Singing Apple
was a ruby apple on a stem of amber. It had the power of persuading anyone to anything merely by its odour, and enabled the possessor to write verses, make people laugh or cry, and itself sang so as to ravish the ear. The apple was in the desert of Libya, and was guarded by a dragon with three heads and twelve feet. Prince Chery put on an armour of glass, and the dragon, when it saw its thousand reflections in the armour and thought a thousand dragons were about to attack it, became so alarmed that it ran into its cave, and the prince closed up the mouth of the cave. (Countess dʹ Aunoy: Cherry and Fairstar.) (See Singing-Tree.)