A TALE OF A DRAGON NAMED BIG RED

COPYRIGHT NORA DENNIS JUNE 2017

Sit back and let me tell a tale of a dragon. It is a tragic tale to be sure but it did not start out that way.

Once upon a time, when dragons flew the skies and lived in harmony with humans, there lived a large dragon by the name of Big Red. The name was given to him by the people in the valley who saw him flying high above. Red never bothered them nor did they harass him. As dragons live a very long time, he saw generations pass in the valley below as he flew overhead.

He would never hunt the livestock as he found plenty to sustain himself within the surrounding forests and if game was scare for a year or so, he would go further afield. It came to pass that a great Lord moved into the valley and built a castle upon a hill. He was aware of the dragon and in the beginning he had no problem with the huge beast.

BUT, the Lord who only thought of himself, began to deplete the forest of all the wild game. Big Red was forced to go further and further afield to find game in order to continue to nourish himself. Big Red, while being a creature of myth and legend, was a sentient being, and though he could not talk, he could reason and knew if he were to kill any of man's livestock it would anger the humans and he had no wish to get into a scuffle with them. True, he could easily kill them with one blast of flame (did I forget to mention he blew flame)?), snap of his mighty jaw or swing of his deadly barbed tale, but he did not wish to just kill because he was bigger than the humans. So as the game disappeared he found himself traveling further and further from his valley home.

It was on one of these forays that he met a female who took a liking to him and followed him home to his lair in the nearby mountains. For awhile they continued to live in harmony with the humans. Each dragon would go hunting and the people down below took no notice of them since they were so used to the dragon being in the neighborhood. Had they looked up they would have seen two of them, one smaller than the other. And if they did happen to look up they thought it was their eyes playing tricks on them.

It came to pass that the female was preparing to welcome new life into the world. Big Red was gone for longer and longer periods of time in order to find enough game to feed his nesting mate. The female, who had not grown up with humans, and had never had a good experience with humankind, thought nothing of grabbing livestock in order to keep herself fed while she waited to give birth to her little ones. As with most mothers expecting new life, her appetite was ravenous and she could not always wait for her mate to return. So in the dark of night she would seize a cow, horse, pig or sheep to appease her hunger. Now, she could have grabbed the livestock during the daylight hours but she knew from experience it was easier to do it at night while the humans were abed.

The Lord of the castle let this pass for several months as he, like the others, would see the large red dragon leaving and at first did not realize that it was a dragon snatching the livestock but another evening predator that had entered his domain. Then one night a wandering, weary minstrel entered the valley and as he passed by one of the outlying farms, heard a rustle of wings overhead. Thinking that perhaps it was a night bird, he looked up only to see, much to his dread and horror, a large shape swooping down from the mountains. On silent wings the dragon grabbed a couple of dozing sheep and flew off in the direction of her mountain lair. The minstrel, at first, petrified into gawking as the dragon flew away, began to scream "Dragon, dragon!" His bellowing woke up the farmer who rushed out to see what all the commotion was about and upon being told that a couple of his sheep had been taken by a dragon disbelieved the man, for had he not seen with his own eyes the dragon leave the valley only a fortnight past? But as the minstrel continued to rant about the beast it dawned on the farmer that perhaps the dragon had returned under the cover of darkness and no one had seen it return.

So the farmer, with the minstrel following close behind, made his way to the castle to inform his overlord of what had transpired. Because the farm was so far away, it was not until the first light of day had crept over the eastern horizon, that he finally reached the castle. The Lord, who was just breaking his fast, was not pleased to be interrupted while he partook of his morning meal but he had the frantic men ushered before his presence. When told of that it was indeed a dragon who had been depleting his livestock, the Lord forgot about his meal and immediately called for a gathering of all able bodied men. A fortnight passed while the word was carried far and wide, throughout his demesne, and men gathered in the great hall and bailey bringing with them scythe, pike, pitchfork, sword, battle ax, and whatever weapon they could find. It was time to put an end to the dragons taking of livestock!

While the Lord was organizing the march on the dragons lair, the female was watching as each of her twelve eggs began to give forth new life. And it was this scene that the humans saw as they entered the dragons lair (it was quite a distance from,the castle and high in the rock strewn mountains so it took several days to reach the den) and began to slaughter the hatchlings and slice and jab at the female. She valiantly tried to protect her young, but as the little ones had newly hatched they had not produced the protective coating that would protect them from flame so the female did not dare use her flaming breath least she injure her young ones. And it was because of this, that sadly, the humans were triumphant and were able to overwhelm the dragon and defeat her. Jubilant with their victory, they proudly marched out of the dragons cave and made their way back to the castle.

By the time the humans reached the castle and began to prepare for the great feast that was to take place celebrating their vanquishing of the dragon, an exhausted Big Red returned to his lair with the kill for his mate and upon seeing the carnage within the cave, let out an murderous roar. At the castle the people drunk on their success failed to hear the anguished outcry from Red over the din of so many people gathered in one place, but the guards on the battlements did not. They heard it and looked uneasily at each other. It was at that precise moment that they knew they were all doomed. The captain of the guard rushed down from the castle wall and attempted to make it across the bailey to the great hall, but he never made it. For Big Red, with only a few sweeps of his great wings was upon the castle wall, seeing his young and pieces of his mate roasting over fires, let out a horrible bellow and began to tear and claw at the walls, blasting flames into the bailey engulfing the humans. There was no where to run or hide. The Lord, in the great hall tried to escape through a secret passage but alas, not even the greatest of the humans gathered the was safe from the dragons rage. Red destroyed the keep, toppling the impressive structure on top of those trapped within it's walls. No human was allowed to escape his wrath and the few who did escape met their end from one swipe of his tremendous spiked tail.

His fury satiated Red left the valley; for a dragon mates for life, and with his mate and offspring gone he lived the rest of his life in solitude.

'Til next time...

ALOHA!!!!!