OF AN INSECT-HUNTER. 395 



In the same way do fictions of the most marvellous kinds rise 

 out of facts. Fact is the source, the clear well-head of the 

 stream, fiction is the mud that afterwards defiles it. Fact is 

 more abundant, more fertile, indeed, more amusing than fiction. 

 With regard more especially to local legends, the learned anti- 

 quarians, though foiled in all attempts to strip them of their 

 fictitious garb, are yet often glad to consult them, as giving a 

 decided clue to an obscure etymology, or a doubtful site. The 

 Insect-Hunter may refer to Leland, Speed, Camden, Baker, 

 Smollett, Rapin, and others, as his authorities, and also to 

 several residents, who can bear witness that these legends have 

 been handed down from generations long forgotten, and many 

 persons will be found still living, who speak of them as of 

 matters of fact. 



EegenD tfje ^it^L 

 ^[je Mtin^ttt of MocDifocD* 



Once upon a time there was a great dragon lived on a hill 

 near the town of Mordiford. His body was covered with 

 bright scales, which shone like burnished brass, and the scales 

 were so hard, that no weapon could pierce them ; his teeth 

 were a foot in length, and as sharp at the points as needles, 

 and there were three hundred and fifty-two in each jaw. The 

 claws of his feet were bent, and as long as a mower's scythe ; 

 his eyes were as large as a man's head, and shot forth flashes 

 of lightning which killed whatever they struck ; his breath was 

 a flame of sulphur, and killed every beast that breathed it. He 

 devoured all the sheep and the lambs, all the cows and the 

 oxen, and the horses, and all the sows and the pigs, and hun- 

 dreds of men that worked at the farms on the hill. He 

 glanced at them with the lighting of his eye, and slew them 

 and devoured them : of the cows and the oxen and horses he 

 made two mouthfuls each, and of the sheep and the lambs, and 

 the sows and the pigs, he made one mouthful each. 



Great rewards were offered to any one who would undertake 

 to kill this monster, and a great many men went out well 

 armed against him, but the monster first slew the men with his 

 eye, and then ate them with his mouth. It so happened that 

 at this very time there was a notorious criminal under sentence 

 of death in the jail at Hereford, for having cut off the ears of 



