Perseus II: How Perseus Vowed a Rash Vow

FIFTEEN years were past and gone, and the babe was now grown to be a tall lad and a sailor, and went many voyages after merchandise to the islands round. His mother called him Perseus: but all the people in Seriphos said that he was not the son of mortal man, and called him the son of Zeus, the king of the Immortals. For though he was but fifteen, he was taller by a head than any man in the island; and he was the most skilful of all in running and wrestling and boxing, and in throwing the quoit and the javelin, and in rowing with the oar, and in playing on the harp, and in all which befits a man. And he was brave and truthful, gentle and courteous, for good old Dictys had trained him well' and well it was for Perseus that he had done so. For now Danae and her son fell into great danger, and Perseus had need of all his wit to defend his mother and himself.

I said that Dictys's brother was Polydectes, king of the island. He was not a righteous man, like Dictys; but greedy, and cunning, and cruel. And when he saw fair Danae, he wanted to marry her. But she would not; for she did not love him, and cared for no one but her boy, and her boy's father, whom she never hoped to see again. At last Polydectes became furious; and while Perseus was away at sea, he took poor Danae away from Dictys, saying, "If you will not be my wife, you shall be my slave." So Danae was made a slave, and had to fetch water from the well, and grind in the mill, and perhaps was beaten, and wore a heavy chain, because she would not marry that cruel king. But Perseus was far away over the seas in the isle of Samos, little thinking how his mother was languishing in grief.

Now one day at Samos, while the ship was lading, Perseus wandered into a pleasant wood to get out of the sun, and sat down on the turf, and fell asleep. And as he slept, a strange dream came to him; the strangest dream which he had ever had in his life.

There came a lady to him through the wood, taller than he, or any mortal man; but beautiful exceedingly, with great gray eyes, clear and piercing, but strangely soft and mild. On her head was a helmet, and in her hand a spear. And over her shoulder, above her long blue robes, hung a goatskin, which bore up a mighty shield of brass, polished like a mirror. She stood and looked at him with her clear gay eyes; and Perseus saw that her eyelids never moved,nor her eyeballs, but looked straight through and through him, and into his very heart, as if she could see all the secrets of his soul, and knew all that he had ever thought or longed for since the day that he was born. And Perseus dropped his eyes, trembling and blushing, as the wonderful lady spoke.

"Perseus, you must do and errand for me."
"Who are you, lady? And how do you know my name?"
"I am Palls Athene; and I know the thoughts of all men's hearts, and discern their manhood of their baseness. And from the souls of clay I turn away; and they are blest, but not by me. They fatten at ease, like sheep in the pasture, and eat what they did not sow, like oxen in the stall. They grow and spread, like the gourd along the ground: but like the gourd, they give no shade to the traveller; and when they are ripe death gathers them, and they go down unloved into hell, and their name vanishes out of the land.

"But to the souls of fire I give more fire, and to those who are manful I give a might more than man's. These are the heroes, the sons of the Immortals, who are blest, but not like the souls of clay. For I drive them forth by strange paths, Perseus, that they may fight the Titans and the monsters, the enemies of Gods and men. Through doubt and need, danger and battle, I drive them; and some of them are slain in the flower of youth, no man knows when or where; and some of them win noble names, and a fair and green old age; but what will be their latter end I know not, and none, save Zeus, the father of Gods and men. Tell me now, Perseus, which of these two sorts of men seem to you more blest?"

Then Perseus answered, boldly: "Better to die in the flower of youth, on the chance of winning a noble name, than to live at ease like the sheep, and die unloved and unrenowned."

Than that strange lady laughed, and help up her brazen shield, and cried: "See here, Perseus;dare you face such a monster as this, and slay it, that I may place its head upon this shield?"

And in the mirror of the shield there appeared a face, and as Perseus looked on it his blood ran cold. It was the face of a beautiful woman; but her cheeks were pale as death, and her brows were knit white everlasting pain, and her lips were thin and bitter like a snake's; and instead of hair, vipers wreathed about her temples, and shot out their forked tongues, while round her head were folded wings like an eagle's, and upon her bosom claws of brass.

And Perseus looked a while, and then said: "Not yet; you are too young, and too unskilled;for this is Medusa the Gorgon, the mother of a monstrous brood. Return to your home, and do the work which waits there for you. You must play the man in that before I can think you worthy to go in search of the Gorgon."

Then Perseus would have spoken, but the strange lady vanished, and he awoke; and behold, it was a dream. But day and night Perseus saw before him the face of that dreadful woman, with the vipers writhing round her head.

