Very young children have no fear of snakes because they do not know what they are or rather, they do not know the harm that they can bring. I remember an occasion when after the grass cutting around the neighbourhood, a small grass snake must had wandered off its usual tracks to come into my neighbour's compound. The youngest daughter who was only about two years old saw it first. She walked towards the snake which had found its way up a rattan chair and had its body twined around one of the armrests. She must had thought it was a new toy for the snake was very attractively coloured. When she was almost getting near to the snake, a lady from the house opposite who happened to see it shouted so loudly that the poor child stopped and started to cry. Immediately, the child's mother appeared and the snake which was about a foot long looked at the mother with gleaming beady eyes. It had not understood what the commotion was about but it definitely knew its presence was not welcomed. Very discreetly, it slithered away so quickly that the mother had not a chance to strike it with a stick.
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