Mythical Beasties Isaac Asimov

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ionely castle.
CHAPTER Vm
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The Prince Is Puzzled
Prince Prigio did not go to bed. It was bright daylight, and he
had promised to bring the horns and tail of a Firedrake as a
present to a pretty lady- He had said it was easy to do this;
but now, as he sat and thought it over, he did not feel so
victorious.
"First," he said, "where is the Firedrake?"
He reflected for a little, and then ran upstairs to the garret.
"It should be here!" he cried, tossing the fairies' gifts
about, "and, by George, here it is!"
Indeed, he had found the spy-glass of carved ivory which
Prince Ali, in the Arabian Nights, bought in the bazaar in
Schiraz. Now this glass was made so that by looking through
it you could see anybody or anything you wished, however
58 Andrew Long
far away. Prigio's first idea was to look at his lady. "But she
does not expect to be looked at," he thought, "and I won't!"
On the other hand, he determined to look at the Firedrake; for
of course he had no delicacy about spying on him, the brute.
The Pnnce clapped the glass to his eye, stared out of the
window, and there, sure enough, he saw the Firedrake. He
was floating about in a sea of molten lava, on the top of a
volcano. There he was, swimming and diving for pleasure,
tossing up the flaming waves, and blowing fountains of fire
out of his nostrils, like a whale spouting!
The Pnnce did not like the looks of him.
"With all my cap of darkness, and my shoes of swiftness,
and my sword of sharpness, I never could get near that
beast," he said; "and if I did stalk him, I could not hurt him.
Poor little Alphonso! poor Enrico! what plucky fellows they
were! I fancied that there was no such thing as a Firedrake:
he's not in the Natural History books; and I thought the boys
were only making fun, and would be back soon, safe and
sound. How horrid being too clever makes one! And now,
what am I to do?"
What was he to do indeed? And what would you have
done? Bring the horns and tail he must, or perish in the
adventure. Otherwise, how could he meet his lady? why,
she would think him a mere braggart.
The Prince sat down and thought and thought; and the day
went on, and it was now high noon.
At last he jumped up and rushed into the library, a room
where nobody ever went except himself and the Queen. There
he turned the books upside down, in his haste, till he found
an old one by a French gentleman, Monsieur Cyrano de
Bergerac. It was an account of a voyage to the moon, in
which there is a great deal of information about matters not
generally known; for few travellers have been to the moon. In
that book, Prince Prigio fancied he would find something he
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half-remembered, and that would be of use to him. And he
did! So you see that cleverness, and minding your book, have
some advantages, after all. For here the Prince learned that
there is a very rare beast called a Remora, which is at least as
cold as the Firedrake is hot!
PRINCE PRIGIO 59
"Now," thought he, "i// can only make these two fight,
why, the Remora may kill the Firedrake, or take the heat out
of him, at least, so that I may have a chance."
Then he seized the ivory glass, clapped it to his eye, and
looked for the Remora. Just the tip of his nose, as white as
snow and as smooth as ice, was sticking out of a chink in a
frozen mountain, not far from the burning mountain of the
Firedrake.
*' Hooray!'' said the Prince softly to himself; and he jumped
like mad into the winged shoes of swiftness, stuck on the cap
of darkness, girdled himself with the sword of sharpness, and
put a good slice of bread, with some cold tongue, in a wallet,
which he slung on his back. Never you fight, if you can help
it, except with plenty of food to keep you going and in good [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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