Penguin Island — 15 Bk2 Ch7 - The Dragon of Alca (Continuation)
VII.
THE DRAGON OF ALCA
(_Continuation_) During all the month dedicated by the Romans to their false god Mars or
Mavors, the dragon ravaged the farms of Dalles and Dombes.
He carried
off fifty sheep, twelve pigs, and three young boys.
Every family was in
mourning and the island was full of lamentations.
In order to remove
the scourge, the Elders of the unfortunate villages watered by the
Clange and the Surelle resolved to assemble and together go and ask the
help of the blessed Maël. On the fifth day of the month whose name among the Latins signifies
opening, because it opens the year, they went in procession to the
wooden monastery that had been built on the southern coast of the
island.
When they were introduced into the cloister they filled it with
their sobs and groans.
Moved by their lamentations, old Maël left the
room in which he devoted himself to the study of astronomy and the
meditation of the Scriptures, and went down to them, leaning on his
pastoral staff.
At his approach, the Elders, prostrating themselves,
held out to him green branches of trees and some of them burnt aromatic
herbs.
And the holy man, seating himself beside the cloistral fountain under
an ancient fig-tree, uttered these words: “O my sons, offspring of the Penguins, why do you weep and groan?
Why
do you hold out those suppliant boughs towards me?
Why do you raise
towards heaven the smoke of those herbs?
What calamity do you expect
that I can avert from your heads?
Why do you beseech me?
I am ready to
give my life for you.
Only tell your father what it is you hope from
him.”
To these questions the chief of the Elders answered: “O Maël, father of the sons of Alca, I will speak for all.
A horrible
dragon is laying waste our lands, depopulating our cattle-sheds, and
carrying off the flower of our youth.
He has devoured the child Elo and
seven young boys; he has mangled the maiden Orberosia, the fairest of
the Penguins, with his teeth.
There is not a village in which he does
not emit his poisoned breath and which he has not filled with
desolation.
A prey to this terrible scourge, we come, O Maël, to pray
thee, as the wisest, to advise us concerning the safety of the
inhabitants of this island lest the ancient race of Penguins be
extinguished.”
“O chief of the Elders of Alca,” replied Maël, “thy words fill me with
profound grief, and I groan at the thought that this island is the prey
of a terrible dragon.
But such an occurrence is not unique, for we find
in books several tales of very fierce dragons.
The monsters are
oftenest found in caverns, by the brinks of waters, and, in preference,
among pagan peoples.
Perhaps there are some among you who, although
they have received holy baptism and been incorporated into the family
of Abraham, have yet worshipped idols, like the ancient Romans, or hung
up images, votive tablets, fillets of wool, and garlands of flowers on
the branches of some sacred tree.
Or perhaps some of the women Penguins
have danced round a magic stone and drunk water from the fountains
where the nymphs dwell.
If it be so, believe, O Penguins, that the Lord
has sent this dragon to punish all for the crimes of some, and to lead
you, O children of the Penguins, to exterminate blasphemy,
superstition, and impiety from amongst you.
For this reason I advise,
as a remedy against the great evil from which you suffer, that you
carefully search your dwellings for idolatry, and extirpate it from
them.
I think it would be also efficacious to pray and do penance.”
Thus spoke the holy Maël. And the Elders of the Penguin people kissed
his feet and returned to their villages with renewed hope.
