Woot sat upon the floor where he had fallen, staring around, and the owners of the big eyes returned his look, silently and motionless. Finally one of the Dragons which was farthest away from him asked, in a deep, grave voice: "What was that?" And the greatest Dragon of all, who was just in front of the Green Monkey, answered in a still deeper voice: "It is some foolish animal from Outside." "Is it good to eat?" inquired a smaller Dragon beside the great one. "I'm hungry." "Hungry!" exclaimed all the Dragons, in a reproachful chorus; and then the great one said chidingly: "Tut-tut, my son! You've no reason to be hungry at _this_ time." "Why not?" asked the little Dragon. "I haven't eaten anything in eleven years." "Eleven years is nothing," remarked another Dragon, sleepily opening and closing his eyes; "_I_ haven't feasted for eighty-seven years, and I dare not get hungry for a dozen or so years to come. Children who eat between meals should be broken of the habit." "All I had, eleven years ago, was a rhinoceros, and that's not a full meal at all," grumbled the young one. "And, before that, I had waited sixty-two years to be fed; so it's no wonder I'm hungry." "How old are you now?" asked Woot, forgetting his own dangerous position in his interest in the conversation. "Why, I'm--I'm-- How old am I, Father?" asked the little Dragon. "Goodness gracious! what a child to ask questions. Do you want to keep me thinking all the time? Don't you know that thinking is very bad for Dragons?" returned the big one, impatiently. "How old am I, Father?" persisted the small Dragon. "About six hundred and thirty, I believe. Ask your mother." "No; don't!" said an old Dragon in the background; "haven't I enough worries, what with being wakened in the middle of a nap, without being obliged to keep track of my children's ages?" "You've been fast asleep for over sixty years, Mother," said the child Dragon. "How long a nap do you wish?" "I should have slept forty years longer. And this strange little green beast should be punished for falling into our cavern and disturbing us." "I didn't know you were here, and I didn't know I was going to fall in," explained Woot. "Nevertheless, here you are," said the great Dragon, "and you have carelessly wakened our entire tribe; so it stands to reason you must be punished." "In what way?" inquired the Green Monkey, trembling a little. "Give me time and I'll think of a way. You're in no hurry, are you?" asked the great Dragon. "No, indeed," cried Woot. "Take your time. I'd much rather you'd all go to sleep again, and punish me when you wake up in a hundred years or so." "Let me eat him!" pleaded the littlest Dragon. "He is too small," said the father. "To eat this one Green Monkey would only serve to make you hungry for more, and there _are_ no more."