old griffin had never yet, in all
its life, been able to see even one of its children fly off.

The present brood were now full-grown, and were waiting for daylight
to fly through the woods and mountains, when lo, just at midnight the
water of the well made a splashing noise, and what appeared in the
moonlight that flickered through the trees? Two fiery heads, which
approached the nest, setting up such a howling and wailing that the
mountains shook to their foundations and the valleys rocked to and fro
like cradles. Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, the joints of the
earth and sky trembled and quaked, and the archangel, grasping a sword
in his hand, appeared on a golden cloud, darting downward like a
thunderbolt. Just as the dragon was going to seize the young griffins,
the angel flashed his sword from east to west, and again from west to
east, cutting off both heads as easily as one drinks a spoonful of
water. Then two still more terrible ones came, but they were also
hacked into pieces. Two others next appeared; they, too, were
destroyed, and so fared all the twelve. Blood and poison flowed till
the whole forest and valley were turned into a marsh, and the heads
dashed against the tree which held the nest, so that the leaves fell
from the boughs for ten miles around. The angel took some basil plant,
and sprinkled the four quarters of the earth with water that had been
consecrated in Paradise nine years before. The pools of blood all
gathered into one spot, the heads lost their vitality, and the ground
opened, swallowing them up with all the blood, so that the wood once
more became pure and bright as God meant it to be.

When the griffin came back at dawn, found its children safe in the
nest, and saw that the accursed well had disappeared, it uttered such
a cry of delight that the earth for nine miles round trembled and
shook.

Then it waked the young birds and said:

"Tell me quickly, my darlings, who has done me this great favor?"

The young birds shook their heads and replied: "We don't know any
thing about it, we have been asleep all night."

As the griffin looked about, its glance fell upon the little girl,
whose golden hair and starry eyes were glittering in the morning
sunlight like the torches of Paradise, and the thought instantly
darted through its mind that this beautiful light must have rendered
the unspeakable benefit.

"Children," said the griffin, angrily, "you haven't eaten the little
girl,