it.
Around him graze a thousand beasts, all of different kinds, for he is
the guardian of that wood, and it is he who will tell thee which way to
go in order to find the adventure thou art in quest of."

[Illustration: KYNON MEETS WITH THE BLACK MASTER OF THE BEASTS]

'So spake the man, and long did that night seem to me, and before dawn I
rose and put on my armour, and mounted my horse and rode on till I
reached the grassy space of which he had told me. There was the black
man on top of the mound, as he had said, and in truth he was mightier in
all ways than I had thought him to be. As for the club, Kai, it would
have been a burden for four of our warriors. He waited for me to speak,
and I asked him what power he held over the beasts that thronged so
close about him.

'"I will show thee, little man," he answered, and with his club he
struck a stag on the head till he brayed loudly. And at his braying the
animals came running, numerous as the stars in the sky, so that scarce
was I able to stand among them. Serpents were there also, and dragons,
and beasts of strange shapes, with horns in places where never saw I
horns before. And the black man only looked at them and bade them go and
feed. And they bowed themselves before him, as vassals before their
lord.

'"Now, little man, I have answered thy question and showed thee my
power," said he. "Is there anything else thou wouldest know?" Then I
inquired of him my way, but he grew angry, and, as I perceived, would
fain have hindered me; but at the last, after I had told him who I was,
his anger passed from him.

'"Take that path," said he, "that leads to the head of this grassy
glade, and go up the wood till thou reachest the top. There thou wilt
find an open space, and in the midst of it a tall tree. Under the tree
is a fountain, and by the fountain a marble slab, and on the slab a bowl
of silver, with a silver chain. Dip the bowl in the fountain, and throw
the water on the slab, and thou wilt hear a mighty peal of thunder, till
heaven and earth seem trembling with the noise. After the thunder will
come hail, so fierce that scarcely canst thou endure it and live, for
the hailstones are both large and thick. Then the sun will shine again,
but every leaf of the tree will be lying on the ground. Next a flight of
birds will come and alight on the tree, and never didst thou hear a
strain so sweet as that which they will sing. And at the moment in
which their song sounds s