Note 149 — The Ninth Book.
Reading edition
A serpent which that aspidis Is cleped, of his kinde hath this, That he the stone noblest of all The whiche that men carbuncle call, Bereth in his head above on high. For whiche whan that a man by slight The stone to wynne, and him to dante, With his carecte him wolde enchante, Anone as he perceiveth that He leyth downe his one ear all plat Unto the ground, and halt it fast, And eke that other eare als faste He shoppeth with his taille so sore, That he the wordes, lasse or more Of his enchantement ne hereth. And in this wise himself he skiereth, So that he hath the wordes wayved, And thus his eare is nought deceived. Gower.
Does not “the deaf adder, that heareth not the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely,” allude to some snake that cannot be enticed by music, as they catch them in Egypt?