George the giant-killer

As the story goes, one day he was riding across a marsh and saw a noble and lovely maiden walking all alone toward the seashore. She was dressed in beautiful robes like a bride on her wedding day, but her face was pale andsorrowful, as she strode in terror towards the sea. St George rode quickly up to her. quot;Flee, young knight, or you will perish also,quot; she said. quot;God forbid that I should flee when a maiden is in peril,quot; replied St George.

As he spoke the sea began to rise up in great waves, with a great roaring sound. He turned and saw that the walls of the city on the hills above the marsh were crowded with people, who were shrieking and wringing their hands. quot;The dragon, the dragon!quot; cried the maiden. quot;Flee, or it will be upon you.quot; While Princess Sabra was speaking the sea had risen up in great waves, and from the waves there came the sound of loud and angry roaring, which increased in volume every moment.

St George scarcely had the time to clutch his spear and lift his shield before the dragon was upon him. It was the most terrible monster ever seen on earth, an enormous serpent with two great wings and four strong feet armed with cruel claws, and in its tail was a long, poisonous sting. It rushed through the air uponSt George, and a burning flame came from its jaws. With a sudden stroke of its wing it nearly felled him to the ground. But as it passed he gave it so fierce a thrust that his spear broke into a thousand pieces. Swinging back, the dragon again struck at him with its tail, and knocked him from his war-horse.

The fire of its breath made him faint and dizzy. He rose up, reeling like a dying man; but his strength returned marvellously when he drew his magic sword Ascalon. In trying to strike him once more, the dragon exposed the tender part of its body beneath its wing, and there St George wounded it. So deep was the wound that the dragon stood still, trembling. St George then knelt and prayed. The princess tied the dragon8217;s neck with her sash and led it to the market-place in the city. The dragon followed the princess as meekly as a lamb.

When they reached the city all the people ran away, but St George told them to have no fear, for the dragon was now quite harmless. And with a blow of his magic swordAscalon he killed the monster in the marketplace.

Our own George was once slated to join a seminary by his parents in Mangalore, but it was not to be. The seminary8217;s loss has been South Block8217;s gain. Like his namesake, Fernandes was also proclaimed a giant-killer when he, an unknown quantity, defeated S.K. Patil, the Congress giant and a member of the powerful quot;syndicatequot;. He is now on the mission of a missionary, to rescue the Indian maiden Bharat Mata from being devoured by another giant steam-rolling in from the mighty Himalayas to the waves of the Arabian Sea. George is not the sort to go tilting at windmills. He perceives a real threat. And he certainly has a point of view 8212; that of a patriot.