The expedition started with all haste for the Dragon’s island and sighted it in a few days; it was evening when they approached the lake in which it lay, and they saw the single pine tree which stood on it and one star shining above in the green of the evening sky. But they had no leisure to admire all this and pushed on to find that the Dragon had gone to a palace some way from the shore where he was entertaining the Sorcerer with a feast. The only persons left on the island were the Sorcerer’s sons and the Princesses who were confined in dungeons below the Dragon’s treasure house. The force surrounded the palace in which the feast was going on and turned their heavy guns on it. The Dragon and the Sorcerer came out in great horror, and the Dragon was told that he would be blown to atoms if the captives were not released immediately and Badoko given up to justice. “Take all I have,” said the Dragon, “but spare my collection of curiosities.” So the Princesses were set free and, with them, Tiger and Gold-Eagle, and the Sorcerer was seized, bound, and drowned in the lake. The raven stood by the Emperor and surveyed all that was done. “My good fellows,” he said to Badoko’s sons, “there is no further need of your services. Your behaviour has been creditable. You may go.” “Do you want your neck wrung?” asked Gold-Eagle, who had come behind him, taking him deftly between his finger and thumb. The raven took the first opportunity of retiring among the crowd. Next day the Emperor with his daughters started for home, having invited the young men to his court, and they, after bidding the Princesses good-bye, returned to Badoko’s country to fit themselves out suitably for the visit. So everybody departed in peace, except the Sorcerer, who was at the bottom of the lake. In a short time Tiger and Gold-Eagle arrived at the court. They had inherited all their father’s wealth and they came in such splendour and state that people ran out of their houses for miles round to see them pass. The Emperor was much delighted with their appearance, character and accomplishments, and, above all, with the charming way in which they played and sang, so when Tiger asked him for the hand of Azalea and Gold-Eagle for that of Anemone, he consented readily, and the two marriages took place amid great pomp. Everyone was pleased but the raven, who could not get on with the Emperor’s sons-in-law. Finally, he found it wiser to retire from court, and a fine house was built for him in which he spent the remainder of his days and died, at a good old age, of a surfeit. GRIMAÇON