Stella Benson’s love of snakes has already been covered; I have recently learned that, at least as a child, Antonia White was a snake lover too. Not only that, but just like Stella Benson she was taken behind the scenes at London Zoo to meet some snakes.
Antonia White was a small girl and Stella Benson an adult when they visited the snakes, which was around 1904/05 for Antonia and in 1917 for Stella. The big coincidence here is that the same person was involved in both invitations to see the snakes up close.
How the visits came about
As previously mentioned, Stella Benson’s privileged visits came about because at the time she was staying with a friend whose husband, Edouard (sometimes anglicised to Edward) Boulenger, was Director of Reptiles at London Zoo.
Some years earlier, Antonia’s father had been great friends with both the eminent Belgian zoologist George Boulenger and his son the above-mentioned Edouard, who at the time was Curator of Reptiles at London Zoo.
Edouard conducted Antonia on tours of the snake cages. She loved holding some of them, which neither of her parents had the courage to do.
Stella Benson felt that she had the soul of a snake. Antonia White sometimes felt less than human. Perhaps they both felt drawn to snakes because they had reptilian-like personalities.
The two snake girls in Witches Abroad
By coincidence, Terry Pratchett, whose books have been recommended as a good antidote to the depressing biographical material, created two sinister snake girls in Witches Abroad.
The snake sisters have been given human forms, but not human minds, by an evil witch. They hypnotise and paralyse some people just by staring at them. They glide rather than walk, have fangs, and scale patterns are visible under their skin. They are very dangerous indeed.
This thought-provoking quotation from Terry Pratchett’s Lords and Ladies also suggests that he was not a great lover of snakes:
How the visits came about
As previously mentioned, Stella Benson’s privileged visits came about because at the time she was staying with a friend whose husband, Edouard (sometimes anglicised to Edward) Boulenger, was Director of Reptiles at London Zoo.
Some years earlier, Antonia’s father had been great friends with both the eminent Belgian zoologist George Boulenger and his son the above-mentioned Edouard, who at the time was Curator of Reptiles at London Zoo.
Edouard conducted Antonia on tours of the snake cages. She loved holding some of them, which neither of her parents had the courage to do.
Stella Benson felt that she had the soul of a snake. Antonia White sometimes felt less than human. Perhaps they both felt drawn to snakes because they had reptilian-like personalities.
The two snake girls in Witches Abroad
By coincidence, Terry Pratchett, whose books have been recommended as a good antidote to the depressing biographical material, created two sinister snake girls in Witches Abroad.
The snake sisters have been given human forms, but not human minds, by an evil witch. They hypnotise and paralyse some people just by staring at them. They glide rather than walk, have fangs, and scale patterns are visible under their skin. They are very dangerous indeed.
This thought-provoking quotation from Terry Pratchett’s Lords and Ladies also suggests that he was not a great lover of snakes:
