THE J FAIR dragons who guarded the fountain of the Water of

Perpetual Beauty. He approached as near as he
dared, and saw the hideous monsters spotted black
on yellow writhing about the coils of their slimy
and monstrous bodies.
Charming had brought with him a flask: he now
drew his sword and resolved to penetrate into the
cavern and get the water, or die in the attempt.
At that moment he heard a voice calling, ‘Char-
ming ! Charming !’
‘Who calls me?’ asked he, looking round.
‘Who! who! who!’ was the answer.
‘Exactly what I want to know!’ said Charming.
Then he saw a white owl sitting among the rocks.
The white owl said to him: ‘You saved my life
when I was in the gin. Now I will do all I can to
repay you. Trust me with the phial. I can thread
the interstices of the rocks and penetrate to the
bottom of the gloomy cavern, and shali fill the
flask from the fountain of Perpetual Beauty for you.’
Charming was only too glad to give up the phial,
and the owl flitted with it into the cavern without
either of the dragons caring to stop her, even if
they noticed her; for bats and owls were the
common inhabitants of such places.
Presently she returned, with the phial filled with
the limpid and sparkling liquid. Charming thanked
her with all his heart, and joyfully hastened back
to the capital town.
He went straight to the palace and presented it to
the princess.
She could not now make any further excuses, and
she prepared to go with Charming to marry his
master, the king. But, in her heart, she would
much rather have had Charming as her husband.
At last they reached the king’s great city, and he
came out to meet the princess, and escorted her
to his palace with a great retinue, and a magnifi-
cent marriage was celebrated.

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