Being Europe in the middle ages, most of these 'myths' are related to allegories of Christ and Christianity. However, that shouldn't stop you lover of animals
For example, the 'General Attributes' given to the Snake at the time were:
The snake does not move by stepping, but crawls with small movements of its scales. All snakes are coiled and twisted, never straight. It is said that there are as many poisons, deaths and griefs as there are kinds of snakes.
When a snake grows old, it begins to lose its sight, which it can regain by eating fennel. To renew its youth, it fasts until its skin becomes loose, then it crawls through a narrow crack and sheds its old skin. When a snake goes to a river to drink, it spits its venom into a hole and retrieves it later. Snakes attack clothed men but flee from naked men. If a snake is attacked, it will protect its head. A snake that tastes the spit of a fasting man dies.
The snake is the enemy of the stag and the stork. The smoke from burning stag antlers is deadly to snakes.
