Then without looking round , she rode across the bridge . The emperor , proud of this first victory , took a short cut , and waited for her at the end of another day 's journey , close to a river , over which he threw a bridge of silver . And this time he took the shape of a lion . But the horse guessed this new danger and told the princess how to escape it . But it is one thing to receive advice when we feel safe and comfortable , and quite another to be able to carry it out when some awful peril is threatening us . And if the wolf had made the girl quake with terror , it seemed like a lamb beside this dreadful lion . At the sound of his roar the very trees quivered and his claws were so large that every one of them looked like a cutlass . The breath of the princess came and went , and her feet rattled in the stirrups . Suddenly the remembrance flashed across her of the wolf whom she had put to flight , and waving her sword , she rushed so violently on the lion that he had barely time to spring on one side , so as to avoid the blow . Then , like a flash , she crossed this bridge also . Now during her whole life , the princess had been so carefully brought up , that she had never left the gardens of the palace , so that the sight of the hills and valleys and tinkling streams , and the song of the larks and blackbirds , made her almost beside herself with wonder and delight . She longed to get down and bathe her face in the clear pools , and pick the brilliant flowers , but the horse said ` No , ' and quickened his pace , neither turning to the right or the left . ` Warriors , ' he told her , ` only rest when they have won the victory . You have still another battle to fight , and it is the hardest of all . ' This time it was neither a wolf nor a lion that was waiting for her at the end of the third day 's journey , but a dragon with twelve heads , and a golden bridge behind it . The princess rode up without seeing anything to frighten her , when a sudden puff of smoke and flame from beneath her feet , caused her to look down , and there was the horrible creature twisted and writhing , its twelve heads reared up as if to seize her between them . The bridle fell from her hand : and the sword which she had just grasped slid back into its sheath , but the horse bade her fear nothing , and with a mighty effort she sat upright and spurred straight on the dragon . The fight lasted an hour and the dragon pressed her hard . But in the end , by a well-directed side blow , she cut off one of the heads , and with a roar that seemed to rend the heavens in two , the dragon fell back on the ground , and rose as a man before her . Although the horse had informed the princess the dragon was really her own father , the girl had hardly believed him , and stared in amazement at the transformation .
But he flung his arms round her and pressed her to his heart saying , ` Now I see XXXXX you are as brave as the bravest , and as wise as the wisest .
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