The Eagle & Serpent public house at Kinlet

Image: © Jeremy Bolwell Taken: 21 Aug 2011

The pub name derives from the Aesop's Fable (Wherein an eagle swooped down on a snake seizing it in his talons intending to carry it off. But the snake or serpent coiled around the eagle resulting in a life-and-death struggle between the two. A man, who was a witness of the encounter, came to the assistance of the eagle, succeeded in freeing him from the serpent and enabling him to escape. In revenge the serpent spat some of his poison into the man's drinking-horn. Heated with his exertions, the man was about to slake his thirst with a draught from the horn, when the eagle knocked it out of his hand, spilling its contents upon the ground. The moral of the tale is: "One good turn deserves another.") The eagle and serpent are also the national emblem of Mexico.

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