Serpents and Werewolves by Lari Don Page A

who charmed snakes in the marketplace. She spoke to the King and Queen about the day they found their son. She spoke to the old woman, now ancient and happy in her comfortable home.
    The Princess came up with a plan. She rented a house by the river. At sunset, she filled four wide bowls with warm milk and sugar and laid those four bowls in the four corners of her bedroom. She sat cross-legged in the middle of the room and she waited.
    She heard a gentle hissing. Then snakes came in through the windows and the door, and up through holes in the floor. Big snakes and little snakes, long snakes and short snakes, snakes as dark as night and snakes as bright as sunlight.
    The snakes slithered around the Princess and the snakes slithered over the Princess.
    The Princess sat still and quiet and respectful.
    The snakes slithered towards the bowls of sweet milk. But they didn’t drink. They were all waiting for someone. For something.
    Then the Queen of the Snakes arrived.
    The Princess stood up as a huge snake approached the doorway, slipping and sliding along the ground, long and muscular and sinuous, with dark green scales. The huge snake rose up, her hooded head higher than the Princess.
    The Princess said, “Greetings, Queen of the Snakes.”
    The Queen of the Snakes opened her huge jaws, showed her sharp fangs and spoke. “You have gifts for me.”
    â€œI have the drink that snakes love the most. I will put four bowls out for you and your people every night of my life, if you will give the Prince back his human form.”

    â€œYou dare to bargain with me?” The Queen of the Snakes slithered forward. Her head rose higher. Her eyes and fangs swayed above the Princess’s head.
    The Princess stood firm. “Yes. You have something that I want. Give him to me, and I will give you and your followers sweet milk every night.”
    The Queen of the Snakes hissed and flicked her tongue.
    The Princess stood firm.
    The Queen of the Snakes jerked her head forward and jabbed her fangs into the air just by the Princess’s left shoulder.
    The Princess stood firm.
    The Queen of the Snakes jerked her head forward and jabbed her fangs into the air just by the Princess’s right shoulder.
    The Princess stood firm.
    The Queen of the Snakes nodded. “We will drink, and you will have your prince.”
    She lowered her head delicately to the floor and moved to the largest bowl of milk. She drank, then the other snakes drank, then they left the room, slowly, with the dry smooth noise of scales on wood.
    But one snake, with a pattern of bright gems along its back, remained in the middle of the room.
    That snake writhed and wriggled and squirmed out of its bright skin. And the Prince stood up.
    He thanked the Princess for freeing him from the Queen of the Snakes, then he smiled. “So, are we going to entertain a houseful of snakes every night of our lives?”
    The Princess laughed. “No, we’ll put the bowls of milk in the garden from now on!”
    And they lived in contentment for many years, with only a few small secrets inside their palace and many fat snakes outside.

The First Werewolves
    Greek myth
    The feet of the gods walked the earth long before the paws of werewolves ran here.
    Many years ago, Zeus came to earth disguised as a traveller. He walked the lands and islands of Greece, to see how people lived.
    After many miles, he arrived at the castle of King Lycaon. The people in the villages around recognised a strange power in Zeus. The sparking light in his eyes perhaps, or the rolling note in his voice. They bowed before him and offered him their best food and drink.
    He smiled at them and walked up to the castle. He wanted to meet King Lycaon and his sons, because he’d heard rumours of their cruelty.
    The King heard the praise songs of the people below. From high on the walls of his castle, he looked down and saw the traveller approach his gate, dusty and sweaty, with