a dragon tail

Once upon a time, in a country beyond nowhere and neverland, there was a village where lived a dragon. Every year, the villagers had to give him a young boy or girl so he wouldn’t come flying over their fields, burning their crops with his breath.

Knights from all over the world had come to the village to slay the dragon and have their name and their fame sung by the minstrels. They were encamped in the forest near the dragon’s layer, with their banners and tents and their armour and swords.

Every once in a while, one of them would sneak up on the dragon, when he lay in his cave, and try and take him by surprise. But the dragon always awoke too early, and sent out a hiss of hot breath, cooking the knight in his armour, and later, when he was a bit cooled off, he would have him for dinner.

After a while, none of the knights dared go into the cave anymore and they just sat there, staring at each other, wondering if they should draw lots about who was to go next, each one hoping his neighbour would volunteer to go himself.

One evening, a shepherd, a slender boy with deep sea green eyes and long black hair, got fed up with this business. He crept into the cave in the darkest hour of a dark and moonless night, when the dragon was fastest asleep. He sat down near the dragon’s head and began softly to sing. His voice was so soft and so dark that the dragon never woke up. He sang of deep seas and fishes strange and of islands far away. He sang on until morning. Then the dragon woke from his dreams. He had forgotten about cooking knights in their armour, forgotten about village children, all he wanted was to fly high over the deep green sea, to find the enchanted islands and the fish and the mermaids. He got out of his cave, stretched his wings and flew away. A dragon dropping fell smelly amidst the knights’ camp, and then he was gone.  He flew far and high over the green seas, until he came to the islands. There, he folded his wings and sat on the water like some giant gull. The fish and the mermaids were playing around his scaly feet and gradually he felt his fire go out. He sank and was content to live in the sea, and eventually married a lobster princess.

When the villagers realized that the dragon was gone, they were very happy. They gave a garden of mandarin trees to the young shepherd, and he lived happily ever after, singing songs and tending his mandarin trees.

The knights went home alone, and no-one ever sung their name and fame.