and vervain. She loved Kraken with a love that never became
importunate or anxious, because she did not rest its whole weight on him
alone.

This lucky infidelity of Orberosia was destined soon to save the hero
from a great peril and to assure his fortune and his glory for ever.
For it happened that she saw passing in the twilight a neatherd from
Belmont, who was goading on his oxen, and she fell more deeply in
love with him than she had ever been with the shepherd Marcel. He was
hunch-backed; his shoulders were higher than his ears; his body was
supported by legs of different lengths; his rolling eyes flashed, from
beneath his matted hair. From his throat issued a hoarse voice and
strident laughter; he smelt of the cow-shed. However, to her he was
beautiful. "A plant," as Gnatho says, "has been loved by one, a stream
by another, a beast by a third."

Now, one day, as she was sighing within the neatherd's arms in a village
barn, suddenly the blasts of a trumpet, with sounds and footsteps, fell
upon her ears; she looked through the window and saw the inhabitants
collected in the marketplace round a young monk, who, standing upon a
rock, uttered these words in a distinct voice:

"Inhabitants of Belmont, Abbot Mael, our venerable father, informs you
through my mouth that neither by strength nor skill in arms shall you
prevail against the dragon; but the beast shall be overcome by a virgin.
If, then, there be among you a perfectly pure virgin, let her arise and
go towards the monster; and when she meets him let her tie her girdle
round his neck and she shall lead him as easily as if he were a little
dog."

And the young monk, replacing his hood upon his head, departed to carry
the proclamation of the blessed Mael to other villages.

Orberosia sat in the amorous straw, resting her head in her hand and
supporting her elbow upon her knee, meditating on what she had just
heard.

Although, so far as Kraken was concerned, she feared the power of
a virgin much less than the strength of armed men, she did not feel
reassured by the proclamation of the blessed Mael. A vague but sure
instinct ruled her mind and warned her that Kraken could not henceforth
be a dragon with safety.

She said to the neatherd:

"My own heart, what do you think about the dragon?"

The rustic shook his head.

"It is certain that dragons laid waste the earth in ancient times and
some have been seen as large as mountains. But they come no longer,