"And sudden--suddenly the bold knight saw a mountain a long way off, so high that it reached to heaven, and midway up its slope was an iron tower. There the fire of his courage flamed up in his brave heart. He put his lance in rest and charged forward with a mighty shout, and sp--spurring his horse, he rushed with all his-gi--gigantic strength against the door. There was a--fearful clap of thunder--the iron tower flew into fragments, and at the same time there streamed out of the mountain fire and v--va--vapour, and a voice of thunder was heard, at which the earth trembled and the stones rolled from the mountain down to the horse's feet. 'Ha! Ha! Is it thou, bold madcap. Death and I have long awaited thee.' The knight was blinded with the fire and smoke." "But who--who is this?" asked Ilya, amazed at the excitement that quivered in his friend's voice. "What?" said Jakov, lifting his pale face from the book. "Who is this--this knight?" "He's a man, that rides a horse, with a spear, his name is Raoul the Fearless--a dragon has carried off his bride, the beautiful Louise--but listen," Jakov broke off impatiently. "Hold on a minute--tell me, what's a dragon?" "Oh! it's a snake with wings and feet with iron claws, and it has three heads, and breathes fire, and--d'you see?" "My word!" cried Ilya, opening his eyes wide, "that'll be a handful to tackle!" "Yes, just listen." Sitting close together, trembling with curiosity and a strange delightful excitement, the two boys made their entry into a new wonder-world where huge evil monsters met their death beneath the mighty strokes of brave knights, where all was glorious and lovely and wonderful, and nothing resembled the dull monotony of daily life. There were no drunken, stupid, dwarfed little men, and instead of half-rotten wooden barracks, were gold-gleaming palaces and impregnable mountains of iron soaring to heaven, and while in thought they wandered through this wondrous fantasy realm of romance, at their backs the mad cobbler played his harmonica and sang his rhyming couplets: "I'll serve the devil only While my life is whole, So when I am done for, He cannot catch my soul." "That's the way, my brothers," he went on, "keep it up every day. God loves the happy men." The harmonica began to whimper again as though it taxed it to overtake the hurrying voice of the cobbler, then he sang a jolly dance tune, his voice as it were running a race with the accompaniment: "Never mind if in your youth Your lot be cold and rough, Once you make your way to Hell, You'll find it hot enough." Every verse gained laughter and applause from the audience. The sounds of the harmonica mingled with the clatter of glasses, the heavy tread of the drinkers, and the noise of the benches dragged here and there, and the whole blended into a wild tumult, not unlike the howling of the winter storm through the forest.