“O chief of the Elders of Alca,” replied Mael, “thy words fill me with profound grief, and I groan at the thought that this island is the prey of a terrible dragon.  But such an occurrence is not unique, for we find in books several tales of very fierce dragons.  The monsters are oftenest found in caverns, by the brinks of waters, and, in preference, among pagan peoples.  Perhaps there are some among you who, although they have received holy baptism and been incorporated into the family of Abraham, have yet worshipped idols, like the ancient Romans, or hung up images, votive tablets, fillets of wool, and garlands of flowers on the branches of some sacred tree.  Or perhaps some of the women Penguins have danced round a magic stone and drunk water from the fountains where the nymphs dwell.  If it be so, believe, O Penguins, that the Lord has sent this dragon to punish all for the crimes of some, and to lead you, O children of the Penguins, to exterminate blasphemy, superstition, and impiety from amongst you.  For this reason I advise, as a remedy against the great evil from which you suffer, that you carefully search your dwellings for idolatry, and extirpate it from them.  I think it would be also efficacious to pray and do penance.”

Thus spoke the holy Mael.  And the Elders of the Penguin people kissed his feet and returned to their villages with renewed hope.

VIII.  THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation)

Following the counsel of the holy Mael the inhabitants of Alca endeavoured to uproot the superstitions that had sprung up amongst them.  They took care to prevent the girls from dancing with incantations round the fairy tree.  Young mothers were sternly forbidden to rub their children against the stones that stood upright in the fields so as to make them strong.  An old man of Dombes who foretold the future by shaking grains of barley on a sieve, was thrown into a well.

However, each night the monster still raided the poultry-yards and the cattle-sheds.  The frightened peasants barricaded themselves in their houses.  A woman with child who saw the shadow of a dragon on the road through a window in the moonlight, was so terrified that she was brought to bed before her time.

In those days of trial, the holy Mael meditated unceasingly on the nature of dragons and the means of combating them.  After six months of study and prayer he thought he had found what he sought.  One evening as he was walking by the sea with a young monk called Samuel, he to him in these terms: 

“I have studied at length the history and habits of dragons, not to satisfy a vain curiosity, but to discover examples to follow in the present circumstances.  For such, Samuel, my son, is the use of history.