But , then , the dragon with a hundred heads ! What mortal , even if he possessed a hundred lives , could hope to escape the fangs of such a monster ? So kind-hearted were the maidens , that they could not bear to see this brave and , handsome traveller attempt what was so very dangerous , and devote himself , most probably , to become a meal for the dragon 's hundred ravenous mouths . `` Go back , '' cried they all , -- `` go back to your own home ! Your mother , beholding you safe and sound , will shed tears of joy ; and what can she do more , should you win ever so great a victory ? No matter for the golden apples ! No matter for the king , your cruel cousin ! We do not wish the dragon with the hundred heads to eat you up ! '' The stranger seemed to grow impatient at these remonstrances . He carelessly lifted his mighty club , and let it fall upon a rock that lay half buried in the earth , near by . With the force of that idle blow , the great rock was shattered all to pieces . It cost the stranger no more effort to achieve this feat of a giant 's strength than for one of the young maidens to touch her sister 's rosy cheek with a flower . `` Do you not believe , '' said he , looking at the damsels with a smile , `` that such a blow would have crushed one of the dragon 's hundred heads ? '' Then he sat down on the grass , and told them the story of his life , or as much of it as he could remember , from the day when he was first cradled in a warrior 's brazen shield . While he lay there , two immense serpents came gliding over the floor , and opened their hideous jaws to devour him ; and he , a baby of a few months old , had griped one of the fierce snakes in each of his little fists , and strangled them to death . When he was but a stripling , he had killed a huge lion , almost as big as the one whose vast and shaggy hide he now wore upon his shoulders . The next thing that he had done was to fight a battle with an ugly sort of monster , called a hydra , which had no less than nine heads , and exceedingly sharp teeth in every one of them . `` But the dragon of the Hesperides , you know , '' observed one of the damsels , `` has a hundred heads ! '' `` Nevertheless , '' replied the stranger , `` I would rather fight two such dragons than a single hydra . For , as fast as I cut off a head , two others grew in its place ; and , besides , there was one of the heads that could not possibly be killed , but kept biting as fiercely as ever , long after it was cut off .
So I was forced to bury it under a stone , where it is doubtless alive , XXXXX this vary day .
With after besides for if over than that to upon