The King stood trembling, his eyes staring in terror, until they were
but half a yard distant; then with an agile leap he jumped clear over
them and made a rush for the passage that led to the outer entrance.

Of course the dragon was in his way, being chained in the passage with
his head in the cavern, but when he saw the King making toward him he
crouched as low as he could and dropped his chin to the floor, leaving
a small space between his body and the roof of the passage.

Ruggedo did not hesitate an instant. Impelled by fear, he leaped to the
dragon's nose and then scrambled to his back, where he succeeded in
squeezing himself through the opening. After the head was passed there
was more room and he slid along the dragon's scales to his tail and
then ran as fast as his legs would carry him to the entrance. Not
pausing here, so great was his fright, the King dashed on down the
mountain path, but before he had gone very far he stumbled and fell.

When he picked himself up he observed that no one was following him,
and while he recovered his breath he happened to think of the decree of
the Jinjin--that he should be driven from his Kingdom and made a
wanderer on the face of the earth. Well, here he was, driven from his
cavern in truth; driven by those dreadful eggs; but he would go back
and defy them; he would not submit to losing his precious Kingdom and
his tyrannical powers, all because Tititi-Hoochoo had said he must.

So, although still afraid, Ruggedo nerved himself to creep back along
the path to the entrance, and when he arrived there he saw the six eggs
lying in a row just before the arched opening.

At first he paused a safe distance away to consider the case, for the
eggs were now motionless. While he was wondering what could be done, he
remembered there was a magical charm which would destroy eggs and
render them harmless to nomes. There were nine passes to be made and
six verses of incantation to be recited; but Ruggedo knew them all. Now
that he had ample time to be exact, he carefully went through the
entire ceremony.

But nothing happened. The eggs did not disappear, as he had expected;
so he repeated the charm a second time. When that also failed, he
remembered, with a moan of despair, that his magic power had been taken
away from him and in the future he could do no more than any common
mortal.

And there were the eggs, forever barring him from the Kingdom which he
had ruled so long with absol