e but a
king's daughter, staked down by the hair of her head, for she had been
put there for the dragon to destroy her.

So he went up and untied her hair, but she said: "My time has come for
the dragon to destroy me; go away, you can do no good." But he said:
"No! I can master it, and I won't go"; and for all her begging and
praying he would stop.

And soon he heard it coming, roaring and raging from afar off, and at
last it came near, spitting fire, and with a tongue like a great spear,
and you could hear it roaring for miles, and it was making for the place
where the king's daughter was staked down. But when it came up to them,
the lad just hit it on the head with the bladder and the dragon fell
down dead, but before it died, it bit off the little boy's forefinger.

[Illustration: THE LITTLE BULL-CALF]

Then the lad cut out the dragon's tongue and said to the king's
daughter: "I've done all I can, I must leave you." And sorry she was he
had to go, and before he went she tied a diamond ring in his hair, and
said good-bye to him.

By-and-by, who should come along but the old king, lamenting and
weeping, expecting to see nothing of his daughter but the prints of the
place where she had been. But he was surprised to find her there alive
and safe, and he said: "How came you to be saved?" So she told him how
she had been saved, and he took her home to his castle again.

Well, he put it into all the papers to find out who saved his daughter,
and who had the dragon's tongue and the princess's diamond ring, and was
without his forefinger. Whoever could show these signs should marry his
daughter and have his kingdom after his death. Well, any number of
gentlemen came from all parts of England, with forefingers cut off, and
with diamond rings and all kinds of tongues, wild beasts' tongues and
foreign tongues. But they couldn't show any dragons' tongues, so they
were turned away.

At last the little boy turned up, looking very ragged and desolated
like, and the king's daughter cast her eye on him, till her father grew
very angry and ordered them to turn the little beggar boy away.
"Father," says she; "I know something of that boy."

Well, still the fine gentlemen came, bringing up their dragons' tongues
that weren't dragons' tongues, and at last the little boy came up,
dressed a little better. So the old king says: "I see you've got an eye
on that boy. If it has to be him it must be him." But all the others
were fit to