"Have I been dreaming?" Cadmus thought, "or did I really hear a
voice?" and he went away thinking he was very little wiser for having
done as the Queen had told him.

I do not know how far he had gone when just before him he saw a
brindled cow. She was lying down by the wayside, and as Cadmus came
along she got up and began to move slowly along the path, stopping now
and then to crop a mouthful of grass.

Cadmus wondered if this could be the cow he was to follow, and he
thought he would look at her more closely, so he walked a little
faster; but so did the cow. "Stop, cow," he cried, "hey brindle,
stop," and he began to run; and much to his surprise so did the cow,
and though he ran as hard as possible, he could not overtake her.

So he gave it up. "I do believe this may be the cow I was told about,"
he thought. "Any way, I may as well follow her and surely she will lie
down somewhere."

On and on they went. Cadmus thought the cow would never stop, and
other people who had heard the strange story began to follow too, and
they were all very tired and very far away from home when at last the
cow lay down. His companions were delighted and began to cut down wood
to make a fire, and some ran to a stream to get water. Cadmus lay
down to rest close beside the cow. He was wishing that his mother
and brothers and Theseus had been with him now, when suddenly he was
startled by cries and shouts and screams.

He ran towards the stream, and there he saw the head of a big serpent