Although no one knows his real name, Ophiuchus the snake charmer was born under the constellation of Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer, in the space between Scorpio and Sagittarius, from which he took his professional name.
Before each tour leg, he’d search the region for local snakes. After gathering a dozen or two, he began the training process, ultimately leading to charming. Each night of performance, Ophiucus would select two of his serpents from his collection, until the tour leg was over and he’d release them back into the wild.
While many snake charmers can make a cobra peaceful, or an asp dance, only Ophiuchus’s serpents formed fantastical shapes and acted out lengthy epic tales. Accounts of performances are so unreliable, it is hard to tell what is real and what is not, but tales of his ophidian puppetry are found throughout the world.
Lore says, in rare cases, audience members were able to recount performances days later to friends and neighbors using whatever snakes they might find in the garden, or, on very unfortunate occasions, reptiles. Invariably, these unexpected proxyparseltongues were also born under the Ophiuchus constellation.
Some tales say he retired after an audience member yelled, “Duoboros, ” and his performers for the day began eating each other’s tails.