20 



DRAGONS 



Nearly a thousand years ago there lived a historian 

 who set down in his book not only accounts of real 

 battles and sieges, but also a strange medley of other 

 facts besides. Of course he thought all he wrote was 

 true, for history, as the dictionary tells us, is ' an account 

 of facts and events,' and the business of the historian is 

 to write about them. The stories in this old book about 

 magic, spells, dragons, and monsters may, perhaps, make 

 us smile nowadays, when we are taught that fairy rings 

 are not caused, as we should like to suppose, by the 

 good people, but by ' an agaric or fungus below the sur- 

 face which has seeded in a circular range.' But it must 

 be remembered that to the men of old time all these 

 matters were very real. Our historian, in common with 

 many wise men who lived hundreds of years after him, 

 believed without doubt that the world was full of strange 

 creatures which lived in pathless woods, in rivers, on 

 mountains, or in the sea. One of his tales is the descrip- 

 tion* of a voyage by King Gorm Haraldson, under the 

 guidance of Thorkill the Icelander, in quest of treasure 

 supposed to be guarded by Giant Garfred, who lived in 

 a ' land where no light was, and where darkness reigned 

 eternally.' ' The whole way was beset with perils, and 

 hardly passable by mortal man ; ' nevertheless, three 

 hundred men declared their willingness to follow the 

 King and make the attempt. After many adventures the 

 wind took them to Utter Permland, a region of eternal 



