An alternative St Patrick snake story
Ok, first off, the Greeks knew there were no snakes in Ireland centuries before Patrick and the claim that the story meant driving the pagans out doesn't fit with his own writings--he had more problems with other christians than he seemed to have with the people who once enslaved him; he liked the Irish. But I found this tale more likely---
You see, when the raiders from the north came a-viking, they noticed there were no snakes, no toads, no slithering critters whatsoever (there is one small frog native to the island, but it's rare) and they asked about it. Now in the Norse, one word for that is "paud" and when they asked why there were no "pauds" they were told because Saint "Paudrig" had driven them out---it was a pun, an Irish leg-pull and I'm sure it was funnier 1300 years ago in Irish than it is today.
Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking with it. 
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