Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 4 · page 21 2101He tossed his head with delight at the sight of her, and approached slowly to the place where she stood, a little in front of the mirror.102Then, still looking the monster steadily in the face, she passed one hand behind her back and snatched off the veil, stepping swiftly behind the tree as she did so.103The princess had not known, when she obeyed the orders of the Knight of the Fish, what she expected to happen.104Would the dragon with snaky locks be turned to stone, she wondered, like the dragon in an old story her nurse had told her; or would some fiery spark dart from the heart of the mirror, and strike him dead?105Neither of these things occurred, but, instead, the dragon stopped short with surprise and rage when he saw a monster before him as big and strong as himself.106He shook his mane with rage and fury; the enemy in front did exactly the same.107He lashed his tail, and rolled his red eyes, and the dragon opposite was no whit behind him.108Opening his mouth to its very widest, he gave an awful roar; but the other dragon only roared back.109This was too much, and with another roar which made the princess shake in her shoes, he flung himself upon his foe.110In an instant the mirror lay at his feet broken into a thousand pieces, but as every piece reflected part of himself, the dragon thought that he too had been smashed into atoms.111It was the moment for which the Knight of the Fish had watched and waited, and before the dragon could find out that he was not hurt at all, the young man’s lance was down his throat, and he was rolling, dead, on the grass.112Oh! what shouts of joy rang through the great city, when the youth came riding back with the princess sitting behind him, and dragging the horrible monster by a cord.113Everybody cried out that the king must give the victor the hand of the princess; and so he did, and no one had ever seen such balls and feasts and sports before.114And when they were all over the young couple went to the palace prepared for them, which was so large that it was three miles round.115The first wet day after their marriage the bridegroom begged the bride to show him all the rooms in the palace, and it was so big and took so long that the sun was shining brightly again before they stepped on to the roof to see the view.116“What castle is that out there,” asked the knight; “it seems to be made of black marble?”117“It is called the castle of Albatroz,” answered the princess.118“It is enchanted, and no one that has tried to enter it has ever come back.”1 2← previousStory of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 3next →Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 5↑ back to The Brown Fairy BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/37/page/2/