Ever since Aodhan had been a small child, he'd been fascinated with snakes. He had always liked the way the sun shone on their smooth scales as he carefully held the few that would allow him near. He always kept a couple of them as pets, as they kept the rodent population down to manageable levels. Contrary to the beliefs of his neighbors however, he had never been able to speak with the creatures.
One morning, as Aodhan had been tending to his farm he noticed something strange. While there tended to be a number of snakes in the area of his home since he didn't try killing them like his neighbors did, there never had been this many before. There were literally thousands of the creatures slithering across the field he was working in. Even more unusual, was the fact that they all were traveling in the same direction. After spotting a rather interesting specimen of grass snake, picked it up and pocketed it to bring home with him, he shrugged the event off as one of those weird phenomena that'll never have an explanation.
Eventually, as the day wore on and thousands more snakes slithered by, including a couple he'd marked as his pets - Spot and Slider if he remembered correctly - the reason for the snakes' unusual behavior finally became apparent. The creatures were fleeing from a man who was putting out so much magic, that being in his presence felt like being crushed underfoot. As the man approached, Aodhan's new pet attempted to escape from his pocket. The man noticed this, and stormed over to him.
"Hey! That's MY snake!" Aodhan yelled at the man who was in the process of snatching his new pet from him.
"Not anymore, it's not." the man said as he threw the snake that Aodhan had already named Ralph on the ground and kicked it towards its fleeing brethren. "It's because of idiots like you that I'm so behind already! I've already lost count of the number of idiot wizards who struggled to keep these vile creatures. God ordered me to get all of the snakes out of Ireland, and that's what I'm going to do, even if it kills me!"
"You're insane." Aodhan said as he mournfully watched the last of his little pets - the one he'd named Mouse Guzzler - depart.
The man responded to Aodhan's comment on his mental faculties by whacking him over the head with his staff, and the situation devolved from there. Several minutes later, the man stormed off into the sunset nursing a black eye and a bloody nose while Aodhan wondered exactly what the Latin curse the man had put on him had meant.
He found out during the next full moon.
Two months later, a pair of Wardens arrived to take his statement.
"And who did you say did this to you?" the tall, thin Warden asked.
"Some jackass who claims to be on a mission from a god." Aodhan replied. "You won't be able to miss him, he'll be the guy with the army of snakes fleeing from him."
"Army of..." the tall, thin Warden started, his eyes going wide.
"...Snakes." The short, muscular Warden squeaked.
"I'm afraid that there's nothing I can do for you sir." the first Warden said.
"Yeah, being cursed by the gods is nasty business, but it isn't our department." the other Warden chimed in.
With that, both Wardens practically fled back into the Nevernever in their haste to get back to their comfortable snake-free base.
"Cowards." Aodhan spat as he returned to his unhappily snake-free - and now mouse infested - cottage. He found himself missing his pets as he ate a meal that tasted vaguely of mouse piss. His life had really gone to hell after that lunatic Patrick had shown up.