ater, as you throw black corn to a
duck, and with each bead that he swallowed a dragon turned on his back
and died, so that the idiot reached the other side without further
trouble.

The valley guarded by the black man now lay before him, and from afar
Peronnik beheld him, chained by one foot to a rock at the entrance, and
holding the iron ball which never missed its mark and always returned to
its master's hand. In his head the black man had six eyes that were
never all shut at once, but kept watch one after the other. At this
moment they were all open, and Peronnik knew well that if the black man
caught a glimpse of him he would cast his ball. So, hiding the colt
behind a thicket of bushes, he crawled along a ditch and crouched close
to the very rock to which the black man was chained.

The day was hot, and after a while the man began to grow sleepy. Two of
his eyes closed, and Peronnik sang gently. In a moment a third eye shut,
and Peronnik sang on. The lid of a fourth eye dropped heavily, and then
those of the fifth and the sixth. The black man was asleep altogether.

Then, on tiptoe, the idiot crept back to the colt, which he led over
soft moss past the black man into the vale of pleasure, a delicious
garden full of fruits that dangled before your mouth, fountains running
with wine, and flowers chanting in soft little voices. Further on,
tables were spread with food, and girls dancing on the grass called to
him to join them.

Peronnik heard, and, scarcely knowing what he did drew the colt into a
slower pace. He sniffed greedily the smell of the dishes, and raised his
head the better to see the dancers. Another instant and he would have
stopped altogether and been lost, like others before him, when suddenly
there came to him like a vision the golden bowl and the diamond lance.
Drawing his whistle from his pocket, he blew it loudly, so as to drown
the sweet sounds about him, and ate what was left of his bread and bacon
to still the craving of the magic fruits. His eyes he fixed steadily on
the ears of the colt, that he might not see the dancers.

In this way he was able to reach the end of the garden, and at length
perceived the castle of Kerglas, with the river between them which had
only one ford. Would the lady be there, as the old man had told him?
Yes, surely that was she, sitting on a rock, in a black satin dress, and
her face the colour of a Moorish woman's. The idiot rode up, and took
off his cap more po