BROOK MAGIC 



as if you might be the dinner. Those 

 forelegs beckoned, and how could I tell 

 but, in this land of witch-hazel, fern 

 seed, and brook magic, I might not 

 shrink sufficiently to be taken in by that 

 huge mouth in that misapplied head? 

 Death were better, that is, death for 

 the dragon, and I caught up a jagged 

 piece of the top of the glen and hurled 

 it at him*. It struck the beast fair amid- 

 ships. The dragon whirled and writhed 

 for a second or two and lay motionless, 

 and behold! the head separated from the 

 body and began to limp away. Then 

 first was the spell broken and I saw 

 clearly. It was simply a flat-head adder 

 that had taken a good-sized garden toad 

 for his dinner, had swallowed him whole 

 as far as the forelegs, but failed to en- 

 gulf these. It was the combination 



which made the dragon. 

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