it that I have trodden on thy ground. Against thee I have no evil design at all."
"I know better than that," replied the monster; "but I see that, like all cowards, thou dost think it best to make excuses."
"Nay, so sure as God preserves me, I am no coward. I have told thee the simple truth; but if thou wouldst fight, I am ready. Choose thy weapons! Shall we slash with sabres, or slog with clubs, or wrestle together?"
"Neither the one nor the other," replied the monster. "One way only canst thou escape thy just punishment—thou must fetch me the daughter of the Green Emperor!"
Aleodor would very much have liked to have got out of the difficulty some other way, as affairs of State would not allow him to take so long a journey, a journey on which he could find no guide to direct him; but what did the monster know of all that? Aleodor felt that if he would avoid the shame of being thought a robber and a trampler on the rights of others, he must indeed find the daughter of the Green Emperor. Besides, he wanted to escape with a whole skin if he could; so at last he promised that he would do the service required of him.
Now the Half-man-riding-on-the-worse-half-of-a-lame-horse knew very well that, as a man of honour,
