Home > Mato > Own Stories >

The Dragon's Stories

One day, a very old Dragon woke up. It was something worth mentioning because he'd been asleep for several thousand years. As he blinked and stretched, he dimly remembered that before he went to sleep there'd been something he'd been meaning to do; he sensed he had particularly wanted to tell someone something.

He walked, stiffly, out of his cave and gave his wings a flap (the day went momentarily dark for a few seconds as several hundred bats found themselves being unexpectedly evicted), then he took a deep breath and launched his enormous body into the air. Within seconds he was gliding effortlessly through the sky, as if he'd done it only yesterday. He allowed his sleepy mind to grind over the thing he'd forgotten, but it continued to elude him. The Dragon growled irritably at himself, and tried a couple of adrenaline boosting dives at the ground in an attempt to sharpen up his mind, but it didn't work and he eventually gave up, contenting himself instead by snacking on a seagull that had flown too close (which he immediately felt guilty about - after all it's not as if Dragons have to eat!)

Soon he was flying over a small village and as he looked down on the tiny people going about their daily business he had the idea that what he'd forgotten was something to do with them. Was it something they'd lost? he asked himself. Something they needed? Yes, he felt that was it, it was something they needed! Something vital... something... something that would help them enormously. Whoomph! All of a sudden it flashed back - he snorted at himself with disgust that he could have forgotten.

And this is what it was:

The Dragon had lived a long life, many hundreds of thousands of years in fact, and he had journeyed all over the universe. He'd lived on blue planets and red ones, fought with greedy space-pirates and foolish princes. He'd defended crystal castles and desert kings. He carried small children through dark forests, served hermits and alchemists, and protected witches and healers. And all that time he'd learnt their stories; he learnt their dreams and fears, their truths and lies.

And he remembered them all - usually.

So when the Dragon at last came upon a land that was darker with fear and distrust than any other; a land where the people existed with so much doubt that they lived but half their gifted life, and were closed to the potentials and adventures around them, the Dragon had longed to help. He felt sure that if he told them the stories of the heroes he'd known, and wonders he'd seen, then he could inspire the people of this dark land to unwrap their dreams and show them to their sun. To let them grow and blossom.Only first he'd wanted to have a little rest... and it had taken a while.

Yet now the Dragon remembered his plan and swooped down, coming to a thunderous hovering halt a few feet above the village square and landed heavily in the centre. He cleared his throat awkwardly (it hadn't been the kind of entrance he would have liked, it was a bit too hurried) then opened his mouth to speak.

So involved was the Dragon with what he was about to say that he totally failed to notice all the screaming and scurrying that had suddenly started going on around him. In fact, the village green was completely deserted by the time he noticed anything was wrong at all and he experienced several moments of shocked confusion before he realised the people were frightened of him. How peculiar, he thought to himself, after all, they hadn't met a Dragon before.

He felt rather silly standing in the middle of an empty village; a situation that wasn't improved by the embarrassment of calling out in a hopeful voice, that squeaked a bit, that he 'Just wanted a word.' He felt rather alone and silly, and twisted a clawed foot awkwardly in the dirt. He took a last look around, then he heaved his huge bulk into take off position and leaped back into the air. As he flew away he hoped the villagers' reaction wasn't typical, otherwise he was going to feel terribly bad about sleeping for so long.

Several villages later the Dragon arrived back at his cave feeling very terrible indeed. He mooched around in the kind of lonely way that Dragons get a lot practice at, before settling down in what was supposed to be a short dejected snooze.

Seven hundred and forty two years later (just after a substantial number of very surprised bats had experienced the perfect enactment of one of their oldest myths) the Dragon was back in sky. He was a determined Dragon this time, and would not to be put off by people being frightened of him. He had a plan: he would simply keep talking, to himself if necessary, until they got curious enough to come and listen.

Within a surprisingly short space of time he found himself looking down on a large village, certainly not one he was familiar with, and he eagerly glided down to the surprisingly small village green in the middle. He looked around and noticed with pleasure that the people weren't running away. The Dragon was delighted, he sat himself down, coughed gently, loudly bid the people greetings, and looked around happily. He was therefore extremely taken aback when no one paid him the slightest bit of attention. He tried again, calling out with his full volume - not insubstantial - but still no one looked.

The Dragon felt a prick of despair, almost panic; it seemed the people weren't scared of him, it was more as if they couldn't see him. Slowly, with the kind of feeling you experience when you arrive at a party just after it's ended, he realised that the people didn't believe in Dragons anymore; a small child walked close by him and he desperately called to her, but the child didn't even pause. The Dragon's heart sank.

The Dragon forlornly returned to his cave, alone in all the world and his greatest desire now lost forever. He winced as he thought of his failed mission, and the loss it would mean for his friends the humans.

So deep was his depression, in fact, that he didn't notice the huge serpent until it was almost out of sight. But when he did, he snapped out of his despair and flapped hard to catch it up - besides, he'd lived a long time and something new was something new. He quickly caught the serpent up, though he was impressed with its speed, and glided down to have a closer look. It was a strange beast, with legs he'd never seen the like of and a skin shiny that was hard - not the smooth scales he'd expected.

However the strangest thing of all was that he could see inside its stomach; and he growled with anger at the sight he saw. The beast had obviously gorged itself on a whole village for he could see the people clearly trapped inside the body of the snake. The Dragon thought to attack and kill the evil beast, to end its destruction, to save man from this horrendous enemy. He prepared himself for a death strike.

So you can imagine how surprised he was when all the people got out.

He stared in amazement as the serpent stopped, next to what he took to be a large human dwelling place, and all the people climbed out through the snake's sides - only to be replaced as several dozen more got in. The Dragon quickly landed in front of the beast, trying to challenge such evil magic with one of his most threatening glares, but found himself instead looking into the deeply bored face of a single human sitting inside the beast's left eye. There was a strange noise as the man in the eye moved some little sticks in front of him, and the snake began to move.

The Dragon hurriedly got out of the way and from the smell it made as it went past, realised that it wasn't a beast at all. As he watched it go he decided to follow and learn the secret of the strange thing.

He trailed the curious snake like thing a whole day, watching as it went from place to place, taking people backwards and forth. He saw how the people seemed to enjoy themselves, how they laughed and chatted happily as they rode in its middle. Better still though, was the way some of them would sit still for their journey, gazing quietly out onto the land as it rushed by them, for that gave the Dragon an idea.

He returned to his cave late in the evening, sure now of how he could fulfil his dream, and deep into the night he sat working on his spells and potions. Finally, when all his preparations were done, the Dragon left the cave for the last time.

And disappeared.

But if you want to know what happened to him then all you have to do is get in any train (for he was an amazing dragon) and sit very quietly in a corner of the carriage. You'll soon find that between the gentle clicking of the wheels and the hum of the motor, your head will fill with weird ideas, crazy adventures, and daring plots that will challenge you to seek your limits. Well, don't dismiss them as merely your own foolish thoughts, for in truth they are the Dragon's stories - and they're real!

^ To Top