One of them tries to charm me by touching me with a talisman, a snake head.

NEWYORKER: Baptizing the Gun

The talisman fellow keeps hitting my knees with the snake head.

NEWYORKER: Baptizing the Gun

The snake-head man apologizes and salutes him.

NEWYORKER: Baptizing the Gun

So we're basically trying to cut the head off a snake - but the body is so damned long, it's unbelievable.

BBC: Can the gangs of Cape Town be talked out of violence?

There is something approaching an international consensus that Iran is the head of the snake that must be cut off, as the Saudi potentate described it.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The WikiLeaks challenge

The snakes observed appear to accept the robot as real, with one snake even biting the robot's head, according to researchers.

CNN: April 4, 2012 -- Updated 1350 GMT (2150 HKT)

"While I'm taking a picture of all the chaos going on around us, one of these snake charmer guys came up and put his arm around me, and in his hand he has the head of a cobra, " Santelices, 35, remembers.

CNN: Moroccan multisport