they defy me to an extent. Ever since the cowmen dipped me in the
horse-pond my authority's gone--gone where the good niggers go."

I find that there are quite a lot of people who cannot say the word
"gone" without adding the clause about the good niggers. These people
have vague minds, sown like an allotment with phrases in grooves.
Directly the dragon said "to an extent" without qualifying the extent,
one saw why it had no gift of discipline.

"I wouldn't attempt this job," it continued, winding breathlessly along
the rutty road, "only I am under a great obligation to Richard Higgins.
I am a _protidgy_ of his, you know, he rescued me from a lot of
mischievous knights who were persecuting me. One of them had tied his
tin hat to my tail, I remember, and the rest were trying to stick their
nasty spears between my scales. Really, you know, it was quite
dangerous. I have known a fellow's eye put out that way. I am not very
good at fighting, though I might have tackled one at a time. Richard
Higgins rode right into the midst of them, knocking them right and
left. Gosh, he gave them a talking to, and they slank away. He took my
case up after that, made enquiries, and gave me this job. We scrape
along somehow, but I'm afraid I'm not really suited for it."

They reached a part of a field in which broad beans were enjoying an
innocent childhood among white butterflies.

"If you wouldn't mind," said the dragon shyly, "I should like you to hoe
between the rows of these beans. You will find a hoe against the big
stack. This is your row, I reserved it for you."

All the other rows were occupied by fairy women with their skirts tucked