The ancient story of a young African woman who demonstrates her courage when she seeks the python healer to save her father's life, was the one that I got the most feedback on from audiences during my storytelling days. It is still one of my personal favorites. I discovered the original story in an anthology by Merlin Stone entitled "Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood A Treasury of Goddess and Heroine Lore from Around the World." She uncovered the story in her extensive research of ancient womanhood, and gave a brief recounting of "Mella." As a storytelIer I have developed a repertoire of stories about fascinating people in history. Of all the stories from around the world that are collected in Ms. Stone's fascinating volume, the story of Mella stuck with me, and I was inspired to tell the story, using my imagination to fill in some of the details. Ms. Stone was gracious to give me the rights to publish the story in Dreamscape: Real Dreams Really Make A Difference, Published by Tenth Avenue Editions in 1995. The book is out of print, but you can find the text to my version of Mella on my website. I had the opportunity to tell the story on WBAI Radio back in the nineties, with the assistance of Paul Ruest who engineered, and with accompaniment on the upright bass by Bobby Vidal. I rediscovered this recording recently while going through my files and was taken in by the story all over again. Courage and honor and faithfulness never get old, and the story of this African girl who becomes a queen, remains as vibrant and relevant today as it was centuries ago, and may even be the origin of the medical symbol of the serpent still used today.