The wicked, hateful thing!  Slumbering as two thirds of it were, it still held in its abominable claws the remnant of an unfortunate lamb—­or possibly (but I hate to think so) it was a dear little boy—­which its three mouths had been gnawing before two of them fell asleep!

All at once Bellerophon started as from a dream, and knew it to be the Chimera.  Pegasus seemed to know it at the same instant, and sent forth a neigh that sounded like the call of a trumpet to battle.  At this sound the three heads reared themselves erect and belched out great flashes of flame.  Before Bellerophon had time to consider what to do next, the monster flung itself out of the cavern and sprung straight toward him, with its immense claws extended and its snaky tail twisting itself venomously behind.  If Pegasus had not been as nimble as a bird, both he and his rider would have been overthrown by the Chimera’s headlong rush, and thus the battle have been ended before it was well begun.  But the winged horse was not to be caught so.  In the twinkling of an eye he was up aloft, halfway to the clouds, snorting with anger.  He shuddered, too, not with affright, but with utter disgust at the loathsomeness of this poisonous thing with three heads.

[Illustration:  Pegasus darted down aslant toward the Chimera’s three-fold head.]

The Chimera, on the other hand, raised itself up so as to stand absolutely on the tip end of its tail, with its talons pawing fiercely in the air and its three heads spluttering fire at Pegasus and his rider.  My stars! how it roared and hissed and bellowed!  Bellerophon, meanwhile, was fitting his shield on his arm and drawing his sword.

“Now, my beloved Pegasus,” he whispered in the winged horse’s ear, “thou must help me to slay this insufferable monster, or else thou shalt fly back to thy solitary mountain peak without thy friend Bellerophon.  For either the Chimera dies, or its three mouths shall gnaw this head of mine, which has slumbered upon thy neck.”

Pegasus whinnied, and, turning back his head, rubbed his nose tenderly against his rider’s cheek.  It was his way of telling him that, though he had wings and was an immortal horse, yet he would perish, if it were possible for immortality to perish, rather than leave Bellerophon behind.

“I thank you, Pegasus,” answered Bellerophon.  “Now, then, let us make a dash at the monster!”

Uttering these words, he shook the bridle, and Pegasus darted down aslant, as swift as the flight of an arrow, right toward the Chimera’s three-fold head, which all this time was poking itself as high as it could into the air.  As he came within arm’s length, Bellerophon made a cut at the monster, but was carried onward by his steed before he could see whether the blow had been successful.  Pegasus continued his course, but soon wheeled round at about the same distance from the Chimera as before.  Bellerophon then perceived that he had cut the goat’s head of the monster almost off, so that it dangled downward by the skin, and seemed quite dead.  But, to make amends, the snake’s head and the lion’s head had taken all the fierceness of the dead one into themselves, and spit flame and hissed and roared with more fury than before.