And a woman of Anis, who was regarded as intelligent and of sound judgment and

from whom the dragon had taken three hens, deposed as follows:
"He is formed like a man. The proof is that I thought he was my husband, and I

said to him, 'Come to bed, you old fool.'"
Others said:

"He is formed like a cloud."
"He looks like a mountain."

And a little child came and said:
"I saw the dragontaking off his head in the barn so that he might give a kiss

to my sister Minnie."
And the Elders also asked the inhabitants:

"How big is the dragon?"
And it was answered:

"As big as an ox."
"Like the big merchant ships of the Bretons."

"He is the height of a man."
"He is higher than the fig-tree under which you are sitting."

"He is as large as a dog."
Questioned finally on his colour, the inhabitants said:

"Red."
"Green."

"Blue."
"Yellow."

"His head is bright green, his wings are brilliant orange tinged with pink,
his limbs are silver grey, his hind-quarters and his tail are striped with

brown and pink bands, his belly bright yellow spotted with black."
"His colour? He has no colour."

"He is the colour of a dragon."
After hearing this evidence the Elders remained uncertain as to what should be

done. Some advised to watch for him, to surprise him and overthrow him by a
multitude of arrows. Others, thinking it vain to oppose so powerful a monster

by force, counselled that he should be appeased by offerings.
"Pay him tribute," said one of them who passed for a wise man. "We can render

him propitious to us by giving him agreeable presents, fruits, wine, lambs, a
young virgin."

Others held for poisoning the fountains where he was accustomed to drink or
for smoking him out of his cavern.

But none of these counsels prevailed. The dispute was lengthy and the Elders
dispersed without coming to any resolution.

VII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation)
During all the month dedicated by the Romans to their false god Mars or

Mavors, the dragon ravaged the farms of Dalles and Dombes. He carried off
fifty sheep, twelve pigs, and three young boys. Every family was in mourning

and the island was full of lamentations. In order to remove the scourge, the
Elders of the unfortunate villages watered by the Clange and the Surelle

resolved to assemble and together go and ask the help of the blessed Mael.
On the fifth day of the month whose name among the Latins signifies opening,

because it opens the year, they went in procession to the wooden monastery
that had been built on the southern coast of the island. When they were

introduced into the cloister they filled it with their sobs and groans. Moved
by their lamentations, old Mael left the room in which he devoted himself to

the study of astronomy and the meditation of the Scriptures, and went down to
them, leaning on his pastoral staff. At his approach, the Elders, prostrating

themselves, held out to him green branches of trees and some of them burnt
aromatic herbs.

And the holy man, seating himself beside the cloistral fountain under an
ancient fig-tree, uttered these words:

"O my sons, offspring of the Penguins, why do you weep and groan? Why do you
hold out those suppliant boughs towards me? Why do you raise towards heaven

the smoke of those herbs? What calamity do you expect that I can avert from
your heads? Why do you beseech me? I am ready to give my life for you. Only

tell your father what it is you hope from him."
To these questions the chief of the Elders answered:

"O Mael, father of the sons of Alca, I will speak for all. A horribledragon
is laying waste our lands, depopulating our cattle-sheds, and carrying off the

flower of our youth. He has devoured the child Elo and seven young boys; he
has mangled the maiden Orberosia, the fairest of the Penguins with his teeth.

There is not a village in which he does not emit his poisoned breath and which
he has not filled with desolation. A prey to this terrible scourge, we come, O

Mael, to pray thee, as the wisest, to advise us concerning the safety of the
inhabitants of this island lest the ancient race of Penguins be extinguished."

"O chief of the Elders of Alca," replied Mael, "thy words fill me with
profound grief, and I groan at the thought that this island is the prey of a

terrible dragon. But such an occurrence is not unique, for we find in books
several tales of very fiercedragons. The monsters are oftenest found in

caverns, by the brinks of waters, and, in preference, among pagan peoples.
Perhaps there are some among you who, although they have received holy baptism

and been incorporated into the family of Abraham, have yet worshipped idols,
like the ancient Romans, or hung up images, votive tablets, fillets of wool,

and garlands of flowers on the branches of some sacred tree. Or perhaps some
of the women Penguins have danced round a magic stone and drunk water from the

fountains where the nymphs dwell. If it be so, believe, O Penguins, that the
Lord has sent this dragon to punish all for the crimes of some, and to lead

you, O children of the Penguins, to exterminate blasphemy, superstition, and
impiety from amongst you. For this reason I advise, as a remedy against the

great evil from which you suffer, that you carefully search your dwellings for
idolatry, and extirpate it from them. I think it would be also efficacious to

pray and do penance."
Thus spoke the holy Mael. And the Elders of the Penguin people kissed his feet

and returned to their villages with renewed hope.
VIII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation)

Following the counsel of the holy Mael the inhabitants of Alca endeavoured to
uproot the superstitions that had sprung up amongst them. They took care to

prevent the girls from dancing with incantations round the fairy tree. Young
mothers were sternlyforbidden to rub their children against the stones that

stood upright in the fields so as to make them strong. An old man of Dombes
who foretold the future by shaking grains of barley on a sieve, was thrown

into a well.
However, each night the monster still raided the poultry-yards and the

cattle-sheds. The frightened peasants barricaded themselves in their houses. A
woman with child who saw the shadow of a dragon on the road through a window

in the moonlight, was so terrified that she was brought to bed before her
time.

In those days of trial, the holy Mael meditated unceasingly on the nature of
dragons and the means of combating them. After six months of study and prayer

he thought he had found what he sought. One evening as he was walking by the
sea with a young monk called Samuel, he to him in these terms:

"I have studied at length the history and habits of dragons, not to satisfy a
vain curiosity, but to discover examples to follow in the present

circumstances. For such, Samuel, my son, is the use of history.
"It is an invariable fact that dragons are extremely vigilant. They never

sleep, and for this reason we often find them employed in guarding treasures.
A dragon guarded at Colchis the golden fleece that Jason conquered from him. A

dragon watched over the golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides. He was
killed by Hercules and transformed into a star by Juno. This fact is related

in some books, and if it be true, it was done by magic, for the gods of the
pagans are in reality demons. A dragon prevented barbarous and ignorant men

from drinking at the fountain of Castalia. We must also remember the dragon of
Andromeda, which was slain by Perseus. But let us turn from these pagan

fables, in which error is always mixed with truth. We meet dragons in the
histories of the glorious archangel Michael, of St. George, St. Philip, St.

James the Great, St. Patrick, St. Martha, and St. Margaret. And it is in such
writings, since they are worthy of full credence, that we ought to look for

comfort and counsel.
"The story of the dragon of Silena affords us particularly precious examples.

You must know, my son, that on the banks of a vast pool close to that town
there dwelt a dragon who sometimes approached the walls and poisoned with his

breath all who dwelt in the suburbs. And that they might not be devoured by
the monster, the inhabitants of Silena delivered up to him one of their number

expressed his thought every morning. The victim was chosen by lot, and after a
hundred others, the lot fell upon the king's daughter.

"Now St. George, who was a military tribune, as he passed through the town of
Silena, learned that the king's daughter had just been given to the fierce