another explanation

This time to do with snakes and witches.

An 18-year old witch was arrested in the communal lands near Mutare. She confessed that she worked for her uncle, who kept a python and a spitting cobra. They travelled on the back of the python whenever they needed to, she said.

The judge -- a traditional chief -- was not amused. He said that it was because of the snakes -- especially the spitting cobra -- that there was no rain.

There may be a logical explanation to this. We killed (or rather my mother-in-law's gardener did) a spitting cobra in the garden last week. Grey, not too long: first we thought it might be a male boomslung. But then we saw the black strip under its neck. It bulged in the middle, obviously from the frog my six-year-old had also had his eye on.

What did she get out of being a witch? Apart from free transport, possibly. Actually what the girl wanted was NOT to be a witch. She was confessing because her baby boy had died. She thought witchcraft was to blame.