That's Black Bittern above, which represents the bird.
Sheyenne's from Alberta, Canada, and their art reminds me just enough of certain Euro art that I think it's worthy to be added here.
https://i.imgur.com/nCcVMyz.jpeg
We stare into each other's eyes
https://i.imgur.com/zl5RNSc.jpeg
Banana Deer and friends, from the game Fin Fin: On TEO, the Magic Planet
https://i.imgur.com/hxZzKCV.png
Ocean Procession
https://i.imgur.com/jDTOdP8.jpeg
This Moment in Time
https://i.imgur.com/q5EVXd8.jpeg
"Fast Food!"
https://i.imgur.com/48smKFz.jpeg
Kestrel
https://i.imgur.com/mowcXpn.jpeg
Snake in Grass (can you spot all the bugs?)
Oh, and they are also known as "Uzon":
https://www.tumblr.com/uzon
https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/uzon/
Oh, wow... that's so cool.
I'm glad you disregarded the old village lady with her folkloric / wive's tale approach, and just let the animal be!
Indeed, there are some people around the world who thought they had some *special charm* upon venomous snakes, and... ...yeah, it turns out they DID NOT. Handling the snakes aggressively as they did, and their dumbasses wound up getting bitten. For lots of them, it was a rather permanent lesson.
Yeah, that reminds me of a documentary about a "snake specialist" who went to the indian jungle, into a temple ruin to meet and cuddle a huge ancient king cobra. She even kissed the snake on the mouth. Just seeing it on the screen was almost unbearable, all my instincts kept screaming "RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN YOU IDIOT!", lol.
God.
(always a useful term, altho I've never met the bloke* 😂)
* Actually I kinda did 15yrs ago, but I had serotonin poisoning at the time
In fact, one of my takeaways from life is basically-- "some people would rather die than change their beliefs." Or simply bow to reality, in other cases.
Scary, I am very sorry you had to endure that.