Penguin Island — 16 Bk2 Ch8 - The Dragon of Alca (Continuation)
VIII.
THE DRAGON OF ALCA
(_Continuation_) Following the counsel of the holy Maël the inhabitants of Alca
endeavoured to uproot the superstitions that had sprung up amongst
them.
They took care to prevent the girls from dancing with
incantations round the fairy tree.
Young mothers were sternly forbidden
to rub their children against the stones that stood upright in the
fields so as to make them strong.
An old man of Dombes who foretold the
future by shaking grains of barley on a sieve, was thrown into a well.
However, each night the monster still raided the poultry-yards and the
cattle-sheds.
The frightened peasants barricaded themselves in their
houses.
A woman with child who saw the shadow of a dragon on the road
through a window in the moonlight, was so terrified that she was
brought to bed before her time.
In those days of trial, the holy Maël meditated unceasingly on the
nature of dragons and the means of combating them.
After six months of
study and prayer he thought he had found what he sought.
One evening as
he was walking by the sea with a young monk called Samuel, he expressed
his thought to him in these terms: “I have studied at length the history and habits of dragons, not to
satisfy a vain curiosity, but to discover examples to follow in the
present circumstances.
For such, Samuel, my son, is the use of history.
“It is an invariable fact that dragons are extremely vigilant.
They
never sleep, and for this reason we often find them employed in
guarding treasures.
A dragon guarded at Colchis the golden fleece that
Jason conquered from him.
A dragon watched over the golden apples in
the garden of the Hesperides.
He was killed by Hercules and transformed
into a star by Juno.
This fact is related in some books, and if it be
true, it was done by magic, for the gods of the pagans are in reality
demons.
A dragon prevented barbarous and ignorant men from drinking at
the fountain of Castalia.
We must also remember the dragon of
Andromeda, which was slain by Perseus.
But let us turn from these pagan
fables, in which error is always mixed with truth.
We meet dragons in
the histories of the glorious archangel Michael, of St. George, St. Philip, St. James the Great, St. Patrick, St. Martha, and St. Margaret.
And it is in such writings, since they are worthy of full credence,
that we ought to look for comfort and counsel.
“The story of the dragon of Silena affords us particularly precious
examples.
You must know, my son, that on the banks of a vast pool close
to that town there dwelt a dragon who sometimes approached the walls
and poisoned with his breath all who dwelt in the suburbs.
And that
they might not be devoured by the monster, the inhabitants of Silena
delivered up to him one of their number every morning.
The victim was
chosen by lot, and after a hundred others, the lot fell upon the king’s
daughter.
“Now St. George, who was a military tribune, as he passed through the
town of Silena, learned that the king’s daughter had just been given to
the fierce beast.
He immediately mounted his horse, and, armed with his
lance, rushed to encounter the dragon, whom he reached just as the
monster was about to devour the royal virgin.
And when St. George had
overthrown the dragon, the king’s daughter fastened her girdle round
the beast’s neck and he followed her like a dog led on a leash.
“That is an example for us of the power of virgins over dragons.
The
history of St. Martha furnishes us with a still more certain proof.
Do
you know the story, Samuel, my son?”
“Yes, father,” answered Samuel.
And the blessed Maël went on: “There was in a forest on the banks of the Rhone, between Arles and
Avignon, a dragon half quadruped and half fish, larger than an ox, with
sharp teeth like horns and huge wings at his shoulders.
He sank the
boats and devoured their passengers.
Now St. Martha, at the entreaty of
the people, approached this dragon, whom she found devouring a man.
She
put her girdle round his neck and led him easily into the town.
“These two examples lead me to think that we should have recourse to
the power of some virgin so as to conquer the dragon who scatters
terror and death through the island of Alca.
“For this reason, Samuel my son, gird up thy loins and go, I pray thee,
with two of thy companions, into all the villages of this island, and
proclaim everywhere that a virgin alone shall be able to deliver the
island from the monster that devastates it.
“Thou shalt sing psalms and canticles and thou shalt say: “‘O sons of the Penguins, if there be among you a pure virgin, let her
arise and go, armed with the sign of the cross, to combat the dragon!’”
Thus the old man spake, and Samuel promised to obey him.
The next day
he girded up his loins and set out with two of his companions to
proclaim to the inhabitants of Alca that a virgin alone would be able
to deliver the Penguins from the rage of the dragon.
