avert from your heads? Why do you beseech me? I am ready to give my life
for you. Only tell your father what it is you hope from him."

To these questions the chief of the Elders answered:

"O Mael, father of the sons of Alca, I will speak for all. A horrible
dragon is laying waste our lands, depopulating our cattle-sheds, and
carrying off the flower of our youth. He has devoured the child Elo and
seven young boys; he has mangled the maiden Orberosia, the fairest of
the Penguins with his teeth. There is not a village in which he does not
emit his poisoned breath and which he has not filled with desolation.
A prey to this terrible scourge, we come, O Mael, to pray thee, as the
wisest, to advise us concerning the safety of the inhabitants of this
island lest the ancient race of Penguins be extinguished."

"O chief of the Elders of Alca," replied Mael, "thy words fill me with
profound grief, and I groan at the thought that this island is the prey
of a terrible dragon. But such an occurrence is not unique, for we find
in books several tales of very fierce dragons. The monsters are oftenest
found in caverns, by the brinks of waters, and, in preference, among
pagan peoples. Perhaps there are some among you who, although they have
received holy baptism and been incorporated into the family of Abraham,
have yet worshipped idols, like the ancient Romans, or hung up images,
votive tablets, fillets of wool, and garlands of flowers on the branches
of some sacred tree. Or perhaps some of the women Penguins have danced
round a magic stone and drunk water from the fountains where the nymphs
dwell. If it be so, believe, O Penguins, that the Lord has sent this
dragon to punish all for the crimes of some, and to lead you, O children
of the Penguins, to exterminate blasphemy, superstition, and impiety
from amongst you. For this reason I advise, as a remedy against the