VIII 

 ARDEA'S SOLDIER 



In years long gone by, soldiers called ^^ knights" used 

 to protect the rights of other people; and, when the weak 

 were in danger, these soldiers went forth to fight for 

 them. They were so brave, these knights of old, that 

 there was nothing that could make them afraid. Drag- 

 ons even, which looked like crocodiles, with leather 

 wings and terrible snatching claws and fiery eyes and 

 breath that smoked — dragons, even, so the stories go, 

 could not turn a knight away from his path of duty. 

 Mind, I am not telling you that there ever were crea- 

 tures that looked like that; but certain it is that there 

 were dangers dreadful to meet, and '^ dragon'^ is a very 

 good name to call them by. 



You know, do you not, that there are soldiers, still, 

 who protect the rights of others; and although we do 

 not commonly call them ^^ knights," they still fight for 

 the weak, and are so brave that dangers as fearsome as 

 dragons, even, cannot scare them. 



There was such a soldier in Ardea's camp; and if he 

 had lived in olden days, he would probably have been 

 called '^Knight of the Snowy Heron." 



Ardea was a bride that spring, and perhaps never was 



121 



