BACK DRAGON3 8' Peasant girl befriends a dragon, saves a king Once upon a time a long time ago in a land far far away, a peasant girl named Michaela went out to the woods with a basket to collect wild mushrooms for dinner. In the middle of the woods, she saw what looked like a perfectly smooth, perfectly round white stone. It looked like an egg, but it was way too big to be an egg. Michaela tapped three times on the stone with her fingernail. To her surprise, she heard three taps in return. "Was that an echo?" Michaela asked. A small voice from inside the stone said, "An echo?" "How strange!" said Michaela. "How strange!" said the voice. "Someone is inside there!" said Michaela. "...inside there!" said the voice. Suddenly, the stone cracked and broke in half and a green creature that looked like a dog with an alligator's head stood up and looked around. "What kind of animal are you?" asked Michaela. "...animal are you?" said the animal. "It talks!" said Michaela. "It talks!" said the animal. "You look like a dog, so I'll call you Fido." said Michaela. "...call you fido." said the animal. Michaela's mother shouted from home, "Michaela! Time for dinner!" "Time for dinner!" said Fido. "Not for you, Fido!" replied Michaela, "Mama wouldn't let me keep you as a pet. We are poor farmers. We don't have any extra food for you." "...extra food for you." said Fido. When Michaela turned and began walking toward home, the animal followed. Michaela stopped and turned. She held her finger in front of Fido's nose, saying, "No! Sit! Stay!" Fido repeated. "No! Sit! Stay!" But he followed her again when she turned to walk home. So Michaela demonstrated, "Sit". Then she sat on the ground. Fido repeated, "Sit" and sat down. Michaela said, "Stay." She crossed her arms across her lap. Fido repeated. "Stay." He crossed his front paws as best he could. Michaela stood up and backed away toward home pointing at Fido. "Sit. Stay." Fido remained sitting and repeated, "Sit. Stay." Michaela went home for dinner, then returned to see her new pet. But Fido wasn't there. Suddenly, Michaela heard a scream from home. Running toward home, Michaela shouted, "What is it, mother?!" Her mother was standing with a pitchfork pointed at Fido, who was cornered against the chicken coop. He had white feathers sticking out of the corner of his mouth. "Mother! Don't hurt him!" shouted Michaela, "He's my friend!" Her mother shouted, "Well, your FRIEND just ate one of our chickens! And now he's going to die!" "No! Mother! Please!" Michaela shouted as she ran to defend Fido. "His name is Fido." "I'm sorry, Michaela," said her Mother, "He ate a chicken. He has to die." "Mother, please!" said Michaela, "He's very smart, aren't you, Fido?" "....aren't you, Fido?" repeated the dragon. "He talks?!" asked Mother. "Yes. He's very smart. He understands." He can help us, Mother, you'll see!" replied Michaela. "We can train him to keep the other wild animals away. Can we try it for a week? Please?" Mother said, "Very well, Michaela, we'll give it a week. But if I catch him eating any more chickens, I'll run him through!" Michaela was a good artist. After dinner, she drew pictures of all the animals on the farm and showed them to Fido. "Chicken. No. No food. Pigs. No. No food." and so on. Fido repeated all the instructions. Then she drew pictures of other animals that like to eat chickens and other farm animals. "Fox. Mmmm good food! Eat. Mountain lion. Mmmm good food! Eat." Fido repeated these instructions too. But he licked his chops with each picture. Michaela was sure he understood. That night, the family was awakened by the bleating of a goat. They all ran outside to see a goat running away. But there was fido standing with an animal in his mouth. Mother grabbed the pitchfork and ran toward Fido. "I warned you, Michaela. Now he has to die!" Mother said. Fido crouched down and drop his head. The dead animal fell out of his mouth. "Mother! No!" cried Michaela. "Look! Look carefully at the animal in his mouth." It was dark outside. But in the moonlight, mother saw that the dead animal was a mountain lion. Fido had followed Michaela's instructions. Within a few days, everyone in the countryside heard about the smart dragon who saved the goats from the mountain lion. The mayor of the town asked Michaela if the dragon could protect the town from a robber who was robbing banks in the area. Michaela showed Fido a wanted-poster of the robber. His distinctive hat had a broad brim and a very long peacock feather in the hat band. "Robber. Mmmm good food! Eat." said Michaela with a smile. Fido looked at the poster and licked his chops. "Mmmm good food. Eat." he repeated. Then Michaela climbed on Fido's neck and they flew into town. Michaela had Fido land on top of the bank building where he layed down and waited for his next meal. Two days later, Fido came flying home to the farm. Before he landed, Michaela came outside shouting, "No, Fido, go eat the robber! Go!" But Fido landed and dropped a big broadbrimmed hat with a peacock feather at Michaela's feet. "Mmmm good food!" he said and licked his chops. The hat was all that was left of the robber. "Good work, Fido!" exclaimed Michaela. A few days later, Michaela was in the hen house feeding the chickens and collecting the eggs, when she heard the thundering of several horses' hoofs. She went outside to investigate. It was the king's royal coach pulled by four white horses. There were two knights on black horses in front of the coach and two knights on black horses behind. They were all galloping at full speed toward the house. When they saw Michaela coming out of the hen house, they steered their horses away from the house and toward Michaela at full speed, then they halted the horses inches away from her. The footman jumped down from the coach and opened the door. Out stepped the king himself. Michaela and her family bowed down. The king pointed to Michaela and asked, "Is this the child who has the pet dragon?" "Yes, your majesty." said her mother. "Come with me." commanded the king. Michaela rode on Fido's neck and followed the coach to the king's castle. The king pointed to a color painting on the wall of the throne room saying, "That's my brother. He is plotting to overthrow me and become king. His army is now stronger than my army. Can you and your friend the dragon stop him?" "Sure!" replied Michaela. She took the painting outside to Fido and said, "Robber. Mmmm good food! Eat." Fido looked at the painting and licked his chops. "Mmmm good food. Eat." he repeated. Then Fido stood guard on top of the palace wall. Two days later a soldier shouted, "The enemy is coming! The enemy is coming!" Fido roused from his afternoon nap and flew away. A few minutes later, a soldier shouted, "The enemy is retreating. The enemy is running away!" A few minutes after that everyone heard the loud sound of enemy horses galloping away, as Fido flew back to the castle and laid the hat of the king's brother at Michaela's feet and licked his chops. The hat was all that was left of the king's evil brother. "Mmmm good food. Eat." said Fido. Fido and Michaela lived at the castle from then on. And everyone in the kingdom lived happily ever after. ©2007 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: This story is free. Pay no fees or royalties. Do not sell this story or rewrite it. You may reproduce and distribute this story freely, but all copies must contain this copyright statement. http://www.fea.net/bobsnook/kid email: bobsnook@fea.net BACK |