When Cadmus went out of the temple, he saw a snow-white cow standing not
far from the door. She seemed to be waiting for him, for she looked at
him with her large brown eyes, and then turned and walked away. Cadmus
thought of what the Pythia had just told him, and so he followed her.
All day and all night he walked through a strange wild country where no
one lived; and two of the young men who had sailed with Cadmus from his
old home were with him.
When the sun rose the next morning, they saw that they were on the top
of a beautiful hill, with woods on one side and a grassy meadow on the
other. There the cow lay down.
"Here we will build our city," said Cadmus.
Then the young men made a fire of dry sticks, and Cadmus killed the cow.
They thought that if they should burn some of her flesh, the smell of it
would go up to the sky and be pleasing to Jupiter and the Mighty Folk
who lived with him among the clouds; and in this way they hoped to make
friends with Jupiter so that he would not hinder them in their work.
But they needed water to wash the flesh and their hands; and so one of
the young men went down the hill to find some. He was gone so long that
the other young man became uneasy and went after him.
Cadmus waited for them till the fire had burned low. He waited and
waited till the sun was high in the sky. He called and shouted, but no
one answered him. At last he took his sword in his hand and went down to
see what was the matter.
He followed the path which his friends had taken, and soon came to a
fine stream of cold water at the foot of a hill. He saw something move
among the bushes which grew near it. It was a fierce dragon, waiting to
spring upon him. There was blood on the grass and leaves, and it was not
hard to guess what had become of the two young men.
The beast sprang at Cadmus, and tried to seize him with its sharp claws.
But Cadmus leaped quickly aside and struck it in the neck with his long
sword. A great stream of black blood gushed out, and the dragon soon
fell to the ground dead. Cadmus had seen many fearful sights, but never
anything so dreadful as this beast. He had never been in so great danger
before. He sat down on the ground and trembled; and, all the time, he
was weeping for his two friends. How now was he to build a city, with no
one to help him?