Whereupon the Prince told him how he was expected to rescue the Inherited Princess, and had come to see what the Gallopus looked like before he started to work.
"Oh, you did, did you?" roared the monster. "Well, what do you think?"
"I think," said Ting, "that you're the most awful thing I ever saw. You're enough to guard a dozen princesses and it isn't fair to ask a little boy of eight to fight you."
"It's not only not fair," said the Gallopus, "but it's downright mean, not to say ridiculous." Then he laughed with all his heads at once until the ground actually trembled. "Don't you know," he went on, "that I'd have to lose every one of my heads before the Princess could be freed? Even if you chopped off one or two it would be no use. I must lose all of them before the spell is broken."
And with that he burst into a rollicking ditty—
Three rousing cheers for a job like mine,
For I must confess it is simply fine
To sit all day and take your ease
And just do nothing as long as you please.
For who would dare to brave my wrath?