iew he ordered a curious apparatus to be constructed on wheels,
something like a carriage, to which he fastened a large quantity of
pointed instruments, and harnessed horses to it to drag it on the road.
He then tried its motion, and found it admirably calculated for his
purpose. The people were astonished at the ingenuity of the invention,
and lauded him to the skies.

Third Stage--Away went the prince, and having travelled a considerable
distance, Kurugsar suddenly exclaimed: "I now begin to smell the stench
of the dragon." Hearing this, Isfendiyar dismounted, ascended the
machine, and shutting the door fast, took his seat and drove off.
Bashutan and all the warriors upon witnessing this extraordinary act,
began to weep and lament, thinking that he was hurrying himself to
certain destruction, and begged that for his own sake, as well as
theirs, he would come out of the machine. But he replied: "Peace, peace!
what know ye of the matter;" and as the warlike apparatus was so
excellently contrived, that he could direct the movements of the horses
himself, he drove on with increased velocity, till he arrived in the
vicinity of the monster.

The dragon from a distance heard
The rumbling of the wain,
And snuffing every breeze that stirred
Across the neighbouring plain,

Smelt something human in his power,
A welcome scent to him;
For he was eager to devour
Hot reeking blood, or limb.

And darkness now is spread around,
No pathway can be traced;
The fiery horses plunge and bound
Amid the dismal waste.

And now the dragon stretches far
His cavern throat, and soon
Licks in the horses and the car,
And tries to gulp them down.

But sword and javelin, sharp and keen,
Wound deep each sinewy jaw;
Midway, remains the huge machine,
And chokes the monster's maw.

In agony he breathes, a dire
Convulsion fires his blood,
And struggling, ready to expire,
Ejects a poison-flood!

And then disgorges wain and steeds,
And swords and javelins bright;
Then, as the dreadful dragon bleeds,
Up starts the warrior-knight,
And from his place of ambush leaps,
And, brandishing his blade,
The weapon in the brain he steeps,
And splits the monster's head.

But the foul venom issuing thence,
Is so o'erpowering found,
Isfendiyar, deprived of sense,
Falls staggering to the ground!

Upon seeing this result, and his brother in so