ou have yet time, before that monster
sees you.'

She said it, and she meant it; yet, when he had turned his back, she
felt more forsaken than before. But in reality it was not more than a
few minutes before he came back, galloping furiously on a horse he had
borrowed, and carrying a huge mirror across its neck.

'I am in time, then,' he cried, dismounting very carefully, and
placing the mirror against the trunk of a tree.

'Give me your veil,' he said hastily to the princess. And when she had
unwound it from her head he covered the mirror with it.

'The moment the dragon comes near you, you must tear off the veil,'
cried he; 'and be sure you hide behind the mirror. Have no fear; I
shall be at hand.'

He and his horse had scarcely found shelter amongst some rocks, when
the flap of the dragon's wings could be plainly heard. He tossed his
head with delight at the sight of her, and approached slowly to the
place where she stood, a little in front of the mirror. Then, still
looking the monster steadily in the face, she passed one hand behind
her back and snatched off the veil, stepping swiftly behind the tree
as she did so.

The princess had not known, when she obeyed the orders of the Knight
of the Fish, what she expected to happen. Would the dragon with snaky
locks be turned to stone, she wondered, like the dragon in an old
story her nurse had told her; or would some fiery spark dart from the
heart of the mirror, and strike him dead? Neither of these things
occurred, but, instead, the dragon stopped short with surprise and
rage when he saw a monster before him as big and strong as himself. He
shook his mane with rage and fury; the enemy in front did exactly the
same. He lashed his tail, and rolled his red eyes, and the dragon
opposite was no whit behind him. Opening his mouth to its very widest,
he gave an awful roar; but the other dragon only roared back. This was
too much, and with another roar which made the princess shake in her
shoes, he flung himself upon his foe. In an instant the mirror lay at
his feet broken into a thousand pieces, but as every piece reflected
part of himself, the dragon thought that he too had been smashed into
atoms.

It was the moment for which the Knight of the Fish had watched and
waited, and before the dragon could find out that he was not hurt at
all, the young man's lance was down his throat, and he was rolling,
dead, on the grass.

Oh! what shouts of joy rang through the great