'Do this thing and do it well,
And fortune will upon you dwell.'_

So Matteo went once more to the town and did exactly as the serpent had
told him. Not knowing anything of magic, he did not in the least expect
anything to happen; so you may imagine his surprise when not only the
fruit, but every tree and leaf and bough in the whole orchard, turned
into solid gold, and glittered so in the sunlight that one could
scarcely bear to look at them.

It chanced that the King was walking on the terrace with his courtiers
when Matteo entered the orchard.

'There is that silly old man come back again who wants me to wed my
daughter to a serpent,' he said. 'Is he going to turn my fruit into gold
by stealing it and selling it in the market-place?'

The courtiers laughed at this excellent jest, as courtiers will; but the
next moment they stopped laughing, and each one rubbed his eyes and
ejaculated in astonishment and delight at the marvellous beauty and
value of the King's orchards.

The King himself could say nothing, and he said nothing, until Matteo
came before him and humbly begged his Majesty to fulfil his promise now
that the serpent, his adopted son, had done the task assigned to him.

The King was in a quandary. He was not greedy or avaricious; but to have
a serpent for a son-in-law was, for a king, clearly impossible.

'Softly,' he said. 'You have fulfilled your task, it is true; but so
fair an orchard requires a better setting. Golden trees should not grow
out of common ground and be enclosed by common walls. Let your adopted
son first turn all the ground and the walls into diamonds and rubies and
precious stones, so that I may have orchards whereof the like is not
known in all the world, and then will I give him my daughter to wife.'

The forester again thanked his Majesty for his great condescension and
retired, while the King and his courtiers went into the orchard and
picked golden apples and plums and peaches from golden boughs, and
marvelled at the wonderful thing that had been done before their eyes.

It was in the King's mind that this could be no common or forest
serpent, and he was troubled to think what his position would be if the
second task was performed as readily and thoroughly as the first had
been.

When Matteo reached home and told the serpent what had befallen him, the
serpent shook his tail and seemed about to fly into a passion.

'You see how well kings keep their word,' it said ang