So he returned home, and when he came to Seriphos, the first thing which he heard was that his mother was a slave in the house of Polydectes.

Grinding his teeth with rage, he went out, and away to the king's palace, and through the men's rooms, and the women's rooms, and so through all the house, (for no one dared to stop him, so terrible and fair was he,) till he found his mother sitting on the floor, turning the stone hand-mill, and weeping as she turned it. And he lifted her up, and kissed her, and bade her follow him forth. But before they could pass out of the room, Polydectes came in, ragging. And when Perseus saw him, he flew upon him as the mastiff flies on the boar. "Villain and tyrant!" he cried; "is this your respect for the Gods, and thy mercy to strangers and widows? You shall die!" And because he had no sword, he caught up the stone hand-mill, and he lifted it to dash out Polydectes's brains.

But his mother clung to him, shrieking, "Oh, my son, we are strangers, and helpless in the land; and if you kill the king, all the people will fall on us, and we shall both die."

Good Dictys, too, who had come in, entreated him. "Remember that he is my brother. Remember how I have brought you up, and trained you as my own son, and spare him for my sake."

Then Perseus lowered his hand; and Polydectes, who had been trembling all this while like a coward, because he knew that he was in the wrong, let Perseus and his mother pass.

Perseus took his mother to the temple of Athene, and there the priestess made her one of the temple-sweepers; for there they knew she would be safe, and not even Polydectes would dare to drag her away from the altar. And there Perseus, and the good Dictys, and his wife, came to visit her every day; while Polydectes, not being able to get what he wanted by force, cast about in his wicked heart how he might get it by cunning.

Now he was sure that he could never get back Danae as long as Perseus was in the island; so he made a plot to rid himself of him. And first he pretended to have forgiven Perseus, and to have forgotten Danae; so that, for a while, all went as smoothly as ever.

Next he proclaimed a great feast, and invited to it all the chiefs, and land-owners, and the young men of the island, and among them Perseus, that they might all do him homage as their king, and eat of his banquet in his all.

On the appointed day they all came; and, as the custom was then, each guest brought his present with him to the king: one of horse, another a shawl, or a ring, or a sword; and those who had nothing better brought a basket of grapes, or of game;but Perseus brought nothing, for he had nothing to bring, being but a poor sailor-lad.

He was ashamed, however, to go into the king's presence without his gift, and he was too proud to ask Dictys to lend him one. So he stood at the door sorrowfully, watching the rich men go in; and his face grew very red as the pointed at him, and smiled, and whispered,"What hasd that foundling to give?"

Now, this was what Polydectes wanted; and as soon as he heard that Perseus stood without, he bade them bring him in, and asked him scornfully before them all,--"Am I not your king, Perseus, and have I not invited you to my feast? Where is your present, then?"

Perseus blushed and stammered, while all the proud men round laughed, and some of them began jeering him openly. "This fellow was thrown ashore here like a piece of weed or drift-wood, and yet he is too proud to bring a gift to the king."

"And though he does not know who is father is, he is vain enough to let the old women call him the son of Zeus."

And so forth, till poor Perseus grew mad with shame, and hardly knowing what he said, cried out,--"A present! who are you who talk of presents? See if I do not bring a nobler one than all of yours together!"

So he said, boasting; and yet he felt in his heart that he was braver than all those scoffers, and more able to do some glorious deed.

"Hear him! Hear the boaster! What is it to be?" cried they all, laughing louder than ever.

Then his dream at Samos came into his mind, and he cried aloud, "The head of the Gorgon."

He was half afraid after he had said the words; for all laughed louder than ever, and Polydectes loudest of all.

"You have promised to bring me the Gorgon's head? Then never appear again in this island without it. Go!"

Perseus ground his teeth with rage, for he saw that he had fallen into a trap; but his promise lay upon him, and he went out without a word.

Down to the cliffs he went, and looked across the broad blue sea; and he wondered if his dream were true, and prayed in the bitterness of his soul.

"Pallas Athene, was my dream true? and shall I slay the Gorgon? If thou didst really show me her face, let me not come to shame as a liar and boastful. Rashly and angrily I promised: but cunningly and patiently will I perform."

But there was no answer, nor sign;neither thunder or any appearance; not even cloud in the sky.

And three times Perseus called weeping. "Rashly and angrily I promised: but cunningly and patiently will I perform."

Then he saw afar off above the sea a small white cloud, as bright as silver. And it came on, nearer and nearer, till its brightness dazzled his eyes.

