This remarkable beast, which for so long had kept the Valley of Mo in
constant terror, was standing on the front porch of its castle when the
army arrived. It looked at the crowd of people in surprise, and said:

"Are you not weary with your attempts to destroy me? What selfish
people you must be! Whenever I eat anything that belongs to you, there
is a great row, and immediately you come here to fight me. These
battles are unpleasant to all of us. The best thing for you to do is to
return home and behave yourselves; for I am not in the least afraid of
you."

Neither the King nor his people replied to these taunts. They simply
brought forward the big pair of forceps and reached them toward the
Dragon.

This movement astonished the monster, who, never having been to a
dentist in his life, had no idea what the strange instrument was for.

"Surely you can not think to hurt me with that iron thing," it called
out, in derision. And then the Dragon laughed at the idea of any one
attempting to injure it.

But when the Dragon opened its mouth to laugh, the King opened the jaws
of the forceps, quickly closing them again on one of the monster's
front teeth.

"Pull!" cried the King; and fifty men seized the handles of the forceps
and began to pull with all their strength.