useful cane."
Sir Modava interpreted his remarks, and the fellow picked up his snake, and
walked before the audience, using it as a staff, and pretending to support
himself upon it. Then he held out the reptile to the visitors, and offered
to sell his cane; but they recoiled, and the ladies were on the point of
rushing from the room when Sir Modava ordered him off.
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