A king had a son who was called Dragon. He was as debauched as it
is possible to be. All the money that he had he had spent, and still
more; not having enough, he demanded his portion from his father. The
father gives it him immediately, and he goes off, taking with him a
companion who had been a soldier, and who was very like himself. [104]
Very quickly they spent all their money. While they were travelling
in a forest they see a beautiful castle. They enter and find there
a table ready set out, and a magnificent supper prepared. They sit
down to table and sup. Nobody appears as yet, and they go up-stairs
to see the house, and they find the beds all ready, and they go to
bed. They pass a very good night. The next morning Dragon gets up
and opens the shutters, and sees a dazzling garden.
He goes down into the garden, still without seeing anybody; but in
passing under a fig tree, a voice says to him:
"Ay! ay! ay! what pain you have put me to, and what suffering you
are causing me!"
He turns on all sides and finds nothing. He says:
"Who are you? You! I do not understand it. Appear!"
The voice says to him, "I cannot to-day; but perhaps to-morrow you will
see me. But in order to do that you will have to suffer severely."
He promises to suffer no matter what for her. The voice says to him:
"To-morrow night they will make you suffer every kind of torture,
but you must not say anything; and if you do that, you will see
me to-morrow."
They had spoken all this before the soldier friend, but he had heard
nothing of it.
They go to the house and find the dinner quite ready. Dragon would
have wished that night had already come, to know what it was he was
to see. He goes off to bed then, and after eleven o'clock he feels
that something is coming, and his whole body is pricked all over. He
keeps quite silent, because he wished to see the voice. And when the
cock crew "Kukuruku!" he was released (from his torture). He lies
waiting for daybreak to go to the fig tree. Day did not appear as
soon as he would have wished it, and he goes running to the garden
and sees under the fig tree, coming out of the ground as high as her
shoulders, a young girl, and she says to him:
"Last night you have suffered in silence, but the next night they
will make you suffer much more. I do not know if you can bear it
without speaking."
He promises her that he will suffer still more in order to save her.
As usual, they find the table ready for dinner and for supper. He
goes off to bed. There happens to him the same thing as in the
preceding night, but they do him still more harm. Happily he lies
still without speaking. The cock crows "Kukuruku!" and they leave
him quiet. As soon as daylight has come he goes off to the garden,
and he sees the young lady visible as far as the knees. Dragon is
delighted to save this beautiful girl, but she says sadly to him:
"You have seen nothing up to this time. They will make you suffer
twice as much."
He says that he has courage to endure anything, because he wishes to
get her out of that state. When night comes, he perceives that two
are coming instead of one. One of them was lame, and he says to him
(and you know lame people and cripples are the most cruel). [105]
He says then to the other:
"What! You have not been able to make this wretched boy speak! I will
make him speak, I will."
He cuts off his arms and then his legs, and our Dragon does not say
anything. They make him suffer a great deal, but happily the cock
crows "Kukuruku!" and he is delivered. He was much afraid what would
become of him without hands and without feet; but on touching himself
he feels with pleasure that all that is made right again. While he
is in bed he hears a great noise. He lies without saying anything,
being frightened, and not knowing what might happen to him, when all
of a sudden this young lady appears and says to him:
"You have saved me; I am very well pleased with you. But this is not
enough; we must be off from here immediately."
All the three go off together, and travel far, far, far away,
and they arrive in a city. The young lady did not think it proper
to lodge in the same hotel with them. Next morning the young lady
gets up very early, and goes in search of the landlord of the hotel,
and says to him:
"A gentleman will come here to ask for me. You will tell him that
I have gone out, and if he wishes to see me he must come to the
fountain at the Four Cantons [106]--but fasting--and he is to wait
for me there."
The next morning the young gentleman goes to the hotel, and they
tell him what the young lady has said. On that very day he goes to
the fountain, taking his comrade with him, and fasting; but as the
young lady had not yet arrived, forgetting himself, he put his hand
in his pocket, and finding there a small nut, he eats it. As soon
as he has eaten it he falls asleep. [107] The young lady arrives. She
sees that he is asleep. She says to his companion:
"He has eaten something. Tell him that I will return, but tell,
tell him, I beg you, to eat nothing."
She leaves him a beautiful handkerchief. Dragon wakes up as soon
as the young lady is gone. His comrade tells him that she had come,
and that she had told him not to eat anything. And he shows Dragon
the handkerchief. He was very vexed at having eaten, and would have
wished that it was already the next day. He starts then very, very
early, and waits for the young lady, and, as was fated to happen,
finding a walnut in his pocket, he eats it. He immediately falls
asleep. The young lady appears and finds him sleeping. She says
that she will return again the next day, but that he must not eat
anything. She leaves him another handkerchief. Dragon awakes as soon
as she has gone. Judge with what vexation. His friend tells him that
she said that she would return the next day, but that he must do his
best not to eat anything. He goes then the third day without eating
anything, but, as was to happen, despairing of seeing the young lady,
who was late, arrive, he takes an apple from an apple tree and eats
it. He falls asleep immediately. The young lady comes and finds him
asleep. She gives his comrade a ring to give to Dragon, telling him
that if Dragon wishes to see her he will find her in the City of the
Four Quarters. Dragon is very vexed, and he says to his friend:
"The good God knows when I shall find this city, and it is better
for you to go in one direction (and I in another)."
Thereupon they separate. Dragon goes off, far, far, far away. He comes
to a mountain; there he sees a man, who had before his door holy water,
and whoever made use of it was well received. He goes in, therefore,
and asks him if he knows where is the City of the Four Quarters. He
tells him--
"No; but there are the animals of the earth and of the air, and that
the latter might perhaps guide him there."
He whistles to them. They come from all quarters, and he asks them
if they know where is the City of the Four Quarters? They tell him
"No." Then the man says to him--
"I have a brother on such a mountain, who has many more animals than
I have; he has them all under his power, that man has."
Dragon goes off then, and arrives there; he asks of that man if he
knows where the City of the Four Quarters is? He tells him "No,"
but that he has animals which will know it, if anyone ought to
know it. He whistles to them. He sees the animals, small and great,
coming from all quarters. Dragon was trembling with fright. He asks
them one by one if they know where the City of the Four Quarters
is. They tell him "No;" but the man sees that one animal is wanting,
and that is the eagle. He whistles, and he comes. He asks him, too,
if he knows where the City of the Four Quarters is. He says to him--
"I am just come from there."
The man says to him,
"You must, then, guide this young gentleman there."
The eagle says to him, "Willingly, if he will give me a morsel of
flesh each time that I open my mouth."