The Seven Dragons | Page 4

enough to eat.
And this pleased everyone except the ones who had always had too
much.
And when several other nice new laws were made and written down he
went home and made mudhouses and was very happy. And he said to
his Nurse:
"People will love me now I've made such a lot of pretty new laws for
them."
But Nurse said: "Don't count your chickens, my dear. You haven't seen
the last of that Dragon yet."
Now the next day was Saturday. And in the afternoon the Dragon
suddenly swooped down upon the common in all his hideous redness,
and carried off the Football Players, umpires, goal-posts, football, and
all.
Then the people were very angry indeed, and they said:-
"We might as well be a Republic. After saving up all these years to get
his crown, and everything!"
And wise people shook their heads and foretold a decline in the
National Love of Sport. And, indeed, football was not at all popular for
some time afterwards.
Lionel did his best to be a good King during the week, and the people
were beginning to forgive him for letting the Dragon out of the book.
"After all," they said, "football is a dangerous game, and perhaps it is
wise to discourage it."
Popular opinion held that the Football Players, being tough and hard,

had disagreed with the Dragon so much that he had gone away to some
place where they only play cats' cradle and games that do not make you
hard and tough.
All the same, Parliament met on the Saturday afternoon, a convenient
time, when most of the Members would be free to attend, to consider
the Dragon. But unfortunately the Dragon, who had only been asleep,
woke up because it was Saturday, and he considered the Parliament,
and afterwards there were not any Members left, so they tried to make a
new Parliament, but being an M.P. had somehow grown as unpopular
as football playing, and no one would consent to be elected, so they had
to do without a Parliament. When the next Saturday came round
everyone was a little nervous, but the Red Dragon was pretty quiet that
day and only ate an Orphanage.
Lionel was very, very unhappy. He felt that it was his disobedience that
had brought this trouble on the Parliament and the Orphanage and the
Football Players, and he felt that it was his duty to try and do
something. The question was, what?
The Blue Bird that had come out of the book used to sing very nicely in
the Palace rose-garden, and the Butterfly was very tame, and would
perch on his shoulder when he walked among the tall lilies: so Lionel
saw that all the creatures in the Book of Beasts could not be wicked,
like the Dragon, and he thought:
"Suppose I could get another beast out who would fight the Dragon?"
So he took the Book of Beasts out into the rose-garden and opened the
page next to the one where the Dragon had been just a tiny bit to see
what the name was. He could only see "cora", but he felt the middle of
the page swelling up thick with the creature that was trying to come out,
and it was only by putting the book down and sitting on it suddenly
very hard, that he managed to get it shut. Then he fastened the clasps
with the rubies and turquoises in them and sent for the Chancellor, who
had been ill on Saturday week, and so had not been eaten with the rest
of the Parliament, and he said:-

"What animal ends in 'cora'?"
The Chancellor answered:
"The Manticora, of course."
"What is he like?" asked the King.
"He is the sworn foe of Dragons," said the Chancellor. "He drinks their
blood. He is yellow, with the body of a lion and the face of a man. I
wish we had a few Manticoras here now. But the last died hundreds of
years ago--worse luck!"
Then the King ran and opened the book at the page that had "cora' on it,
and there was the picture--Manticora, all yellow, with a lion's body and
a man's face, just as the Chancellor had said. And under the picture was
written, "The Manticore".
And in a few minutes the Manticora came sleepily out of the book,
rubbing its eyes with its hands and mewing piteously. It seemed very
stupid, and when Lionel gave it a push and said, "Go along and fight
the Dragon, do," it put its tail between its legs and fairly ran away. It
went and hid behind the Town Hall, and at night when the people were
asleep it went round and ate all the pussy-cats in the town. And then it