ht almost, I was going to say, have
flown right down its throat, wings outspread, rider and all! At their
approach it shot out a tremendous blast of its fiery breath, and
enveloped Bellerophon and his steed in a perfect atmosphere of flame,
singeing the wings of Pegasus, scorching off one whole side of the
young man's golden ringlets, and making them both far hotter than was
comfortable, from head to foot.

But this was nothing to what followed.

When the airy rush of the winged horse had brought him within the
distance of a hundred yards, the Chimaera gave a spring, and flung its
huge, awkward, venomous, and utterly detestable carcass right upon
poor Pegasus, clung round him with might and main, and tied up its
snaky tail into a knot! Up flew the aerial steed, higher, higher,
higher, above the mountain-peaks, above the clouds, and almost out of
sight of the solid earth. But still the earth-born monster kept its
hold, and was borne upward, along with the creature of light and air.
Bellerophon, meanwhile, turning about, found himself face to face with
the ugly grimness of the Chimaera's visage, and could only avoid being
scorched to death, or bitten right in twain, by holding up his shield.
Over the upper edge of the shield, he looked sternly into the savage
eyes of the monster.

But the Chimaera was so mad and wild with pain, that it did not guard
itself so well as might else have been the case. Perhaps, after all,
the best way to fight a Chimaera is by getting as close to it as you
can. In its efforts to stick its horrible iron claws into its enemy,
the creature left its own breast quite exposed; and perceiving this,
Bellerophon thrust his sword up to the hilt into its cruel heart.
Immediately the snaky tail untied its knot. The monster let go its
hold of Pegasus, and fell from that vast height, downward; while the
fire within its bosom, instead of being put out, burned fiercer than
ever, and quickly began to consume the dead carcass. Thus it fell out
of the sky, all a-flame, and (it being nightfall before it reached the
earth) was mistaken for a shooting star or a comet. But, at early
sunrise, some cottagers were going to their day's labor, and saw, to
their astonishment, that several acres of ground were strewn with
black ashes. In the middle of a field, there was a heap of whitened
bones, a great deal higher than a haystack. Nothing else was ever seen
of the dreadful Chimaera!

And when Bellerophon had won the