Perseus wondered at that strange cloud, for there was no other cloud all round the sky; and he trembled as it touched the cliff below. And as it touched, it broke, and parted, and within it appeared Pallas Athene, as he had seen her at Samos in his dream, and beside her a young man more light-limbed then the stag, whose eyes were like sparks of fire. By his side was a scimitar of diamond, all of one clear precious stone, and on his feet were golden sandals, from the heels of which grew living wings.

They looked upon Perseus keenly, and yet they never moved their eyes, and they came up the cliffs towards him more swiftly than the sea-gull. and yet they never moved their feet, nor did the breeze stir the robes about their limbs; only the wings of the youth's sandals quivered, like a hawk's when he hangs above the cliff. And Perseus fell down and worshipped, for he knew that they were more than man.

But Athene stood before him and spoke gently, and bid him have no fear. Then--

"Perseus," he said," he who overcomes in one trial merits thereby a sharper trial still. You have braved Polydectes, and done manfully. Dare you brave Medusa the Gorgon?"

"And Perseus said,"Try me; for since you spoke to me in Samos, a new soul has come into my breast, and I should be ashamed not to dare any thing which I can do. Show me then, how I can do this."

"Perseus," said Athene,"think well before you attempt; for this deed requires a seven years' journey, in which you cannot repent or turn back, nor escape; but if your heart fails you, you must die in the unshapen land, where no man will ever find your bones."

"Better so than live here, useless and despised," said Perseus. "Tell me, then, oh tell me, fair and wise Goddess, of your great kindness and condescension, how I can do but this one thing, and then, if need be, die!"

Then Athene smiled and said, "Be patient, and listen; for if you forget my words, you will indeed die. You must go northward to the country of the Hyperboreans, who lived beyond the pole, at the sources of the cold north wind; till you find the three Grey Sisters, who have but one eye and one tooth between them. You must ask them the way to the Nymphs, the daughters of the Evening Star, who dance about the golden tree, in the Atlantic island of the west. They will tell you the way to the Gorgon, that you may slay her, my enemy, the mother of monstrous beasts. Once she was a maiden as beautiful as morn, till in her pride she sinned a sin at which the sun hid his face; and from that day her hair was turned to vipers, and her hands to eagle's claws; and and her heart was filled with shame and rage, and her lips with bitter venom; and her eyes became so terrible that whosoever looks on them is turned to stone; and her children are the winged horse, and the giant of the golden sword; and her grand children are Echidna the which-adder, and Geryon the three-headed tyrant, who feeds his herds beside the herds of hell. So she became the sister of the Gorgons, Stheino and Euryte the abhorred, the daughters of the Queen of the Sea. Touch them not, for they are immortal: but bring me only Medusa's head."

"And I will bring it!" said Perseus," but how am I to escape her eyes? Will she not freeze me too into stone?"

"You shall take this polished shield," said Athene,"and when you come near her look not at her herself, but at her image in the brass; so you may strike her safely.And when you have struck off her head, wrap it, with your face turned away,in the folds of the goat-skin on which the shield hangs, the hide of Amaltheie, the nurse of the Aegisholder. So you will bring it safely back to me, and win to yourself renown and a place among the heroes who feast with the immortals upon the peak where no winds blow."

Then Perseus said, "I will go, though I die in going. But how shall I cross the seas without a ship? And who will show me my way? And when I find her, how shall I slay her, if her scales be iron and brass?"

Then the young man spoke:" These sandals of mine will bear you across the seas, and over hill and dale like a bird, as they bear me all day long; for I am Hermes, the far-farmed Argus-slayer, the messenger of the Immortals who dwell on Olympus."

Then Perseus fell down and worshipped, while the young man spoke again.

"The sandals themselves will guide you on the road, for they are divine and cannot stray;and this sword itself, the Argus-slayer, will kill her, for it is divine, and needs no second stroke. Arise, and gird them them on, and go forth."

So Perseus arose, and girded on the sandals and the sword.

And Athene cried, "Now leap from the cliff, and be gone.

But Perseus lingered.
"May I not bid farewell to my mother and to Dictys? And may I not offer burnt-offerings to you, and to Hermes, the far-farmed Argus-slayer, and to Father Zeus above?"

"You shall not bid farewell to your mother, lest your heart relent at her weeping. I will comfort her and Dictys until you return in peace. Nor shall you offer burnt-offerings to the Olympians'; for youe offering shall be Medusa's head. Leap, and trust in the armour of the Immortals."

Then the Perseus looked down the cliff and shuddered; but he was ashamed to show his dread. Then he thought of Medusa and the renown before him, and he leaped into the empty air.

