them for the means of providing a comfortable meal. Not far off
they saw a tuft of trees, which appeared as if there might be a

spring of water beneath them. They went thither to fetch some,
leaving Cadmus stretched on the ground along with the brindled

cow; for, now that he had found a place of rest, it seemed as
if all the weariness of his pilgrimage, ever since he left King

Agenor's palace, had fallen upon him at once. But his new
friends had not long been gone, when he was suddenly startled

by cries, shouts, and screams, and the noise of a terrible
struggle, and in the midst of it all, a most awful hissing,

which went right through his ears like a rough saw.
Running towards the tuft of trees, he beheld the head and fiery

eyes of an immenseserpent or dragon, with the widest jaws that
ever a dragon had, and a vast many rows of horribly sharp

teeth. Before Cadmus could reach the spot, this pitiless
reptile had killed his poor companions, and was busily

devouring them, making but a mouthful of each man.
It appears that the fountain of water was enchanted, and that

the dragon had been set to guard it, so that no mortal might
ever quench his thirst there. As the neighboring inhabitants

carefully avoided the spot, it was now a long time (not less
than a hundred years or thereabouts) since the monster had

broken his fast; and, as was natural enough, his appetite had
grown to be enormous, and was not half satisfied by the poor

people whom he had just eaten up. When he caught sight of
Cadmus, therefore, he set up another abominable hiss, and flung

back his immense jaws, until his mouth looked like a great red
cavern, at the farther end of which were seen the legs of his

last victim, whom he had hardly had time to swallow.
But Cadmus was so enraged at the destruction of his friends

that he cared neither for the size of the dragon's jaws nor for
his hundreds of sharp teeth. Drawing his sword, he rushed at

the monster, and flung himself right into his cavernous mouth.
This bold method of attacking him took the dragon by surprise;

for, in fact, Cadmus had leaped so far down into his throat,
that the rows of terrible teeth could not close upon him, nor

do him the least harm in the world. Thus, though the struggle
was a tremendous one, and though the dragon shattered the tuft

of trees into small splinters by the lashing of his tail, yet,
as Cadmus was all the while slashing and stabbing at his very

vitals, it was not long before the scaly wretch bethought
himself of slipping away. He had not gone his length, however,

when the brave Cadmus gave him a sword thrust that finished the
battle; and creeping out of the gateway of the creature's jaws,

there he beheld him still wriggling his vast bulk, although
there was no longer life enough in him to harm a little child.

But do not you suppose that it made Cadmus sorrowful to think
of the melancholy fate which had befallen those poor, friendly

people, who had followed the cow along with him? It seemed as
if he were doomed to lose everybody whom he loved, or to see

them perish in one way or another. And here he was, after all
his toils and troubles, in a solitary place, with not a single

human being to help him build a hut.
"What shall I do?" cried he aloud. "It were better for me to

have been devoured by the dragon, as my poor companions were."
"Cadmus," said a voice but whether it came from above or below

him, or whether it spoke within his own breast, the young man
could not tell--"Cadmus, pluck out the dragon's teeth, and

plant them in the earth."
This was a strange thing to do; nor was it very easy, I should

imagine, to dig out all those deep-rooted fangs from the dead
dragon's jaws. But Cadmus toiled and tugged, and after pounding

the monstrous head almost to pieces with a great stone, he at
last collected as many teeth as might have filled a bushel or

two. The next thing was to plant them. This, likewise, was a
tedious piece of work, especially as Cadmus was already

exhausted with killing the dragon and knocking his head to
pieces, and had nothing to dig the earth with, that I know of,

unless it were his sword blade. Finally, however, a
sufficiently large tract o?ground was turned up, and sown with

this new kind of seed; although half of the dragon's teeth
still remained to be planted some other day.

Cadmus, quite out of breath, stood leaning upon his sword, and
wondering what was to happen next. He had waited but a few

moments, when he began to see a sight, which was as great a
marvel as the most marvelous thing I ever told you about.

The sun was shining slantwise over the field, and showed all
the moist, dark soil just like any other newly-planted piece of

ground. All at once, Cadmus fancied he saw something glisten
very brightly, first at one spot, then at another, and then at

a hundred and a thousand spots together. Soon he perceived them
to be the steel heads of spears, sprouting up everywhere like

so many stalks of grain, and continually growing taller and
taller. Next appeared a vast number of bright sword blades,

thrusting themselves up in the same way. A moment afterwards,
the whole surface of the ground was broken by a multitude of

polished brass helmets, coming up like a crop of enormous
beans. So rapidly did they grow, that Cadmus now discerned the

fiercecountenance of a man beneath every one. In short, before
he had time to think what a wonderful affair it was, he beheld

an abundantharvest of what looked like human beings, armed
with helmets and breastplates, shields, swords, and spears; and

before they were well out of the earth, they brandished their
weapons, and clashed them one against another, seeming to

think, little while as they had yet lived, that they had wasted
too much of life without a battle. Every tooth of the dragon

had produced one of these sons of deadlymischief.
Up sprouted also a great many trumpeters; and with the first

breath that they drew, they put their brazen trumpets to their
lips, and sounded a tremendous and ear-shattering blast, so

that the whole space, just now so quiet and solitary,
reverberated with the clash and clang of arms, the bray of

warlike music, and the shouts of angry men. So enraged did they
all look, that Cadmus fully expected them to put the whole

world to the sword. How fortunate would it be for a great
conqueror, if he could get a bushel of the dragon's teeth to

sow!
"Cadmus," said the same voice which he had before heard, "throw

a stone into the midst of the armed men."
So Cadmus seized a large stone, and flinging it into the middle

of the earth army, saw it strike the breastplate of a gigantic
and fierce-looking warrior. Immediately on feeling the blow, he

seemed to take it for granted that somebody had struck him;
and, uplifting his weapon, he smote his next neighbor a blow

that cleft his helmetasunder, and stretched him on the ground.
In an instant, those nearest the fallen warrior began to strike

at one another with their swords, and stab with their spears.
The confusion spread wider and wider. Each man smote down his

brother, and was himself smitten down before he had time to
exult in his victory. The trumpeters, all the while, blew their

blasts shriller and shriller; each soldier shouted a battle
cry, and often fell with it on his lips. It was the strangest

spectacle of causeless wrath, and of mischief for no good end,
that had ever been witnessed; but, after all, it was neither

more foolish nor more wicked than a thousand battles that have
since been fought, in which men have slain their brothers with

just as little reason as these children of the dragon's teeth.
It ought to be considered, too, that the dragon people were

made for nothing else; whereas other mortals were born to love
and help one another.

Well, this memorable battle continued to rage until the ground
was strewn with helmeted heads that had been cut off. Of all