d of praise I will bring a good heart into
the fight.

_(Goes.)_

_(Taig is slipping out after him.)_

_Queen_: See now the King of Sorcha slipping
away into the fight. Stop here now! _(Pulls him
back.)_ You have a life that is precious to many
besides yourself. Do not go without being well
armed--and with a troop of good fighting men
at your back.

_Taig_: I am greatly obliged to you. I think
I'll be best with myself.

_Queen_: You have no suit or armour upon you.

_Taig_: That is what I was thinking.

_Queen_: Here anyway is a sword.

_Taig: (Taking it.)_ That's a nice belt now.
Well worked, silver thread and gold.

_Queen_: The King's own guard will go out with
you.

_Taig_: I wouldn't ask one of them! What
would you think of me wanting help! A Dragon!
Little I'd think of him. I'll knock the life out of
him. I'll give him cruelty!

_Queen_: You have great courage indeed!

_Taig_: I'll cut him crossways and lengthways
the same as a yard of frieze! I'll make garters of
his body! I'll smooth him with a smoothing iron!
Not a fear of me! I never lost a bet yet that I
wasn't able to pay it!

_Gateman: (As he rushes in, Taig slips away.)_
The Dragon! The Dragon! I seen it coming and
its mouth open and a fiery flame from it! And
nine miles of the sea is dry with all it drank of it!
The whole country is gathering the same as of a
fair day for to see him devour the Princess.

_(Princess trembles and sinks into a chair.
King, Queen and Dall Glic look from
window. They turn to her as they
speak.)_

_Queen_: There is a terrible splashing in the sea!
It is like as if the Dragon's tail had beaten it into
suds of soap!

_Dall Glic_: He is near as big as a whale!

_King_: He is, and bigger!

_Queen_: I see him! I see him! He would seem
to have seven heads!

_Dall Glic_: I see but one.

_Queen_: You would see more if you had your
two eyes! He has six heads at the least!

_King_: He has but one. He is twisting and
turning it around.

_Dall Glic_: He is coming up towards the flaggy
shore!

_King_: I hear him! He is snoring like a flock
of pigs!

_Queen_: He is rearing his head in the air! He
has teeth as long as a tongs!

_Doll Glic_: No, but his tail he is rearing up!
It would take a ladder forty feet long to get to
the tip of it!

_Queen_: There is the King of Sorcha going out
the gate for to make an end of him.

_Dall Glic_: So he is, too. That is great bravery.

_King_: He is goi