Part 10 (1/2)
* 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...o...b..rosia:
”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 flas.h.i.+ng sword. For I tell thee that the n.o.ble 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 annual tribute 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 a.s.sembled 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 hoa.r.s.e 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 purple heather. With an intrepid though modest gait she walked towards the beast, who, uttering awful bellowings, opened his flaming throat. 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 flas.h.i.+ng 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 s.h.i.+rts, 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 s.h.i.+rts.' 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 s.h.i.+rts.”
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.”