Book #2

Loon and Dragon

I remember when I was pretty young, reading a story somewhere about a loon and a dragon. It started out describing this dragon, or water serpent I guess, that was trying to find a place to live, and it settled down on this lake when a loon approached it. The story was written so that you were meant to sympathize with the dragon and see this loon as an asshole. Basically, the dragon had been trying for a long time to find a place to live out its days and raise a family or whatever, but every time it stayed somewhere, it ended up getting polluted or overfished or too noisy or whatever else. And eventually it was revealed that it was because humans were following the dragon and trying to chase it out. The dragon then, was this symbol of good intentions bringing about bad results and like, the natural consequences that very often follow. Idk something about colonialism and capitalism. But it could very easily pass off as this story about "oh the dragon is just dumb and has bad karma because it's a dragon" or "we should protect ourselves from outsiders like the loon defending its territory" or even "tradition good, new change bad".

Anyways I've been ruminating on this story a bit to try to remember as much as I could about it because I have a little art piece I'm wanting to do, a carving into a plank of wood that depicts the story. I know one of the things I'm gonna include is the "wake" of the dragon (i.e., think not only about your intentions and immediate actions, but also of the outcomes, the impacts, the waves you leave behind you).