When he saw it, he tied his sword to his side, and lashed a spear to his right hand with a thong.

As he went on, an enormous snake glided up and met him.

Another, equally huge, crawled up, following in the trail of the first.

They strove now to buffet the young man with the coils of their tails, and now to spit and belch their venom stubbornly upon him.

Meantime the courtiers, betaking themselves to safer hiding, watched the struggle from afar like affrighted little girls.