some magic wine, but the shirt was on Paul's back, and as for the
wine, the girl had given a cupful to Paul and then had allowed the
rest to run out of the cask.

At this the dragon grew rather frightened, but in a moment had
recollected his eighteen heads, and was bold again.

'Come on,' he cried, rearing himself up and preparing to dart all his
heads at once at Paul. But Paul jumped underneath, and gave an
upward cut so that six of the heads went rolling down. They were
the best heads too, and very soon the other twelve lay beside them.
Then Paul changed the castle into an apple, and put it in his pocket.
Afterwards he and the three girls set off for the opening which led
upwards to the earth.

The basket was still there, dangling from the rope, but it was only
big enough to hold the three girls, so Paul sent them up, and told
them to be sure and let down the basket for him. Unluckily, at the
sight of the maidens' beauty, so far beyond anything they had ever
seen, the friends forgot all about Paul, and carried the girls straight
away into a far country, so that they were not much better off than
before. Meanwhile Paul, mad with rage at the ingratitude of the
three sisters, vowed he would be revenged upon them, and set
about finding some way of getting back to earth. But it was not
very easy, and for months, and months, and months, he wandered
about underground, and, at the end, seemed no nearer to fulfilling
his purpose than he was at the beginning.

At length, one day, he happened to pass the nest of a huge griffin,
who had left her young ones all alone. Just as Paul came along a