The town of Keynsham, Somerset, is named after the Saint. It is said that when she arrived there, the lord of the manor gave her a piece of land, but it was so infested with huge venomous snakes that no prospective converts would visit her. Undismayed, she turned the snakes into stone, and tradition claims that the fossilised ammonites, which abound in the area, are their remains. 
      The snakes can be seen, like the dragon in St. George and the dragon, as symbolising the devil. St. Michael is likewise portrayed overcoming the devil as a dragon, and the link with St. Keyne is made more apparent by her connection with St. Michael's Mount. Snakes, as phallic symbols, can also be seen to represent masculinity. And so the power to get the upper hand in marriage might be seen, therefore, as a way for a woman to overcome her inferior status in a male-dominated society.

      Then again, the story of St. Keyne might be seen as a way for henpecked husbands to explain their apathy without losing face. They might have argued that women, being naturally submissive, could only become dominant with supernatural assistance. At any rate, the origin of the story could be found in the desire for wish fulfilment - for a dominated spouse to wish things were otherwise. In that case, the Well of St. Keyne can be thought of as a wishing-well.