Little Has Changed

A kneeling man appears to be pulling a snake out of a hole in the riverbank. Snakes and eels are both common foods so that isn't the problem.
The standing man retains his stick, appears to be better dressed and is holding the kneeling man's arm in a peculiar manner. His face could be said to be calm or even supercilious.
There is a shorter stick on the ground, perhaps for poking snake holes?
The sailboat is in light chop moving to the right, or the future.

The standing man could be a gamekeeper, and may be causing the kneeling man to push the snake back in the hole.
The standing man could be mentor or master, in teaching mode.
I'm inclined to go with the latter, a lesson, because of the sailboat, the tree's efforts at life. The fate of the world has depended on less :) Now, what will google tell us?

The proverb translated googlishly from Italian to English:
to beat the snake from the hole with the hand of others
I wasn't far off, we're back to the rich and powerful will always throw those they deem as less than them at the danger; little has changed since Giuseppe Mitelli's life in the 1600's. I've offered this deck as a round robin challenge to a group of fellow readers, off it goes to Jema in Sweden next. I learn something from each deck and this was no exception, it poked me in sore spots I'd rather pretend aren't there.