And behold, instead of failing he floated, and stood, and ran along the sky. He looked back, but Athene had vanished, and Hermes; and the sandals led him on northward ever, like a crane who follows the spring toward the Ister fens.

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Perseus I : How Perseus and His Mother Came to Seriphos

Once upon a time there were two princes who were twins. Their names were Acrisius and Proetus, and they lived in the pleasant vale of Argos, far away in Hellas. They had fruitful meadows and vineyards, sheep and oxen, great herds of horses feeding down in Lerna Fen, and all that men could need to make them blest; and yet they were wretched, because they were jealous of each other. From the moment they were born they began to quarrel; and when they grew up, each tried to take away the other's share of the kingdom, and keep all for himself. So, first Acrisius drove out Proetus; and he went across the seas, and brought home a foreign princess for his wife, and foreign warriors to help him, who were called Cyclopes; and drove out Acrisius in his turn; and then they fought a long while up and down the land, till the quarrel was settled; and Acrisius took Argos and one half the land, and Proetus took Tiryns and the other half. And Proetus and his Cyclopes built around Tiryns great walls of unhewn stone, which are standing to this day.

But there came a prophet to that hardhearted Acrisius, and prophesied against him, and said : "Because you have risen up against your own blood, your own blood shall rise up against you; because you have sinned against your kindred, by your kindred you shall be punished. Your daughter Danae shall bear a son, and by that son's hand you shall die. So the gods have ordained, and it will surely come to pass."

And at that, Acrisius was very much afraid;but he did not mend his ways. He had been cruel to his own family; and, instead of repenting and being king to them, he went on to be more cruel than ever; for he shut up his fair daughter Danae in a cavern underground, lined with brass, that no one might come near her. So he fancied himself more cunning than the gods; but you will see presently whether he was able to escape them.

Now it came to pass that in time Danae bore a son; so beautiful a babe that any but king Acrisius would have had pity on it. But he had no pity. For he took Danae and her babe down to the sea-shore, and put them into a great chest, and thrust them out to sea, for the winds and the waves to carry them whithersoever they would.

The northwest wind blew freshly out of the blue mountains, and down the pleasant vale of Argos, and away and out to sea. And away and out to sea before it, floated the mother and her babe, while all who watched them wept, save that cruel father, king Acrisius.

So they floated on and on, and the chest danced up and down upon the billows, and the baby slept upon its mother's breast; but the poor mother could not sleep, but watched and wept, and she sang to her baby as they floated; and the song which she sang you shall learn some day.

And now they are past the last blue headland, and in the open sea;and there is nothing round them but the waves, and the sky, and the wind. But the waves are gentle, and the sky is clear, and the breeze is tender and low; for these are the days when Halcyone and Ceyx build their nests, and no storms ever ruffle the pleasant summer sea.

And who were Halcyone and Ceyx? You shall hear while the chest floats on. Halcyone was a fairy maiden, the daughter of the beach and of the wind. And she loved a sailor boy, and married him; and none on earth were so happy as they. But at last Ceyx was wrecked; and before he could swim to the shore, the billows swallowed him up. And Halcyone saw him drowning, and leapt into the sea to him;but in vain. Then the Immortals took pity on them both, and changed them into two fair sea-birds; and now they build a floating nest every year, and sail up and down happily forever, upon the pleasant seas of Greece.

So a night passed and a day; and a long day it was for Danae; and another night and day beside, till Danae was faint with hunger and weeping, and yet no land appeared. And all the while the babe slept quietly; and at last poor Danae dropped her head and fell asleep likewise, with her cheek against her babe's.

After a while she awakened suddenly; for the chest was jarring and grinding, and the air was full of sound. She looked up, and over her head were mighty cliffs, all red in the setting sun, and around her rocks and breakers, and flying flakes of foam. She clasped her hands together, and shrieked aloud for help. And when she cried, help met her; for now there came over the rocks a tall and stately man, and looked down wondering upon poor Danae tossing about in the chest among the waves.

He wore a rough cloak of frieze, and on his head a broad hat to shade his face; in his hand he carried a trident for spearing fish, and over his shoulder was a casting-net; but Danae could see that he was no common man and beard; and by the two servants who came behind him, carrying baskets for his fish. But she had hardly time to look at him, before he had laid aside his trident, and leapt down the rocks, and thrown his casting-net so surely over Danae and the chest, that the drew it, and her, and the baby, safe upon a ledge of rock.

Then the fisherman took Danae by the hand, and lifted her out of the chest, and said:

"O, beautiful damsel, what strange chance has brought you to this island in so frail a ship? Who are you, and whence?? Surely you are some king's daughter; and this boy has somewhat more than mortal."

