ONC 2024 ~ On Hold
Once upon a time there was a little golden dragon. He was the last of his kind and knew nothing of the ways of dragons. One day his hoard of gold was stolen by some men from the castle down the hill. This is the story of how the l...
The dragon waited. He came up with a game to play while he guarded the entrance to the castle. He tore off a large tree branch and breathed on it and used it to draw lines of black on the earth, lines in the shapes of the things he saw while he was waiting. The castle and the moat, the clouds and the sun in the sky, the trees and the mountains in the distance, and even the little people that he sometimes saw inside the castle. And of course, the animals that lived around the castle became a part of his art. In no time at all, the whole area surrounding the castle was covered in blackened dragon art. There was also noticeably less bugs in the area, and all the mushrooms and berries were soon devoured by the dragon.
After a day of waiting, the castle's draw bridge came down just enough for a messenger to come out and walk across the bridge without allowing the dragon to enter the castle. It was a man in shining armor, and he had a message for the dragon: "Your presence has scared away our traders and locked us into our castle. By order of the king, you are to leave this place at once or we will defend ourselves with magic and bow and arrow and catapult."
The dragon was surprised that he could understand the shiny man, and in curiosity, the dragon approached the messenger and tried to talk: "You have my treasure!" he roared. But the knight only backed away in terror. "I'm not leaving without my treasure!" the dragon roared.
"By order of the king, you must leave this place or suffer at our hands. You have been warned!" the knight shouted, and he turned and fled back down the angled draw bridge to the gate.
The dragon sat down in front of the draw bridge and waited again.
The dragon waited and waited, until he heard the sound of a bird chirping in distress. He followed the sound and found a little yellow bird caught in a hunter's trap. The dragon used his sharp claws to cut the bird loose, and the bird flew away quickly. The dragon watched with reverence. He called out to the animal, "How do you do that?"
At first, the bird seemed afraid, but then it realized that the dragon meant it no harm or he wouldn't have let her out of the trap, and she came over and landed in front of the dragon's red talons. The bird was smaller than the dragon's smallest toe! "I'm flying," the little yellow bird said in a high pitched female voice. "I flap my wings." And she held up her wings and flapped twice, flying a few feet away to the dragon's other foot.
"Oh! I would love to be able to fly!" the dragon cried out.
"Well, you have wings, so why don't you try flapping them like me, and see if you can fly!" The yellow bird flapped her wings again and took off, flying around and around the dragon's head. Even though she was smaller than the dragon's shiny pointed fangs, she did not shy away from the creature, for she could tell that the dragon was a peaceful creature, and besides, he had rescued her from that trap.
The dragon took a running leap and flapped his wings, but they were flimsy like paper and could not carry him. The dragon landed nose first in the dirt and breathed smoke in frustration. "I can't fly, little yellow one! I can't do it," the dragon said.
"I'm a bird, and you can call me Yellow Feather," the bird said. "And in return for saving me, I promise to help you learn how to fly."
"You're a bird?" the dragon asked. "How did you learn to fly?"
"My momma taught me how," Yellow Feather said with a happy whistle. She came and landed on the dragon's nose.
"What's a momma?" the dragon asked, going cross-eyed as he looked at Yellow Feather.
"The bird who took care of me growing up. Don't you have a momma?" the bird asked.
"No, I don't have a bird who took care of me," the dragon said. "Am I a bird?"
"No, I think you are a big lizard. So you had no one who took care of you?" Yellow Feather asked.
"I've never seen another one like me," the dragon said. "Do you think if we looked, we might find someone like me who could teach me to fly like you do?"
"Oh yes! That is a great idea, Golden Scale," Yellow Feather said.
"Golden Scale?" The dragon tilted his head at the bird perched on his nose.
"Is it okay if I call you Golden Scale, since your scales are golden like the sun?" Yellow Feather asked shyly.
The dragon decided that that was a marvelous name, and he nodded his head so violently that Yellow Feather was blown away.
And that is how a yellow canary became the ally of a baby golden dragon and set out on a journey together.
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