The Red Book Of Animal Stories - online children's book

Stories of Animals, Fantastic and Mundane, Edited By Andrew Lang

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	DRAGONS                                  23
	hard pressed, he thrust his spear through the creatures' hearts, and his battle ended in victory. A great banquet was held in the palace ; Eagnar received at once his bride and his nickname of ' Shaggy-Breeches,' as we have seen. He did many other brave deeds, and was a successful rover; but was cruelly put to death by an English King called Ella, who threw him into a pit full of snakes. Eagnar's device of freezing himself into a suit of ice
	RAGNAR DOES BATTLE WITH THE SERPENTS
	armour recalls to us a similar plan adopted by a race of monsters universally believed to have lived in Africa ; nearly all the old writers of marvels allude to them, under the name of ' Cynocephali,' which means ' dog-headed,' that is to say, their bodies were those of men and women, but their heads were the heads of dogs. They lived upon goat's milk ; but although that seems to mean that they dwelt quietly amongst flocks and herds, they seem never­theless to have been fond of a fight whenever there was