Once Upon A Time, there was a great dragon that loved to eat books. He hoarded and ate so many books, there were none to be found in the whole kingdom. The princess would sit in her tower and cry and cry.
In the kingdom was a young boy who decided he could take no more. He would listen to the princess cry all night long for lack of her bedtime story (it kept him up all night!), so he decided to go into the deepest, darkest, scariest cave where the book-hoarding dragon lived. The boy was determined to sneak out with at least one book.
Imagine his surprise when the dragon almost ran over him at the entrance to the cave!
"Please tell me you are a great Knight, come to save our ears from the princess, er, um, to save the princess, uh..." stammered the dragon hopefully, even as he looked at the boy dubiously.
"Nah," answered the boy sympathetically, "I can't stand her crying either. Can you help?"
"Can you help me?" asked the dragon slyly.
"Sure, what ya got in mind?"
**********
Later that day, our brave boy presented the princess with the dragon's gift.
"It took every last bit of the dragon's magic," the boy lied, "now he's nothing but a giant lizard that eats bugs. That's good for the kingdom, right? He's actually kinda cool now. I want to keep him for a pet."
The boy looked grateful as the princess agreed that he could keep the supposedly defunct dragon as his pet. He was grateful the dragon couldn't hear all of this malarkey! But if that yarn would keep the dragon safe...
"How does it work?" the princess asked.
The boy went over to the stand that held the stone tablet.
"See, it's a stone pad so the dragon won't eat it. You put your hand on it like this, and say...
Oh, Pad, Watt Book IS There TO Be Had?"
