THE MAGIC EGG. 245

standing wheat and thee into an old man guarding
me, and if he ask thee: ‘Hast thou seen a lad and
a lass pass by this way?’ say to him: ‘Yes, they
passed by this way while I was sowing this
wheat !’”

A little while afterwards the she-dragon’s husband
came flying up. ‘‘ Have a lad and a lass passed by
this way?” said he “Yes,” replied the old man,
“they have.”—“* Was it long ago?” asked the she-
dragon’s husband.—“‘It was while this wheat was
being sown,” replied the old man.—‘ Oh!” thought
the serpent, ‘this wheat is ready for the sickle, they
couldn’t have been this way yesterday,” so he turned
back. Then the she-dragon’s daughter turned her-
self back into a maiden and the old man into a
youth, and off they set again. But the dragon
returned home, and the she-dragon asked him:
“What! hast thou not caught them or met them
on the road?”—* Met them, no!” said he “I
did, indeed, pass on the road some standing wheat
and an old man watching it, and I asked the old
man if he had seen a lad and a lass pass by that
way, and he said: ‘Yes, while this wheat was being
sown, but the wheat was quite ripe for the sickle,
so I knew it was a long while ago and turned
back.”—“ Why didst thou not tear that old man and
the wheat to pieces?” cried the she-dragon; “it was