He crouched behind a bush for some time , till he felt that midnight could not be far off , when suddenly there arose in the middle of the moor a brilliant glow , as if a star was shining over one of the hillocks . At the same moment all the hillocks began to writhe and to crawl , and from each one came hundreds of serpents and made straight for the glow , where they knew they should find their king . When they reached the hillock where he dwelt , which was higher and broader than the rest , and had a bright light hanging over the top , they coiled themselves up and waited . The whirr and confusion from all the serpent-houses were so great that the youth did not dare to advance one step , but remained where he was , watching intently all that went on ; but at last he began to take courage , and moved on softly step by step . What he saw was creepier than creepy , and surpassed all he had ever dreamt of . Thousands of snakes , big and little and of every colour , were gathered together in one great cluster round a huge serpent , whose body was as thick as a beam , and which had on its head a golden crown , from which the light sprang . Their hissings and darting tongues so terrified the young man that his heart sank , and he felt he should never have courage to push on to certain death , when suddenly he caught sight of the golden bowl in front of the serpent-king , and knew that if he lost this chance it would never come back . So , with his hair standing on end and his blood frozen in his veins , he crept forwards . Oh ! what a noise and a whirr rose afresh among the serpents . Thousands of heads were reared , and tongues were stretched out to sting the intruder to death , but happily for him their bodies were so closely entwined one in the other that they could not disentangle themselves quickly . Like lightning he seized a bit of bread , dipped it in the bowl , and put it in his mouth , then dashed away as if fire was pursuing him . On he flew as if a whole army of foes were at his heels , and he seemed to hear the noise of their approach growing nearer and nearer . At length his breath failed him , and he threw himself almost senseless on the turf . While he lay there dreadful dreams haunted him . He thought that the serpent-king with the fiery crown had twined himself round him , and was crushing out his life . With a loud shriek he sprang up to do battle with his enemy , when he saw that it was rays of the sun which had wakened him . He rubbed his eyes and looked all round , but nothing could he see of the foes of the past night , and the moor where he had run into such danger must be at least a mile away . But it was no dream that he had run hard and far , or that he had drunk of the magic goats ' milk . And when he felt his limbs , and found them whole , his joy was great that he had come through such perils with a sound skin .
After the fatigues and terrors of the XXXXX , he lay still till mid-day , but he made up his mind he would go that very evening into the forest to try what the goats ' milk could really do for him , and if he would now be able to understand all that had been a mystery to him .
fire goats hillock hillocks lightning midnight moor night serpent-houses whirr