4382 ‘THE SEVEN CHAMPIONS

fought with such fury, that he soon felled his enemy beneath
his fect. At this moment the dragon spread his wings in order
to take flight; but by so doing he showed a soft part of his
skin, and St, George at once stabbed him to the heart. The
monster died with a horrid groan ; and St, George, having eut
off his head, rode back in triumph towards the palace.

He had hardly reached the city when he was basely set_upon
by twelve armed men, whom the king of Morocco (who courted
the princess Sabra) had hired to kill him. St. George soon put
these villains to flight; and when he came to the court he was
treated with all sorts of honours, and the lovely Sabra gave him
a diamond ring as a small mark of her esteem. In spite of this
failure, the Moorish prince still vowed to destroy or ruin St.
George. For this purpose he asked a private audience of the
king, and told him that St. George was an open foe to the reli-
gion of Egypt, and had tried to make the princess a Christian.
The king was so angry when he heard this, that he declared
St. George should not live any longer : but as it might not have
been safe to put him to death in Egypt, where he had done such
a great service to the people in killing the dragon, he wrote a
letter to the sultan of Persia, begging him to put the bearer,
St. George, to death, as he was an enemy to the religion of
Persia and Egypt.

St. George little thought of this deceit, so he took the letter
to the sultan; but as soon as he came into Persia he was taken
up before the sultan, who had him thrown intoa deep dungeon,
till a day should be fixed for his death. At the end of three
days, two fierce and hungry lions were put into the dungeon ;
but St. George having prayed to heaven for strength, burst the
cords which he was bound with, and, finding an old broken
rusty sword in the corner of the dungeon, he laid the lions dead
at his feet. ‘The sultan of Persia was amazed at this; and was