of the noble Rogear and
sends him some larks for a pasty.'

'Larks?' cried the lion, licking his long whiskers. 'Why, it must be a
century since I have had any! Have you a large quantity with you?'

'As many as this bag will hold,' replied Peronnik, opening, as he spoke,
the bag which he had filled with feathers and glue; and to prove what he
said, he turned his back on the lion and began to imitate the song of a
lark.

'Come,' exclaimed the lion, whose mouth watered, 'show me the birds! I
should like to see if they are fat enough for my master.'

'I would do it with pleasure,' answered the idiot, 'but if I once open
the bag they will all fly away.'

'Well, open it wide enough for me to look in,' said the lion, drawing a
little nearer.

Now this was just what Peronnik had been hoping for, so he held the bag
while the lion opened it carefully and put his head right inside, so
that he might get a good mouthful of larks. But the mass of feathers and
glue stuck to him, and before he could pull his head out again Peronnik
had drawn tight the cord, and tied it in a knot that no man could untie.
Then, quickly gathering the flower that laughs, he rode off as fast as
the colt could take him.

The path soon led to the lake of the dragons, which he had to swim
across. The colt, who was accustomed to it, plunged into the water
without hesitation; but as soon as the dragons caught sight of Peronnik
they approached from all parts of the lake in order to devour him.

This time Peronnik did not trouble to take off his cap, but he threw the
beads he carried with him into the water, as you throw black corn to a
duck, and with each bead that he swallowed a dragon turned on his back
and died, so that the idiot reached the other side without further
trouble.

The valley guarded by the black man now lay before him, and from afar
Peronnik beheld him, chained by one foot to a rock at the entrance, and
holding the iron ball which never missed its mark and always returned
to its master's hand. In his head the black man had six eyes that were
never all shut at once, but kept watch one after the other. At this
moment they were all open, and Peronnik knew well that if the black
man caught a glimpse of him he would cast his ball. So, hiding the colt
behind a thicket of bushes, he crawled along a ditch and crouched close
to the very rock to which the black man was chained.

The day was hot, and after a while the man began to grow sleepy.