em all in the
ruins. His wife was asleep, in spite of the baby's cries; and John
picked up the baby and took it down and put it between the dragon's
front paws.

"You just purr to it, sir," he said, "and it'll be as good as gold."

So the dragon purred, and his purring pleased the baby so much that it
stopped crying.

Then John rummaged among the heap of old iron and found there some heavy
chains and a great collar that had been made in the days when men sang
over their work and put their hearts into it, so that the things they
made were strong enough to bear the weight of a thousand years, let
alone a dragon.

John fastened the dragon up with the collar and the chains, and when he
had padlocked them all on safely he set to work to find out how many
rivets would be needed.

"Six, eight, ten--twenty, forty," said he. "I haven't half enough rivets
in the shop. If you'll excuse me, sir, I'll step around to another forge
and get a few dozen. I won't be a minute."

[Illustration: "The dragon's purring pleased the baby." _See page
106._]

And off he went, leaving the baby between the dragon's fore-paws,
laughing and crowing with pleasure at the very large purr of it.

John ran as hard as he could into the town, and found the mayor and
corporation.

"There's a dragon in my dungeon," he said; "I've chained him up. Now
come and help to get my baby away."

And he told them all about it.

But they all happened to have engagements for that evening; so they
praised John's cleverness, and said they were quite content to leave the
matter in his hands.

"But what about my baby?" said John.

"Oh, well," said the mayor, "if anything should happen, you will always
be able to remember that your baby perished in a good cause."

So John went home again, and told his wife some of the tale.

"You've given the baby to the dragon!" she cried. "Oh, you unnatural
parent!"

"Hush," said John, and he told her some more. "Now," he said, "I'm going
down. After I've been down you can go, and if you keep your head the boy
will be all right."

So down went the blacksmith, and there was the dragon purring away with
all his might to keep the baby quiet.

"Hurry up, can't you?" he said. "I can't keep up this noise all night."

"I'm very sorry, sir," said the blacksmith, "but all the shops are shut.
The job must wait till the morning. And don't forget you've promised to
take care of that baby. You'll find it a little wearing, I'm af