And as he spoke, he pointed to the babe; for its face shone like the morning star.

But Danae only held down her head, and sobbed out:

"Tell me to what land I have come, unhappy that I am; and among what men I have fallen?"

And he said: "This isle is called Seriphos, and I am a Hellen, and dwell in it. I am the brother of Polydectes the king; and men call me Dictys the netter, because I catch the fish of the shore."

Then Danae fell down at his feet, and embraced his knees, and cried:

"Oh sir, have pity upon a stranger, whom a cruel doom has driven to your land; and let me live in your house as a servant; but treat me honourably, for I was once a king's daughter, and this my boy (as you have truly said) is of no common race. I will not be charge to you, or eat the bread of idleness; for I am more skilful in weaving and embroidery, than all the maidens of my land."

And she was going on; but Cictys stopped her, and raised her up, and said:

"My daughter, I am old, and my hairs are growing gray; while I have no children to make my home cheerful. Come with me, then, and you shall be a daughter to me and to my wife, and this babe shall be our grandchild. For I fear the gods, and show hospitality to all strangers; knowing that good deeds, like evil ones, always return to those who do them."

So Danae was comforted, and went home with Dictys the good fisherman, and was a daughter to him and to his wife, till fifteen years were past.

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An Unforgettable Serpent by G. Laycock

QUITE POSSIBLY there will never again be a day in the life of Peninsula, Ohio, even remotely like Sunday, June 25, 1944. At least, most of the older citizens of that quiet little Ohio village hope such a day does not dawn again.

In the early morning, dairy farmers were getting the milking done. The housewives were in their kitchens fixing hot breakfast. Many of the men had forsaken church on this special day. Instead they dressed in their field clothes and headed to town.

There they joined a growing throng of men, boys, and hound-dogs milling around in front of the barber shop. A look at the group was enough to frighten any peace-loving citizen. The group appeared to be a posse preparing to hunt to earth a public enemy.

Their weapons ranged through handguns, shotguns, rifles, pitchforks, and corn knives. There was much yelling and general confusion. Finally the police chief, Art Huey, began to outline his plan.

All of the men spread out in a line. Then they would start tramping along the banks of the Cuyahoga River, being careful not to overlook ravines and gullies and such hiding places as log piles and old junked automobiles. Hopefully one of them would spot the critter and give the signal. Then everyone up and down the line would converge on the victim, and heaven only knows what might occur. By this time the object of their hunt had gained widespread fame. As they set forth they were trailed by assorted photographers and reporters representing newspapers from many parts of the world.

The story had started when Clarence Mitchell was working in a field beside the river. Mr. Mitchell often was followed to his fields by his dogs, but on this day the dogs seemed mighty nervous. They whined and whimpered. Finally they slipped off through the fields for home, leaving their master all alone.

Shortly after that Mr.Mitchell looked up from his work. There in plain view what he thought must have been the biggest snake in the world.

Mr. Mitchell stood rooted to the spot. The reptile, big around as a watermelon, was headed for the river.It stretched out across an incredible length.

Around that part of Ohio there are no truly big native snakes. The largest one Mr.Mitchell would likely see is the pilot blacksnake. One five or six feet long and big around as a banana would be big for its kind. But this creature crawling in front Mr. Mitchell was unbelievable. The snake was twenty-five feet long and might have weighed more than two hundred pounds.

Mr. Mitchell made no effort to stop the huge snake, or to engage it in combat. Understandably. "I watched," he reported simply. And while he watched, the huge snake slid down the riverbank and into the Cuyahoga. As it did so,Mr. Mitchell dropped his hoe and raced for home.

Subsequently, the snake was observed by a neighbor who was working in a field on the east side of the river. It came out of the stream and headed eastward. Both farmers repeated their stories of what they had seen. Many believed they had been out in the sun too long.

But around Peninsula the giant serpent continued to make its appearance. On one farm after the other it showed up. Those who did not see the reptile itself sometimes reported sighting the tracks.

Soon most people took the story seriously. Farm wives no longer let their children go into the fields to pick daisies. Man continuously glanced to all sides as they plowed their corn. Older boys, driving the cows in at milking time, ran them more than they usually did.

Meanwhile, in town, the great snake was about all anyone talked about. Increasingly, folks knew they would have to protect themselves somehow against this jungle menace that had invaded northern Ohio. Such a beast simply could not be permitted to slither around the woods and fields. The chief of police was worried that some of his neighbors, nervous because of the reports of the monster serpent, might shoot each other by mistake.

