St Patrick's story

We were talking about St Patrick at circle time over the past few days. I had looked for good books to read to the children.

The Last Snake in Ireland: A story about Saint Patrick by Sheila McGill-Callaghan is my favourite. I used it as the background to my own version of the story: once St Patrick was rid of all the snakes, he realised there was one left. A wise old snake who refused to jump into the ocean with the rest of the group. St Patrick had to think for a while. He came up with a very clever trick indeed. He asked the snake to get into a box. The snake looked at the box and told St Patrick that there was no way he would fit into such a tight little box. The 2 of them kept arguing for a while until, tired of the fight, the old snake told St Patrick: "listen, I will prove you wrong. This box is too small. So look.. ". The snake got into the box. Before he could say anything, St Patrick had jumped on the box and closed the lid. The trick had worked. And he threw the box in the ocean... Ireland was rid of its very last snake for ever!!