A tail of two snails

 

A Tail of Two Snails

Tristan and Isolde

 

Snails have been a part of our family lore ever since I bought 35 snail shells at a marché to use as decoration. I put them in a flower pot. The next morning they were doing a tour of our French flat. 

 

Who knew there were snails hiding inside their shells?

 

Our Swiss flat opens onto a patio and over the almost two years we've lived there, little snails have visited. Most of them are quite tiny. This past week, two giant snails have taken up residence. Not giant in the sense of horror movie giant, but at least several times larger as the others.

 

We named them Tristan and Isolde after the 12th century lovers who shared an accidental love potion in the 12th century. In the original poem, Isolde's husband wanted to hang Tristan and burn Isolde at the stake, but the couple disappeared into the forest. Eventually they were found, they were forgiven. Their story, with variations, became the subject of other poems over the years and even a Richard Wagner opera.

 

I know snails can be hermaphroditic, both male and female. As snails, they don't have to deal with the hysteria in the U.S. about which bathroom to use.

 

We found them cuddling on our doorstep. A picture of snails copulating matched their posture. Rick termed it "snail porn."

 

Isolde must have been unhappy with her lover because she climbed the wall and was using a nearby hose to escape. We haven't seen her for a couple of days.

 

Meanwhile, poor Tristan who was probably looking for her, climbed our glass door stopping at the handle. We were very careful not to knock him to the ground when we went in and out.

 

I worried he would be hungry, but didn't want to hurt him if I pulled him off. Rick checked on what snails would eat and it seems that they are gourmets liking a wide variety of foods. The book even said they prefer to eat with other snails using their thousands of tiny teeth. 

This morning Tristan had left our door and also left what looked like a semi-digested spider cemented to the glass. Spiders were not on the list of snail gastronomic preferences. Rick said I should say that Tristan ate a spider and spit it out and that was what would explain the legs left in the snail slime.

He was on the wall, heading for the hose where Isolde made her escape. 

 

I hope he finds her.