e water
and said, "Why have you called me?"

"Please will you tell us how to get to the fairies' cave?" said
Blue-Cap.

"Look between the rocks so green,
There a boat will soon be seen;
In the boat you all must sail,
Wafted gently by the gale."

said the fish, and sank again beneath the blue waves.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

The brothers, after looking about for a little while, found a white boat
between two big rocks covered with green seaweed. They pulled it out and
got in, and no sooner had they sat down than a gentle wind sprang up and
blew them steadily out to sea. They were rather frightened as they had
never been on the sea before, but soon they saw that they were coming to
land. The land proved to be an island, and when the boat stopped on the
yellow sand the goblins all jumped out.

They made the boat fast by tying the rope to a large piece of rock, and
feeling that their hardest work was coming walked bravely over the
sands, carrying a boat-hook which they had found in the boat.

They soon came to a dark cave in the rocks. In front of the cave was a
big dragon which breathed fire out of its mouth and roared like hundreds
of lions. The goblins, after trying many times, managed to creep over
the rocks behind the dragon, and throwing the dust which the rabbit had
given them into its flaming eyes they at last, after a hard fight,
killed the monster and entered the cave.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

The goblins looked round in the darkness for the serpent of which they
had heard, but they could not find it.

At last, when they were sadly thinking of going back to the boat,
Red-Cap cried out that he saw something yellow in the dark shadow of a
rock.

It was the serpent's tail!

They all ran after it, shouting loudly, and it led them some way down a
rocky passage.

It went very quickly, and they had to run very fast to keep it in sight;
but at last they caught it, and after a sharp struggle--in which poor
little Red-Cap nearly lost his life--killed it.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

The three little brothers stood looking at the dead serpent, and while
they were looking it seemed to change! It moved! and grew thinner and
darker, and the bright yellow colour turned to orange, and from orange
colour to red, and then redder! and redder!! and redder!!! until they
saw--that it was no longer the serpent, but the Red Feather for which
they had come so far to look!

At that m