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On her way to work one morning, down the path along side the lake.

A tender-hearted woman saw a poor, half-frozen snake.

His pretty coloured skin had been all frosted with the dew.

“Oh well,” she cried, “I’ll take you in and I’ll take care of you.”

“Take me in, oh tender woman.

Take me in, for heaven’s sake.

Take me in, oh tender woman,” sighed the vicious snake.

She wrapped him all cosy in a curvature of silk.

And then laid him by her fireside with some honey and some milk.

Now she hurried home from work that night and soon as she arrived,

She found that pretty snake she’d taken in and revived.

“Take me in, oh tender woman.

Take me in, for heaven’s sake.

Take me in, oh tender woman,” sighed the vicious snake.

Now she clutched him to her bosom.

“You’re so beautiful,” she cried.

“But if I hadn’t brought you in by now you would have died.”

She stroked his pretty skin again and then she kissed and held him tight.

Instead of saying, “thank you,” that snake gave her a vicious bite.