What kind of snake might this Peninsula giant have been? There are in the world six true giants among the snakes. All belong to the same family of reptiles, the Boidae. Even herpetologists who spend their lives studying the snakes of the world, have had trouble arriving at a decision about which of these is truly the largest. They agree, however, that it must be either the anaconda or the reticulate python is 33 feet from nose to tip of tail. But there is a believable record of an anaconda that measured 37.5 feet. This leaves anaconda, as Clifford H. Pope, an outstanding authority on the subject, has written "probably the giant among the giants."

The boa constrictor, a little one among the giants,may go to 18.5 feet. The boa constrictor, however, is the best known of the giant serpents. It is often kept in capacity. The home of the boa is Mexico and South America.

The anaconda is also a native of South America. There it stays much of the time in the warm water, moving slowly about the dense jungle streams.

The other four giants are all pythons native to the Old World. One often housed in zoos is the African rock python which can grow to more than thirty feet in length. This snake is sometimes seen in the grasslands, its head lifted above the level of the vegetation as it examines the countryside. It is native to most of southern Africa.

Across southern Asia the Indian python is frequently found in the jungles as well as the grasslands. It may grow to be twenty feet long. Meanwhile the reticulate python crawls through the Philippine Islands, Burma, and other parts of that humid tropical region. The other monstrous snake in the line-up is also a python, the amethystine python. Sometimes this beast, whose length may go to twenty feet, departs its haunts along the stream banks to come into the villages and farms. It is a native to Australia and some of the islands of the South Pacific.

All of these massive reptiles are non-poisonous. They have little need for poison. They can subdue prey by wrapping the haples dreature in masses of snake coils and hugging it to death.

Such snakes often lurk along trails used by wild hogs, antelope, and other animals. They choose what they like from the creatures that parade by. Or they may lie silently and deathly still along the limb of giant tree that branches out ever a jungle stream, ready to drop on their victims.

In ambush the giant snakes test the air for odors. They are also equipped with heat-sensitive organs which aid them in detecting the presence of warm-blooded creatures.

When hungry, the giant snakes grabs its victim first with its jaws, The teeth curve backward. The harder a victim pulls to escape, the more deeply it is impaled and the more securely it is held. Then the snack quickly brings coils of its massive body around the animal. The opportunities to escape at this point are slight.

Some believe these huge constrictors break a multitude of bones in their victims' bodies as they hold them. This is not the case. These big snakes do not squeeze their prey with great force. With their bulky coils wrapped about the struggling creature they just hold on. Each time the prey exhales, the snake takes up the slack, making it impossible for the victim to expand and draw in fresh supplies of oxygen. It soon suffocates.

Strangely, these reptiles are capable of eating animals even larger around than their own bodies. The jaws are flexible and loosely connected. They can adjust to the situation and spread around the large prey.

The swallowing process may be a slow one. Bit by bit, the reptile inches forward, stretching its own body over that of its victim. It pulls itself onto the prey somewhat as a person might force an elastic stocking onto his leg. The snake may enter an enclosure, capture, and consume a pig or calf, then find that it is too bulky to escape through the opening by which it entered.

How big an animal can a big snake swallow? There is one report from South Africa of a python 16 feet long swallowing and impala weighing 130 pounds. In South America an anaconda once consumed a five-foot cayman, an alligator-like reptile.

Meanwhile, one Indian python is credited with making a main course of an adult leopard. The snake is said to have suffered some scratches in the process. Serves him right.

On record also are authentic cases of reticulate pythons consuming people. Four Burmese hunters once went into the jungle in pursuit of game. Along the trail they became separated from each other. When they reassembled there were not four but three. This alarmed the remaining three. They straightway set forth searching for their missing friend.

First they found his sandals beside the trail. The sandals looked as if their owner had been lifted out of them. Soon the three men found a trail of broken vegetation. Then, resting in the shadows beside the trail, they found a python at least twenty feet long. Near its middle was slain upon the hunter had been found. Somewhat late.

It would, however, be unfair to the giant snakes to imply that they often seek humans for their prey. They have distinct preferences for other warm-blooded species. In fairness, it should be noted that people also eat pythons.

All of this, however, is lost on people who find they have a giant reptile in their neighborhood. Around Long Beach, California, some years ago, there was instant pandemonium when word spread that twenty-eight-feet-long python had escaped from a traveling carnival. The reptile was soon captured near the beach. That put an early end to the possibility of a scene such as the natives of Peninsula, Ohio, enacted at the time of their great snake hunt.

