Foamina stood sulkily on one side as Duldy lighted his fire; for, in spite of her threat, she was so afraid of the flames that she dared not approach them. Very soon the shepherd had a large fire blazing away merrily, and the red glare lighted up the sombre branches of the trees and the beautiful face of Foamina, who retired to some little distance when the fire began to burn, singing a strange, sweet song:— “Fire red, Thee I dread; Water blue, I love you; Fire—water Maketh hotter; Water—fire Makes expire.” [Illustration] Now, while she was singing, and Duldy was warming himself at the bright flames, a small brown lizard came creeping out of a bunch of ferns and ran across the open space between Foamina and the shepherd. As soon as the witch saw it, she flung herself on to it with a wild cry, and dissolved into a wide pool of seething foam, apparently trying to drown the lizard. But Duldy, who was kind to all animals, put his hand into the foam and picked up the lizard, which was nearly dead amid the angry water. He put it on the ground near the fire, but the white foam rolled forward right to the edge of the flames, so the poor lizard had no choice but to be drowned or burned, and Duldy put out his hand once more to save it from the cruel witch. To his dismay, however, the lizard, finding itself hard pressed by the foaming waves of the pool, ran into the fire and hid itself among the burning embers; upon which the water retreated with an angry cry, and spouted up into a snow-white column, out of which stepped Foamina in a fearful rage. “Why did you not let me kill him?” she cried, throwing some cold spray over Duldy. “I wanted to drown him.” “The poor lizard was not hurting you,” replied Duldy, laughing. “It was not a lizard!” shrieked Foamina, stamping her foot. “It was my great enemy Salamander, and you saved him, stupid.” “I don’t think so,” said Duldy, pointing to the fire. “Salamander ran in there, so he must be burned to a cinder by this time.” “No, he isn’t!” cried the Water-witch, coming nearer; “that is where he lives! but I’ll put the fire out—I’ll put the fire out and drown him!” She dissolved once more into a wave of foam, and, rolling forward, flung a great sheet of water over the fire. Duldy expected to see the fire go black out, but instead of that it shot up into a tall column of red flame, and he hastily arose, afraid of being burned by the fierce heat. The wave of foam recoiled with an angry hiss, and, changing into a turbulent brook, flowed away through the forest with fretful murmurings, leaving not a trace behind on the smooth green lawn. “I’m glad she’s gone,” said Duldy, with a sigh of relief. “Now, perhaps, I’ll be able to go on to the Princess.”