“Hey,” I called as I rounded the corner. “You guys think this is an asp?” My fear of the snake had changed into a sort of wary affection. She seemed to be smiling. I know I was. Sarah swayed from side to side like a wheat stalk in the wind. The boys dropped Joshua’s arms and ran to Jakan, who had turned and slowly backed away.

“Joshua was talking about asps,” I continued, “but I’d have to say that this here is a cobra.”

Joshua was bent over, still trying to catch his breath, but he looked back at me and grinned.

“Of course, I’m not the son of a Pharisee, but—”

“He’s in league with the serpent!” Jakan screamed. “He consorts with demons!”

“Demons!” the other boys shouted, trying to crowd behind their fat friend.

“I will tell my father of this and you’ll be stoned.”

A voice from behind Jakan said, “What is all this shouting?” And a sweet voice it was.

She came out of the house by the smith’s shop. Her skin shone like copper and she had the light blue eyes of the northern desert people. Wisps of reddish-brown hair showed at the edges of her purple shawl. She couldn’t have been more than nine or ten, but there was something very old in her eyes. I stopped breathing when I saw her.

Jakan puffed up like a toad. “Stay back. These two are consorting with a demon. I will tell the elders and they will be judged.”

She spit at his feet. I had never seen a girl spit before. It was charming. “It looks like a cobra to me.”

“See there, I told you.”

She walked up to Sarah as if she were approaching a fig tree looking for fruit, not a hint of fear, only interest. “You think this is a demon?” she said, without looking back at Jakan. “Won’t you be embarrassed when the elders find that you mistook a common snake of the field for a demon?”

“It is a demon.”

The girl reached her hand up, and the snake made as if to strike, then lowered its head until its forked tongue was brushing the girl’s fingers. “This is definitely a cobra, little boy. And these two were probably leading it back to the fields where it would help the farmers by eating rats.”