Snake Stories for Children

The Garden of Eden

• For children being raised in one of the Abrahamic religions -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- a classic snake story is the story of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, the first humans, live in the paradise of the Garden of Eden. The only rule is that they cannot eat from the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. However, a snake tempts Eve into eating one of the tree's fruits, and getting her husband, Adam, to do so as well. After this they, and mankind, are expelled from the Garden of Eden forever. You can find this story in the holy books of these religions, and in more generic forms in children's book stores.

Aesop's Fables

• Aesop's Fables are a collection of short tales, frequently with characters drawn from the animal world. The stories always end with a moralizing message. Many of these tales feature snakes. One of these is the tale of The Serpent and The Eagle, where an eagle hunting a snake finds itself locked in mortal combat with the snake. A man passing by helps free the eagle from the fight, and escape. The embittered snake spits poison into the man's water flask. However, the eagle returns to knock the flask out of the man's hands before he can drink it. The morality of the tale being the old saying: one good turn deserves another.

Native American Snake Myth

• Another story for children is the Native American tale about how snakes came into being. In the beginning, there was only one snake. He was enormously large, and painted every conceivable color. Every night, he tried to attract the attentions of the Moon, the wife of the Sun. After a time, the Sun noticed that the Moon was getting back from her evening route later and later. He set out and saw her talking to the snake. In his anger, he grabbed the snake and broke him into tiny bits. These bits are the different snakes that inhabit the world today.

St. Patrick and the Snakes

• There are no snakes in Ireland. One story that tries to explain this phenomenon is the tale of St. Patrick. There are many variants of the tale of how Patrick, the priest who would become the patron saint of Ireland, drove all the snakes from Ireland into the sea. Some of these stories include one snake that refused to go. Patrick tricked the snake into trapping himself inside a box so Patrick could remove him and finish ridding Ireland of snakes.