DURING these times there lived in the island of Alca a Penguin¹ whose arm was strong and whose mind was subtle. He was called Kraken, and had his dwelling² on the Beach of Shadows whither the inhabitants never ventured for fear of serpents that lodged³ in the hollows of the rocks and lest they might encounter the souls of Penguins⁴ that had died without baptism. These, in appearance like livid flames, and uttering doleful groans⁵, wandered night and day along the deserted⁶ beach. For it was generally believed, though without proof, that among the Penguins that had been changed into men at the blessed Mael’s prayer, several had not received baptism and returned after their death to lament⁷ amid the tempests. Kraken dwelt on this savage⁸ coast in an inaccessible⁹ cavern¹⁰. The only way to it was through a natural tunnel a hundred feet long, the entrance of which was concealed¹¹ by a thick wood. One evening as Kraken was walking through this deserted plain he happened to meet a young and charming woman Penguin. She was the one that the monk¹² Magis had clothed with his own hands and thus was the first to have worn the garments of chastity. In remembrance of the day when the astonished crowd of Penguins had seen her moving gloriously in her robe

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