s lightly as a red poppy leaf. And when
she came to the middle of the stream she disappeared beneath the waters.

Enda took the helmet, dress, and spear, and it was not long until he
came to the sedgy banks where his little boat was waiting for him. As he
stepped into the curragh the moon was rising above the mountains. He
rowed on until he came to the hut, and having moored the boat to the
door, he put on the water-dress and the crystal helmet, and taking the
spear in his hand, he leaped over the side of the curragh, and sank down
and down until he touched the bottom. Then he walked along without
minding where he was going, and the only light he had was the shimmering
moonlight, which descended as faintly through the waters as if it came
through muffled glass. He had not gone very far when he heard a horrible
hissing, and straight before him he saw what he thought were two flaming
coals. After a few more steps he found himself face to face with the
dragon of the lake, the guardian of the palace of the fairy queen.
Before he had time to raise his spear, the dragon had wound its coils
around him, and he heard its horrible teeth crunching against the side
of his crystal helmet, and he felt the pressure of its coils around his
side, and the breath almost left his body; but the dragon, unable to
pierce the helmet, unwound his coils, and soon Enda's hands were free,
and before the dragon could attempt to seize him again, he drove his
spear through one of its fiery eyes, and, writhing with pain, the
hissing dragon darted through a cave behind him. Enda, gaining courage
from the dragon's flight, marched on until he came to a door of dull
brass set in the rocks. He tried to push it in before him, but he might
as well have tried to push away the rocks. While he was wondering what
he should do, he heard again the fierce hissing of the dragon, and saw
the red glare of his fiery eye dimly in the water.

Lifting his spear and hastily turning round to meet the furious monster,
Enda accidentally touched the door with the point of the spear, and the
door flew open. Enda passed through, and the door closed behind him with
a grating sound, and he marched along through a rocky pass which led to
a sandy plain.

As he stepped from the pass into the plain the sands began to move, as
if they were alive. In a second a thousand hideous serpents, almost the
color of the sand, rose hissing up, and with their forked tongues made a
horrible, pois