430 THE SEVEN CHAMPIONS

day she led him into a lofty stable, almost grand enough to be
taken for a palace, where seven of the grandest horses that ever
‘were seen, stood in seven stalls made of cedar-wood, inlaid with
silver ; one of them was even finer and larger than the rest ; his
hoofs were of pure gold, and his saddle and bridle were adorned
with precious stones. Calyba led this one from the stall, and
gave it to St. George: itsname was Bucephalus, She then led
St. George into an armoury, where she buckled a noble breast-
plate upon him, placed a helmet with a lofty plume of waving
feathers upon his head, and gave him a fine and sharp sword.
When the young champion was thus armed for battle, he
looked so very handsome, that Calyba could set no bounds to
her love for him ; so at last she put into his hand the silver
wand which gave her all her power, and told him to use it just
as he pleased.

St. George knew and hated the wicked actions of Calyba,
so he took the wand with a pleasure which he could hardly
conceal. It was then about the hour that Calyba used to retire
to a cave dug in the solid rock, to feast upon the bodies of
children that she had killed. St. George watched her, and
when he saw her enter the cave, he waved his wand three times,
and the rock shut upon the wicked wretch for ever. He then
set out for Coventry, along with the other six champions; and
in that town he built a grand monument to the memory of his
beloved parents.

Early in the next spring, the seven heroes bade each other
farewell, and they all took different roads in search of adven-
tures; St. George of England, after some tiresome voyage’
and travels, came into Egypt. That country was then in a most
wretched state on account of a dreadful fiery dragon, which
tainted the air with its breath in such a manner, that a plague
raged through all the land, and there were hardly people