"That is correct. One, or two, or three, or as many as you
feel would be necessary." The captain scratched his head.
"Well, I don't know," he said finally. "Most of my men are
out of practice when it comes to dragons. . . ."
The inn was suddenly very quiet. At the mention of the
word "dragon" all the clattering of platters and tankards and
dice had stopped. All the laughter and the sounds of
table-pounding and chair-scraping had stopped. William felt
everyone staring at him.
"Are you trying to tell me that your men would be afraid
to go after a dragon?" he asked.
"Afraid!" snorted the captain through his mustaches (which
were quite large, and blew up almost as high as his ears when
he snorted). "My men afraid of dragons? I should say not!
"Are any of you men afraid of dragons?" he called out in a
loud voice.
"N-no," came several soft answers. "But of course, we're
out of practice when it comes to dragon-slaying. . "
"Not slaying, just catching," said William, "and I can see
that I'm getting nowhere this way. So I'll just ask for
volunteers. Do any of you men want to volunteer to go get a
dragon for the princess' birthday party and bring it back
alive?"
No one answered.
"Come, come!" cried William, jumping up onto a table.
"Surely a few of you brave fellows would be willing to do this
thing to make the princess' birthday a happy and memorable
occasion. Who will be first to volunteer?"
Still no one answered.
"Then I think you are all cowards!" said William.
"Not so, not so ! " cried the captain. "Consider, if you
please, the circumstances. All of these men are fearless and
have done many brave deeds in the past, or they would not be
knights today. They are, as I said, just out of practice when
it comes to dragons. They do not know the meaning of the word
'fear'."
