Page 30 - The snake's pass

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18 THE SNAKE'S PASS. —
mountain—exceptin' on the say side—an' they all had
their heads pointed up the hill, and their tails pointed
to the Saint, so that they didn't see him, an' they all
gave wan great hiss, an' then another, an' another, like
wan, two, three ! An' at the third hiss the King of
the Shnakes rose up out of the wee fen at the top of
the hill, wid his gold crown gleamin'—an' more betoken
it was harvest time, an' the moon was up, an' the sun
was settin', so the big jool in the crown had the light
of both the sun an' the moon, an' it shone so bright
that right away in Lensther the people thought the whole
counthry was afire. But whin the Saint seen him, his
whole forrum seemed to swell out an' get bigger an'
bigger, an' he lifted his crozier, an' he pointed West, an'
sez he, in a voice like a shtorm, ' To the say all ye
shnakes ! At wanst ! to the say !
"An' in the instant, wid wan movement, an' wid a
hiss that made the air seem full iv watherfalls the whole
iv the shnakes that was round the hill wriggled away
into the say as if the fire was at their tails. There was
so many iv them that they filled up the say out beyant
to Cusheen Island, and them that was behind, had to
shlide over their bodies. An' the say piled up till it
sent a wave mountains high rollin' away across the
Atlantic till it sthruck upon the shore iv America
though more betoken it wasn't America thin, for it
wasn't discovered till long afther. An' there was so
many shnakes that they do say that all the white sand
that dhrifts up on the coast from the Blaskets to