Every few days the snake would be seen again around the northern Ohio community. It would then slide into the brush and out of sight. By the time a posse could be organized and reach the site, the nervous hunters would find only mashed down grass, and more big tracks. This led to the big Sunday hunt in late June.

Nobody recalls for certain how many men and boys gathered to search for the serpent. The telephone operator was alerted to pass the word of anyone should call in a report of the monster. The local fire station was expected to sound three blasts of the siren on top the town hall.

The siren sounded about noon. Just about everyone who had not already gone out on the hunt now began to join in the case. They didn't know it then, but the caller had spread a false alarm.

They searched every ravine and kicked every brush pile. They locked into the branches of trees over the river. They poked into holes. But all day there was no sign of the Peninsula python. Everyone went home tired that night. No one had been shot. Police chief Art Huey let out a sigh of relief. Perhaps so did the Peninsula python.

Where did the monster reptile come from? How did it get free halfway around the world from its native land?? Folks in northern Ohio thought about that quite a bit. They recalled the day a carnival truck went out of control down by the cemetery. Everything that was inside it had spread over an acre or more. One of the things in it was believed to have been a giant python.

By autumn the python had vanished. Naturalists from Cleveland and from other cities speculated that it might have holed up for winter along the banks of the Cuyahoga and failed to survive the frigid northern Ohio weather.

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Dragons of Komodo by G. Laycock

IN THE FAILING YELLOW LIGHT of early evening the little fishing boat rocked gently in the bay off the quiet and mysterious island. The two-man crew stared up at at the forbidding mountains. Were the tales they had heard of this place true? They were torn between two emotions, a deep curiosity and desire to go ashore to explore, and an equally deep fear of what they might find there.

This island in Indonesia, northwest of Australia,is one of the green dots of land in the blue Flores Sea. Elsewhere such island might be famous for grass=skirted girls and guitar music. But no one then lived on this island in the chain, the island of Komodo, and it was known as the home of a remarkable dragon.

Up those slopes, toward the ancient volcanic peak towering two thousand feet above the sea, stretched green carpets of vegetation. Tall lontar palms stood on the hillsides like umbrellas on their long, clean trunks. Steep-walled canyons were choked with jungle-thick brush. It must be in these tangles that the giant reptiles with their long forked tongues and glaring eyes raced about on short scaly legs, devouring other creatures.

Perhaps the pearl fisherman drifting offshore were hungry for wild foods to supplement their constant diet of fish. Maybe they thought this island might provide a good base for their fishing operations. But they must have wondered, too, if the old folk had given them the straight story or simply fed them a preposterous tall tale. There was only one way to be sure.

They dropped anchor, sloshed ashore, and began climbing. Soon they paused to rest. While they stood there, one of them reached out and silently touched the arm of his companion. He nodded toward the trail ahead. Together they stood speechless, staring at the frightening beast that had waddled from the underbrush and now blocked their path while its beady eyes were trained upon them.

There is no record of how long it took the exploring fisherman to return to their boat. But later fisherman did establish a small outpost on Komodo, the island of the dragons.

This island of Komodo is a strange and lonely place where few outsiders come. It is one of a little cluster of islands formed long ago by volcanic action, pushing steam and molten rock from the sea. The islands are known as the Lesser Sundas, and they lie like gems in the blue sea east of Java. Strong currents and rip down through the passages these islands, and these rough seas have discouraged visitors.

Komodo was not a great distance, however, from the museum in the town known today as Bogor,on Java. There the museum director, Major P.A. Ouwens, first heard the strange accounts as pearl fisherman told what they had seen on Komodo. Major Ouwens must have questioned the stories. Such tales are not easily believable. The year was 1912, and surely if there were monstrous dragons on Komodo, or anywhere else on earth for that matter, men of science would know of them by now.

On occasion, the governor of that group of islands made his rounds on inspection tour. Never had there been reason for him to stop long on Komodo. Then, Major Ouwens made his strange request.

Would the governor mind, the next time he stopped around Komodo on his inspection, going inland a bit and seeing about this dragon thing?

When the governor arrived, he found two pearl fisherman on the island. The governor even saw the remains of one of these lizards. He carried the story back to Ouwens, and the museum director was now on the trail of a new scientific discovery.

Major Ouwens decided to send an expedition to Komodo.As he made preparations for his staff to depart, he hesitated to tell anyone the objective of the trip. One could not blame him. Who would want the neighbors saying with raised eyebrows, "Did you hear about the major? He's sending an expedition they say, to search for dragon. Strange man, the major."

