{"text":"I picked up a snake once. In Italy.'Why did you do that?'For a bet.'Was it poisonous?'We didn't know. That was the point of the bet.'Did it bite you?'Of course.'Why of course?'It wouldn't be much of a story, would it? If I'd put it down unharmed, and away it slid?","author":"Hilary Mantel","tags":["good-story","italy","snakes","stories","thomas-cromwell"],"id":263606,"author_id":"Hilary+Mantel"}