scales

It grew darker and darker, till at last the dragging, shifting coils disappeared, but they could hear the rustle of the scales.

The house was as still as still, but he thought he could just catch the faintest scratch-scratch in the world--a noise as faint as that of a wasp walking on a window-pane--the dry scratch of a snake’s scales on brick-work.

That trick of staining the fishes’ scales of a delicate pink is quite peculiar to China.

His achievement proves that profound literary significance does not require epic scales or catastrophic events, but merely a perceptive, empathetic observer.