“Vermin, you begin to weary me,” said the raven; “who is this person?”
“The Sorcerer Badoko,” replied the rook.
The raven started. “And who else?” he cried.
“There are also two young gentlemen, sons of the illustrious Sorcerer, and two beautiful young ladies named Azalea and Anemone, whom gossips say are Princesses. But they did not arrive with Badoko. They were brought to the Dragon by robbers and are now in dungeons. The Sorcerer disapproves of his sons, I hear, and would not be sorry to see them put to death.”
The raven was all eagerness to give this news to the Emperor. “Be off, bird!” he said, “I have had enough of your talk.”
“But the fee, Gracious Monarch! My fee for telling your fortune!”
The raven fell into a towering rage and began to call for the sentry. The rook snatched up a valuable gold chain from a table and made off as hard as he could go, leaving the raven unable to pursue him on account of the heavy ornaments he wore.
Outside the Emperor’s tent the raven set up a great cry of “News! News!”
The Emperor commanded him to enter, and he related what had happened. “But I divined it all in a dream first,” he added, “so, when the low creature appeared, I knew exactly what he was going to say.”
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.