And he did it. He met with some fearful adventures on the way, but, after many weary months, he arrived at the Orkneys. And there, sure enough, right before his eyes, was the wonderful Bird Tree! Its long trunk stretched far out over the water. Its branches were loaded with fruit. Some of this fruit was as close shut as an egg; but some of it was splitting open, and the little ducks coming out. Some of the ducks were just ready to drop into the water, and others had only a small piece of bill stuck out of the egg. Hundreds had already fallen, and were swimming gaily about. [Illustration: THE BIRD TREE.] The delighted Gutefundus plucked some of the fruit that had not yet opened, and stored it away to take home to show to his countrymen. His next proceeding was to take measures for introducing the culture of bird-trees into his country. He concluded he would cut off some of the smaller branches, and some little twigs, and would put some of their native soil in tubs on the ship, and in these he would root his slips. From these few slips bird-trees could be spread over the country in a few years. The task of choosing and cutting these slips he took upon himself, and climbed the tree for that purpose. But, no sooner had he cut the first little twig than he felt a great shudder running all through the tree. It shook from top to bottom. The roots tore themselves loose from the soil with such a wrench that the whole tree fell violently forward into the water, and sank beneath the waves as if it were made of iron. The ducks that were swimming around went down with it, and were seen no more. Gutefundus, entangled in the branches, would inevitably have gone down also with the tree, had he not caught fast hold of some sedges on the shore, and, by a great effort, got his feet free from the branches. He, and the ship’s company knew then that this was a magic tree. The gathered fruit they had, was therefore accursed, and they immediately threw it all overboard. On touching the water it burst with a great explosion. They then sailed away from the spot as quickly as possible. From that day to this there has never been another bird tree found anywhere. And the poor people of Gutefundus’ country lived and died without ever tasting tree-ducks. His next expedition was the greatest of all the undertakings of Gutefundus. Immense stores of gold, silver, and precious stones lay buried in the rocks of certain caverns in the mountains. But men could not go there to dig out the treasures, because the entrance to these caverns was guarded by a terrible dragon. A few daring individuals had ventured near this entrance, and, peeping in, had seen heaps of bones. These, no doubt, were all that was left of men, who, in some previous time had attempted to get the treasures. They even got a sight of the dragon, and represented it as a gigantic creature, partly beast, partly bird, and partly serpent.