happened to me. Immediately I came out of the creature's bowels I took refuge

in a hermitage on the Coast of Shadows. I lived there in solitude, giving
myself up to prayer and meditation, and performing unheard of austerities,

until I learnt by a revelation from heaven that a maid alone could overcome
the dragon, and that I was that maid."

"Show me a sign of your mission," said the old man.
"I myself am the sign," answered Orberosia.

"I am not ignorant of the power of those who have placed a seal upon their
flesh," replied the apostle of the Penguins. But are you indeed such as you

say?"
"You will see by the result," answered Orberosia.

The monk Regimental drew near:
"That will," said he, "be the best proof. King Solomon has said: 'Three things

are hard to understand and a fourth is impossible: they are the way of a
serpent on the earth, the way of a bird in the air, the way of a ship in the

sea, and the way of a man with a maid!' I regard such matrons as nothing less
than presumptuous who claim to compare themselves in these matters with the

wisest of kings. Father, if you are led by me you will not consult them in
regard to the pious Orberosia. When they have given their opinion you will not

be a bit farther on than before. Virginity is not less difficult to prove than
to keep. Pliny tells us in his history that its signs are either imaginary or

very uncertain.* One who bears upon her the fourteen signs of corruption may
yet be pure in the eyes of the angels, and, on the contrary, another who has

been pronounced pure by the matrons who inspected her may know that her good
appearance is due to the artifices of a cunning perversity. As for the purity

of this holy girl here, I would put my hand in the fire in witness of it."
* We have vainly sought for this phrase in Pliny's "Natural History."--Editor.

He spoke thus because he was the Devil. But old Mael did not know it. He asked
the pious Orberosia:

"My daughter, how, would you proceed to conquer so fierce an animal as he who
devoured you?"

The virgin answered:
"To-morrow at sunrise, O Mael, you will summon the people together on the hill

in front of the desolate moor that extends to the Coast of Shadows, and you
will take care that no man of the Penguins remains less than five hundred

paces from those rocks so that he may not be poisoned by the monster's breath.
And the dragon will come out of the rocks and I will put my girdle round his

neck and lead him like an obedient dog."
"Ought you not to be accompanied by a courageous and pious man who will kill

the dragon?" asked Mael.
"It will be as thou sayest, venerable father. I shall deliver the monster to

Kraken, who will stay him with his flashing sword. For I tell thee that the
noble Kraken, who was believed to be dead, will return among the Penguins and

he shall slay the dragon. And from the creature's belly will come forth the
little children whom he has devoured."

"What you declare to me, O virgin," cried the apostle, "seems wonderful and
beyond human power."

"It is," answered the virgin Orberosia. "But learn, O Mael, that I have had a
revelation that as a reward for their deliverance, the Penguin people will pay

to the knight Kraken an annualtribute of three hundred fowls, twelve sheep,
two oxen, three pigs, one thousand eight hundred bushels of corn, and

vegetables according to their season; and that, moreover, the children who
will come out of the dragon's belly will be given and committed to the said

Kraken to serve him and obey him in all things. If the Penguin people fail to
keep their engagements a new dragon will come upon the island more terrible

than the first. I have spoken."
XIII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation and End)

The people of the Penguins were assembled by Mael and they spent the night on
the Coast of Shadows within the bounds which the holy man had prescribed in

order that none among the Penguins should be poisoned by the monster's breath.
The veil of night still covered the earth when, preceded by a hoarse

bellowing, the dragon showed his indistinct and monstrous form upon the rocky
coast. He crawled like a serpent and his writhing body seemed about fifteen

feet long. At his appearance the crowd drew back in terror. But soon all eyes
were turned towards the Virgin Orberosia, who, in the first light of the dawn,

clothed in white, advanced over the purpleheather. With an intrepid though
modest gait she walked towards the beast, who, uttering awful bellowings,

opened his flamingthroat. An immense cry of terror and pity arose from the
midst of the Penguins. But the virgin, unloosing her linen girdle, put it

round the dragon's neck and led him on the leash like a faithful dog amid the
acclamations of the spectators.

She had walked over a long stretch of the heath when Kraken appeared armed
with a flashing sword. The people, who believed him dead, uttered cries of joy

and surprise. The hero rushed towards the beast, turned him over on his back,
and with his sword cut open his belly, from whence came forth in their shirts,

with curling hair and folded hands, little Elo and the five other children
whom the monster had devoured.

Immediately they threw themselves on their knees before the virgin Orberosia,
who took them in her arms and whispered into their ears:

"You will go through the villages saying: 'We are the poor little children who
were devoured by the dragon, and we came out of his belly in our shirts.' The

inhabitants will give you abundance of all that you can desire. But if you say
anything else you will get nothing but cuffs and whippings. Go!"

Several Penguins, seeing the dragon disembowelled, rushed forward to cut him
to pieces, some from a feeling of rage and vengeance, others to get the magic

stone called dragonite, that is engendered in his head. The mothers of the
children who had come back to life ran to embrace their little ones. But the

holy Mael kept them back, saying that none of them were holy enough to
approach a dragon without dying.

And soon little Elo, and the five other children came towards the people and
said:

"We are the poor little children who were devoured by the dragon and we came
out of his belly in our shirts."

And all who heard them kissed them and said:
"Blessed children, we will give you abundance of all that you can desire."

And the crowd of people dispersed, full of joy, singing hymns and canticles.
To commemorate this day on which Providence delivered the people from a cruel

scourge, processions were established in which the effigy of a chained dragon
was led about.

Kraken levied the tribute and became the richest and most powerful of the
Penguins. As a sign of his victory and so as to inspire a salutary terror, he

wore a dragon's crest upon his head and he had a habit of saying to the
people:

"Now that the monster is dead I am the dragon."
For many years Orberosia bestowed her favours upon neatherds and shepherds,

whom she thought equal to the gods. But when she was no longer beautiful she
consecrated herself to the Lord.

At her death she became the object of public veneration, and was admitted into
the calendar of the saints and adopted as the patron saint of Penguinia.

Kraken left a son, who, like his father, wore a dragon's crest, and he was for
this reason surnamed Draco. He was the founder of the first royal dynasty of

the Penguins.
BOOK III. THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE

I. BRIAN THE GOOD AND QUEEN GLAMORGAN
The kings of Alca were descended from Draco,the son of Kraken,and they wore on

their heads a terrible dragon's crest, as a sacred badge whose appearance
alone inspired the people with veneration, terror, and love. They were

perpetually in conflict either with their own vassals and subjects or with the
princes of the adjoining islands and continents.

The most ancient of these kings has left but a name. We do not even know how
to pronounce or write it. The first of the Draconides whose history is known

was Brian the Good, renowned for his skill and courage in war and in the
chase.

He was a Christian and loved learning. He also favoured men who had vowed
themselves to the monastic life. In the hall of his palace where, under the

sooty rafters, there hung the heads, pelts, and horns of wild beasts, he held
feasts to which all the harpers of Alca and of the neighbouring islands were

invited, and he himself used to join in singing the praises of the heroes. He
was just and magnanimous, but inflamed by so ardent a love of glory that he

could not restrain himself from putting to death those who had sung better
than himself.

The monks of Yvern having been driven out by the pagans who ravaged Brittany,
King Brian summoned them into his kingdom and built a woodenmonastery for

them near his palace. Every day he went with Queen Glamorgan, his wife, into
the monasterychapel and was present at the religious ceremonies and joined in

the hymns.