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DRAGON6  8' Having a dragon as a friend makes marriage unlikely

Michaela saved the life of a dragon when it was a little baby.
After that, the dragon followed her everywhere. It was fun for a
while for Michaela to have such a unique pet. But now, after the
dragon grew up, it was larger than a horse and not nearly as
cute and cuddly looking.

When strangers saw Michaela walking down the road with the
dragon, they ran for cover. And when Michaela grew old enough to
marry, having a fire-breathing dragon following her around
discouraged the boys from coming close enough to court her or to
ask her to marry.

After a year of having the most handsome boys in the area run
for cover whenever they saw Michaela coming, she got
discouraged. And whenever the dragon saw that his friend was
sad, he always tried to cheer her up by flipping her up onto his
back and taking her flying over the country side.

But this day, Michaela was even to sad to go flying. As soon as
he flipped her up onto his back, she slid down to the ground.

"Not today, Dragon." said Michaela as she strolled over to the
river bank, her favorite spot for sitting and thinking.

As she sat down, she sighed and started to cry. When the dragon
saw her crying, he bent down and rubbed the side of his head
against her shoulder and let out his familiar low rumbling sound
to let her know that he was sad too. Michaela slumped to the
ground.

"I may as well get used to it. As long as my best friend is a
dragon, I'll NEVER get married! Never! There's no use in even
trying to find a boy to marry me." she sighed.

Just then, the dragon let out a loud grunt and reared up on his
hind legs and looked out at the river. Michaela knew that this
grunt meant that the dragon was alarmed. So, she stood up too.

"What is it, boy?" asked Michaela.

Then she saw what the dragon saw. A body was floating face down
in the middle of the river.

Michaela pointed at the body and shouted, "Go get him, Dragon!"

With that the dragon flapped his wings and took off across the
river. When he was over the body, he lowered his front legs and
snatched the body out of the water with his talons. He turned
and flew back to Michaela and gently lowered the body at her
feet.

"It's a boy!" exclaimed Michaela, describing the young man who
was just a little bit older than she. She sank to her knees and
began to press down on his chest, hoping to squeeze out the
river water from his lungs. When that didn't work, she turned
the young man over and pressed on his back.

At last, he coughed and gasped and coughed and gasped, and water
flowed out of his mouth.

"What happened?!" he groaned as he rolled over, "Who are you?"

Michaela replied, "My name is Michaela. My parents own this
farm. I think you fell into the river. What's your name?"

"My name is.... My name is...." replied the young man, "Isn't
that funny? I can't remember my name."

She pointed at the large bruise over the young man's left eye,
saying, "It looks like you whacked your head when you fell into
the river. I've heard that sometimes when people get hit in the
head real hard, they loose their memories for a little while. I
think they call it amnesia."

The young man asked, "How did I get out of the river? Did you
pull me out?"

Michaela pointed at the dragon who was standing beyond the young
man, "No, he did."

The young man turned to see who she was pointing to. Then he
shook his head, "I think I must have whacked my head harder than
I thought. Your horse looks green to me. And it has wings"

"That's not a horse." replied Michaela, "That's a dragon."

Michaela expected the young man to get up and run away like all
the others. But he didn't seem to be the least bit alarmed that
a dragon was standing next to him.

"I've never seen a dragon before." he said as he rub his head,
"Or maybe I have and I just don't remember that either."

Michaela stood, saying, "I think I'll have my friend the dragon
carry you back to the house."

The young man struggled to get to his feet, saying, "Oh, no,
that's alright. I can walk...."

With that he fainted.

It was dark outside when the young man woke up in front of the
fireplace. When he tried to sit up, he held his head and moaned
in pain and laid back down.

Michaela ran to his side saying, "Are you alright?"

"Yes. I think so." he moaned, "I must have fainted, huh?"

"Yes. We brought you back to my house." replied Michaela. "Did
you get your memory back yet?"

"No," he replied, "I still can't even remember my name."

She pointed to her parents who also came over to the fireplace
to see if he was alright. "This is my mother and my father." she
said.

Then, she pointed at the young man, saying, "Mom and Dad, this
is.... Well, until you get your memory back, we should give you
a name."

"Let's call him Jonah," suggested Michaela's dad, "Since he came
up out of the water."

So, that's what they all called him.

After a full night's sleep, Jonah seemed to be fully recovered
from his near-drowning, so he insisted on helping Michaela and
her family around the farm. He was a good worker and the family
was glad to have him around.

Michaela couldn't help but fall in love with Jonah. He was
strong and handsome, and he seemed to enjoy her company.

After two weeks of amnesia, the family lost hope that Jonah
would ever find out what his real name was. Then, one day while
he was in the hay loft throwing down hay for the cows and sheep,
he lost his balance and fell ten feet to the floor below with a
loud scream.

Michaela came running from outside, shouting, "What happened?!
Are you alright?!"

Jonah sat up and groaned and held his head, "Yes, I'm fine. I
just whacked my head. I'm fine. I'm...."

"Something's wrong. What is it?" asked Michaela.

"Albert." replied Jonah.

"Albert? I don't understand. What does that mean?" asked
Michaela.

"That's my name." replied Jonah. "That whack on the head jogged
my memory. I got my memory back. My name is Albert."

"Oh." replied Michaela as she turned away.

"What's the matter?" asked Albert, "Aren't you happy for me?"

"Oh, um, yes. I'm sorry." replied Michaela, "It's just that I'll
be sad because you'll probably be going back home where you
belong. I'll miss you."

"Well, yes, I'll be going home because that's where I belong,"
explained Albert, "but... I'm going to take you with me."

Michaela turned and smiled, "Did you say you would take me with
you?"

"Yes." replied Albert.

Michaela turned away again, saying, "I'm not sure that would be
proper."

Albert pulled her to him, saying, "It will be perfectly proper.
Because we'll be married."

"Married?!" exclaimed Michaela, "Do you mean it?!"

"Well, of course," replied Albert, "unless you don't want to
marry me."

"Oh! I do! I do!" exclaimed Michaela, "But I never thought I
ever would be married.... because of my friend the dragon."

"Oh, he can come too!" replied Albert, "There's plenty of room
in the palace."

"The... palace?!" exclaimed Michaela, "You live in a palace?!"

Albert rubbed his head and shrugged his shoulders, saying, "Yes,
of course, you had no idea I'm a prince, did you?"

"A prince?!" exclaimed Michaela, "You're a prince?!"

"Yes," replied Albert, "And you will me my princess!"

Michaela and Albert were married at the palace two weeks later.
And whenever Prince Albert rode into battle with his army, he
rode on the back of his fire-breathing dragon. Needless to say,
he never lost a battle.

And they all lived happily ever after.

©2008 Bob Snook. Conditions for use:
This story is free. Pay no fees or royalties.
Do not sell this story or rewrite it.
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http://www.fea.net/bobsnook/kid  email: bobsnook@fea.net

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