the thought of the eighteen heads warned him to be
careful, and the third sister brought him a silk shirt which would make
him ten times stronger than he was before.

He had scarcely put it on, when the whole castle began to shake
violently, and the dragon flew up the steps into the hall.

'Well, my friend, so we meet once more! Have you forgotten me? I am
Shepherd Paul, and I have come to wrestle with you, and to free your
wife from your clutches.'

'Ah, I am glad to see you again,' said the dragon. 'Those were my two
brothers whom you killed, and now your blood shall pay for them.' And he
went into his room to look for his shirt and to drink some magic wine,
but the shirt was on Paul's back, and as for the wine, the girl had
given a cupful to Paul and then had allowed the rest to run out of the
cask.

At this the dragon grew rather frightened, but in a moment had
recollected his eighteen heads, and was bold again.

'Come on,' he cried, rearing himself up and preparing to dart all his
heads at once at Paul. But Paul jumped underneath, and gave an upward
cut so that six of the heads went rolling down. They were the best heads
too, and very soon the other twelve lay beside them. Then Paul changed
the castle into an apple, and put it in his pocket. Afterwards he and
the three girls set off for the opening which led upwards to the earth.

The basket was still there, dangling from the rope, but it was only big
enough to hold the three girls, so Paul sent them up, and told them to
be sure and let down the basket for him. Unluckily, at the sight of the
maidens' beauty, so far beyond anything they had ever seen, the friends
forgot all about Paul, and carried the girls straight away into a far
country, so that they were not much better off than before. Meanwhile
Paul, mad with rage at the ingratitude of the three sisters, vowed he
would be revenged upon them, and set about finding some way of getting
back to earth. But it was not very easy, and for months, and months, and
months, he wandered about underground, and, at the end, seemed no nearer
to fulfilling his purpose than he was at the beginning.

At length, one day, he happened to pass the nest of a huge griffin,
who had left her young ones all alone. Just as Paul came along a cloud
containing fire instead of rain burst overhead, and all the little
griffins would certainly have been killed had not Paul spread his cloak
over the nest and saved them. When their father r