gles, he cut off both its ears and placed them in his
haversack.

As his brothers still slept he resolved to say nothing about the matter,
and, to this end, he rolled the carcase of the alligator down the
shelving shore into the water, where it sank like lead. At sunrise he
roused his brothers, and, with few words, they resumed their wandering.

After three days struggling through the forest, they came to another
lake, where they camped for the night. This time the second brother
watched, while the eldest and the youngest slept.

And he, too, had a strange adventure, but more terrible than that the
eldest brother had encountered. At midnight the waters of the lake began
to move, and a great alligator with two heads emerged and came up on the
shore. Then, with both mouths wide open and his long sharp teeth
gleaming in the moonlight, the monster rushed at the watcher and the
sleepers. But the watcher sprang forward, sword in hand, and dealt two
terrific blows, one on each head, killing the alligator instantly. Then
he cut off the four ears and placed them in his haversack, and rolled
the huge carcase back into the lake. As the eldest brother had done, he
kept the matter to himself, and let his brothers sleep on.

In the morning he aroused them, and they all set out again on their
wandering.

During that day they came to the edge of the forest, but only to find a
vast desert before them. Their hearts sank within them, but, nothing
daunted, they set forth, saying one to the other, 'There is no desert
that has no boundaries. We shall come to the other side.'

But for three whole days they journeyed on, and all was still desert as
far as the eye could see; and their food and water were exhausted, and
they were sore distressed. Then, as they saw that the desert had no end,
they cried to God to deliver them. And it seemed that the haze of the
desert lifted, and they saw before them a lake, calm and peaceful. On
its shore they would spend the night.

Having refreshed themselves from its waters, and eaten of some luscious
fruits that grew upon its margin, they made their camp; and this time
the youngest brother watched while the other two slept.

And he, also, had an adventure, but far more terrible than either of his
brothers had encountered. As they were sleeping soundly, and he was
looking at the still surface of the lake, something heaved up out of the
depths and swam rapidly towards him. When it came up out of the wa