[ How the Neuse River Came to Be ] by [ Christian ]
One day, a long, long time ago there was a snake. His name was Neuse, and he lived in the Piedmont region. Every spring, Neuse migrated to the ocean to cool off from the heat that followed. He traversed from the Piedmont to the great Atlantic and then back again in the fall. These were also the only two times Neuse fed. He would open his mouth so wide that he blocked out the sun, and all the animals ran home, thinking it was night.
Soon Neuse had worn quite a path in the land. One year water started flowing down Neuse's trail. All the animals ignored it, except for Dog. Dog saw Neuse's trail, and saw how Neuse came over it every year. You see, Dog had reasons to track the snake. A few years before, Neuse came through on his way to the ocean and swallowed up half of Dog's pack! Dog had been trying to track Neuse for two and a half years until one day he met Man.
Dog was polite to Man and said Hello to Man when they saw each other. Man told Dog that he, too, had been tracking Neuse because Neuse had destroyed his home when he went by one day. Dog and Man and Man and Dog talked for many moons because Dog and Man could talk back in those days, you see. They talked and planned until they had planned the perfect plan for catching Neuse. They set about making preparations for their plan until their preparations had all been made. Then they waited. They waited until the third year since half of Dog's pack had been eaten (which is why Three is such a lucky number). And then they saw Neuse.
He came slithering a slithery, slimy, snaily trail until he reached the plan Dog and Man had made to trap him. There Neuse stopped and became confused, in that order, of course. Because he was a snake and snakes aren't used to confusion. He saw two paths ahead of him, where he was used to there being one. He sat down and thought about the puzzle before him (which is where we get the phrase “Puzzled” from, you see). While Neuse sat, Dog and Man sneaked up on him and tied him up very nicely in a knot. Dog and Man told Neuse to give back their friends that Neuse had swallowed. Neuse refused because snakes are stubborn, you see.
Finally, Dog, Man, and Neuse made a deal. It was that Dog and Man would let Neuse go to live in the Piedmont and go between there and the ocean only if he wasn't ever seen again. Neuse agreed and gave Man and Dog back their friends. Dog and Man decided they liked each others company, and so from then on, Dog and Man and Man and Dog were best friends.
Neuse kept his promise and stayed out of sight and moved from the Piedmont to the ocean and back without being seen. But every so often Neuse would send a little snake scout out to see if Man and Dog are still around and that's why we see snakes every so often around the place. Man and Dog named the river the Neuse River so that people from all places would be able to know that Neuse lived in that river. Legend has it that Neuse still lives in the bottom of the river, though nobody knows for sure.
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I was born and grew up in New Bern my whole life. I have been everywhere and seen almost everything this wonderful city has to offer. I've gone to school here, met my best friends here, and had some of the best memories of my entire life in New Bern.
My inspiration came from this city and all the untold stories it holds. I thought about these and decided to make a story of my own for the world to know. I got a few ideas for the story from things you can see around New Bern, such as the snakes that are able to be seen quite often.
I look forward to living here for many years to come. Even if I end up leaving, I'm sure I'll have to return to my fantastic small hometown of New Bern, North Carolina.