_The Battle_.
It was an awul sight to behold! When the Remora heard the name of the
Firedrake, his hated enemy, he slipped with wonderful speed from the
cleft of the mountain into the valley. On and on and on he poured over
rock and tree, as if a frozen river could slide downhill; on and on, till
there were miles of him stretching along the valley--miles of the smooth-
ribbed, icy creature, crawling and slipping forwards. The green trees
dropped their leaves as he advanced; the birds fell down dead from the
sky, slain by his frosty breath! But, fast as the Remora stole forward,
the Firedrake came quicker yet, flying and clashing his fiery wings. At
last they were within striking distance; and the Firedrake, stooping from
the air, dashed with his burning horns and flaming feet slap into the
body of the Remora.
Then there rose a steam so dreadful, such a white yet fiery vapour of
heat, that no one who had not the prince's magic glass could have seen
what happened. With horrible grunts and roars the Firedrake tried to
burn his way right through the flat body of the Remora, and to chase him
to his cleft in the rock. But the Remora, hissing terribly, and visibly
melting away in places, yet held his ground; and the prince could see his
cold white folds climbing slowly up the hoofs of the Firedrake--up and
up, till they reached his knees, and the great burning beast roared like
a hundred bulls with the pain. Then up the Firedrake leaped, and
hovering on his fiery wings, he lighted in the midst of the Remora's
back, and dashed into it with his horns. But the flat, cruel head
writhed backwards, and, slowly bending over on itself, the wounded Remora
slid greedily to fasten again on the limbs of the Firedrake.
Meanwhile, the prince, safe on his hill, was lunching on the loaf and the
cold tongue he had brought with him.
"Go it, Remora! Go it, Firedrake! you're gaining. Give it him, Remora!"
he shouted in the wildest excitement.
Nobody had ever seen such a battle; he had it all to himself, and he
never enjoyed anything more. He hated the Remora so much, that he almost
wished the Firedrake could beat it; for the Firedrake was the more
natural beast of the pair. Still, he was alarmed when he saw that the
vast flat body of the Remora was now slowly coiling backwards, backwards,
into the cleft below the hill; while a thick wet mist showed how cruelly
it had suffered. But the Firedrake, too, was in an unhappy way; for his
legs were now cold and black, his horns were black also, though his body,
especially near the heart, glowed still like red-hot iron.
"Go it, Remora!" cried the prince: "his legs are giving way; he's groggy
on his pins! One more effort, and he won't be able to move!"
Encouraged by this advice, the white, slippery Remora streamed out of his
cavern again, more and more of him uncoiling, as if the mountain were
quite full of him. He had lost strength, no doubt: for the steam and
mist went up from him in clouds, and the hissing of his angry voice grew
fainter; but so did the roars of the Firedrake. Presently they sounded
more like groans; and at last the Remora slipped up his legs above the
knees, and fastened on his very heart of fire. Then the Firedrake stood
groaning like a black bull, knee-deep in snow; and still the Remora
climbed and climbed.
"Go it now, Firedrake!" shouted the prince; for he knew that if the
Remora won, it would be too cold for him to draw near the place, and cut
off the Firedrake's head and tail.
"Go it, Drake! he's slackening!" cried the prince again; and the brave
Firedrake made one last furious effort, and rising on his wings, dropped
just on the spine of his enemy.
The wounded Remora curled back his head again on himself, and again
crawled, steaming terribly, towards his enemy. But the struggle was too
much for the gallant Remora. The flat, cruel head moved slower; the
steam from his thousand wounds grew fiercer; and he gently breathed his
last just as the Firedrake, too, fell over and lay exhausted. With one
final roar, like the breath of a thousand furnaces, the Firedrake
expired.
The prince, watching from the hill-top, could scarcely believe that these
two _awful scourges of Nature_, which had so long devastated his country,
were actually dead. But when he had looked on for half-an-hour, and only
a river ran where the Remora had been, while the body of the Firedrake
lay stark and cold, he hurried to the spot.
Drawing the sword of sharpness, he hacked off, at two blows, the iron
head and the tail of the Firedrake. They were a weary weight to carry;
but in a few strides of the shoes of swiftness he was at his castle,
where he threw down his burden, and nearly fainted with excitement and
fatigue.
{The Prince in front of the Firedrake: p78.jpg}
But the castle clock struck half-past seven; dinner was at eight, and the
poor prince crawled on hands and knees to the garret. Here he put on the
wishing-cap; wished for a pint of champagne, a hot bath, and his best
black velvet and diamond suit. In a moment these were provided; he
bathed, dressed, drank a glass of wine, packed up the head and tail of
the Firedrake, sat down on the flying carpet, and knocked at the door of
the English ambassador as the clocks were striking eight in Gluckstein.
_Punctuality is the politeness of princes_! and a prince _is_ polite,
when he is in love!
The prince was received at the door by a stout porter and led into the
hall, where _several_ butlers met him, and he laid the mortal remains of
the Firedrake under the cover of the flying carpet.
Then he was led upstairs; and he made his bow to the pretty lady, who, of
course, made him a magnificent courtesy. She seemed prettier and kinder
than ever. The prince was so happy, that he never noticed how something
went wrong about the dinner. The ambassador looked about, and seemed to
miss someone, and spoke in a low voice to one of the servants, who
answered also in a low voice, and what he said seemed to displease the
ambassador. But the prince was so busy in talking to his lady, and in
eating his dinner too, that he never observed anything unusual. He had
_never_ been at such a pleasant dinner!