But what the major found from this visit to Komodo was soon to be repeated around the world, especially among scientists. Crawling on those green slopes were the creatures the world came to know as the Komodo dragons. They were cousins of the dinosaurs. Somehow they had survived through the ages into the present. They were, by far, the largest lizard anywhere on earth. One skin brought to the major measured thirteen feet.

Later others went to search for the Komodo dragons, and found them living also on the nearby island of Rintj, and a portion of Flores. Together these bits of land are but a speck on the map of the world. This is hostile country for the careless or unfortunate. Living here are deadly green vipers, cobras, wild boar, and water buffalo, while sharks and poisonous sea serpents cruise the edge of the sea.

No doubt Major Ouwens, like most of us, had been exposed to his share of dragon pictures and stories. In fairy tales any self-respecting dragon must have piercing eyes, long scaly tail, long, low body, and be should be a bit of a flame thrower, breathing fire out of his nostrils or perhaps his ears.

The Komodo dragon fell short of this on one point. It did not breathe fire. Otherwise the first one viewed by Major Ouwens possessed all the features a dragon could ask. The lizard was fully ten feet long. Later some were recorded at lengths of twelve and thirteen feet.

The head of the Komodo lizard is broad and flat and covered with scales which overlap a rugged armor. His whole body is armor plated in this way. The eyes are set well back on the sides of the head. This gives him a wide field of vision, making it difficult to sneak up on him.

Out of his mouth flicks a long forked tongue that vibrates and tests the breezes for odors of food. His mouth is blood red on the inside. It opens like a cavern as the beast tears into his food. The mouth is so wide that most of the head is jaws, and rows of sharp edged teeth line the jaws and curve backward, hooking into and holding the food securely.

Each food is equipped with five long sharp claws. These are useful in digging in the earth and also in tearing meat into bits. The tail is long and heavy and the giant lizard can flick it quickly and use it as a crushing weapon. The body is like a great wrinkled leather bag, dark bluish black with flecks of yellowish undercast around the neck and underside.

Young Komodo dragons hatch from eggs about the size of goose eggs. From this small container emerges about twenty-one inches of long, slender reptile. The young are more yellowish than their elders and at once are very active. Young Komodo lizards dash all about and can even climb trees. Half grown ones five and six feet long have been known to climb into trees and lie along the branches over hanging the jungle trail.

Most of the Komodo dragon's days and nights, however, are spent either feeding or resting. At rest he many lie quietly beside a game trail. Or he may hide in the darkness of one of the burrows he digs in the hillsides.

Because reptiles are cold blooded, these creature seek the warmth of the sun. Lying there in the open,they turn with the sun, basking and adjusting from time to time to keep themselves comfortable.

Their appetite is fearsome to consider. Their most common food is carrion. They search out the dead deer, goats, wild boars, and water buffalo, and tear them into chunks for immediate consumption. Fresh meat seems to hold less appeal for them than it does once it has begun to rot. Men who have traveled to Komodo to trap or photograph the dragon, usually begin by putting out a dead goat for bait. After the meat has been a few days in the hot sun, the lizards' flicking, forked tongues begin to pick up the strong odors.

Then they come out of the dense cover to the food. As they hold the carrion down with their broad strong feet, their mighty jaws rip the flesh apart. There is nothing dainty about the eating habits of the lizard. Into those gaping red mouths go flesh, bones,hair and anything else in the way. A large Komodo dragon can swallow the entire hind quarter of a deer or goat in a single bite, As long as the food lasts, they continue to store it away in their expanding cavernous bodies.

To watch largest of all living lizards eat carries an observer back million of years into the dim age when dinosaurs ruled the earth.

Will these monsters attack live animals? "Yes," say those who have studied them. "They will attack a beast as large as a pony." Dashing out of hiding from the shadows of the trees, giant lizards grab and hang onto their victim. But large animals sometimes break away and later carry scars as evidence of their brush with death.

There are no records of a Komodo dragon having attacked a man unprovoked. The human who sees one coming can outrun it. He might even set a new track record. When a Komodo dragon is captured, it struggles and fights fiercely. It snaps and grabs at anything or anyone within reach. But a dragon can be forgiven for this.

Today there are still populations of these giant lizards crawling about on their native islands, primarily on Komodo. But their numbers have dwindled, and their future is threatened. There may be no more than a few hundred of them remaining. They are listed now on the official roster of the world's rare and endangered wildlife. With them on the same list are nearly one thousand rare birds, mammals, snakes, fish, and others. But no other dragons. That seems a shame in a world that was once rich in dragons.

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