A Nice Dragon

IT was really very jolly in this Once-upon-a-Time Land, though nothing wonderful happened at first. There were beautiful green trees, scattered about everywhere in twos and threes as if they were keeping one another company; there were large fields full of flowers; little rivers bustling along as if they were in a great hurry to get somewhere, and then turning a corner and flowing quite slowly as if they had remembered that it didn't really matter after all; and far off in the distance, with snowy peaks glittering in the sunshine—mountains!

The road led them along up and down like a switchback. It was quite easy walking; in fact, the road almost seemed to walk by itself. Whenever they felt thirsty there was a spring of delicious cold water bubbling up by the roadside, and when they felt hungry there were apples, pears, blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries all growing and ready for anybody who would take the trouble to pick them.

"I think it's time we got somewhere," said George.

"We're nearly there," replied Alexander. "I know She lives not far from here."

"She? Who is She?" asked George.

"Why, Her, of course," and Alexander ran on ahead and round the corner before George could ask another question. Suddenly he heard a loud barking, and thinking that Alexander was chasing a rabbit, or perhaps a cat, he ran as hard as he could, turned the corner, and saw——

Well, I never! It was wonderful, and yet it was in Once-upon-a-Time Land, where things like this happen every day. It was just as one sees it in picture-books, only naturally it looked ever so much bigger than one expected.

"A dragon!" cried George. "I haven't got a sword or anything at all to fight with. If it begins to breathe fire it will burn me right up! And what is Alexander doing? Why, I do believe he's playing with it."

And so he was, and what was even funnier still, the dragon actually seemed to like it. Alexander ran down its long, long back, which rippled and shone in the sunshine like scales of golden flame, bit the end of its tail playfully, and barked right under its great nose. The dragon opened its great mouth, showing rows and rows of sharp, pointed teeth, and laughed a really jolly laugh.

"You seem to want a game," it said, in a great deep voice which sounded as if it came from somewhere half-way down its back. "Come on, little George; just wait until I uncurl myself."

It gave itself a shake and uncoiled all the twists in its back, which cracked like little pistols, bang! bang! then jumped once or twice in the air to stretch its legs.

"See if you can catch my tail!" it cried, and then began a regular game of 'Catch me who can!' The dragon didn't seem to run exactly, but moved along somewhat like a snake, only ever so fast, with its tail hanging temptingly behind. Every time George put out his hand to catch hold of it, whisk!—away it went again! Alexander leapt this way and that way, and every time he came to the ground again found that the dragon was not where he expected it to be. Then the dragon began to make loops and curves of itself, as if it were writing all the letters of the alphabet with its long back.

At last all three lay down on the ground quite out of breath.

"I'm not so old as I thought I was," said the dragon. "I haven't had such a good game for a long time. Phew! I'm absolutely boiling hot!" and out came a long tongue like yards and yards of red flannel, and it smoothed its scales as far as it could reach.

"Alexander does just the same when he's washing himself," thought George.

"So you're going to look for your fortune?" said the dragon after a while.

"Yes," replied George, "I am. I hope Alexander will find his too."

"I hope so," smiled the dragon. "I like to see people who are looking for fortunes, though they don't always find them, even when they're under their very noses. I knew a dragon once—it's not a long story—who went to look for his fortune."

"Was it in Once-upon-a-Time Land?" asked George.

"Of course," replied the dragon. "People don't understand dragons anywhere else. They tell the most stupid stories about us, as if we went about doing nothing but eat up people and breathe fire. You might as well say that dogs do nothing else but kill cats," he added, with a laugh.

Alexander looked very solemn, and as if butter would not melt in his mouth.

"Well, this dragon, as I was saying, went out to look for his fortune. He was quite a young dragon, and ought to have stayed at home as his mother told him. He had never been farther than the end of the valley where they lived, though of course he thought he knew all about everything.

"So his mother kissed him good-bye, told him to take care not to catch cold, and watched him disappear in the distance. It was a fine day, and the young dragon went along thinking of all the great things he was going to do, and bumping his head against trees because he never looked where he was going.

"He met nobody and nothing for a long time. About midday he began to feel very hungry, and almost wished he were at home again. But at last, on the top of a hill, he saw a man standing by the door of a house; at least, he thought it must be a house, but he wasn't quite sure, for he had never seen one before. It was really a miller standing by his mill, whistling for the wind to come and turn the sails round.

"He was a friendly miller. He invited the dragon to rest for a while and have something to eat. After the dragon had eaten forty loaves and two hundred currant buns and drunk all the water out of the water-butt, he began to feel better, and told the miller what he was looking for.

"'Looking for your fortune, are you?' said the miller. 'Well, you've come to the right place, for the road to fortune starts from here and from nowhere else.'

"He saw that the dragon was quite young and rather vain, so he thought he would play a joke upon him.

"'Do you see those long fingers?' he said, pointing to the sails of the mill. 'They are pointing out the way to your fortune.'

"'Oh!' replied the dragon. 'They are all pointing different ways. How can I tell in which direction to go? Does my fortune lie everywhere all around me?'

"'No, no,' said the miller. 'Just stand quietly here for a bit, and by and by you will learn all about it.' Then he went inside the mill and waited to see what would happen.

"Presently the breeze heard the miller whistling and came blowing along in answer to his call. The sails of the mill shook, and then, very slowly, commenced to turn.

"'Dear me!' thought the young dragon. 'They seem to be pointing in a different direction now. This is very funny. I must see what it means,' and he walked right up to the sails, which were now whirling round quite fast.

"Suddenly, smack! on his nose came the first sail; smack! came the second, and SMACK! the third.

"The dragon tumbled head over heels backward. He was so frightened that he picked himself up and ran away as fast as he could with his tail between his legs, never once looking behind him.

"The miller laughed until he was so tired that he could laugh no more. 'That will teach him not to be so greedy next time,' he said, for he was rather vexed at seeing so many of his loaves and buns disappear down the dragon's throat.

"The dragon went on running until, to his great surprise, he found himself at the door of his home. His mother saw him coming, and there was a good tea waiting for him, you may be sure.

"He was very glad to find himself safe and sound and far away from the dreadful mill, but at the same time felt very sorry that he had not found his fortune. His mother listened to everything he told her, and then she said: 'My son, you have found your fortune, after all.'

"'Where?' asked her son, looking around him in surprise, as if he expected to see he didn't know what.

"'There, my child; it lies there, right under your very nose.'

"He looked down, and there he saw——"

"Oh, what was it?" cried George.

"Can't you guess?" said the dragon. "Dear me, I am surprised. Why, the dragon guessed at once. They don't seem to teach boys anything at school nowadays."

"Oh, I learn heaps of things," said George.

"Umph!" snorted the dragon. "I expect it's just heaps of rubbish. I don't suppose you know half as much as a dragon of the same age as yourself."

"But dragons don't go to school, do they?" asked George.

"Why not?" replied the dragon. "Of course they do; but they don't sit on benches in a schoolroom. They learn out of doors, which is the proper place for a school. They learn useful things, such as how to see what they see and hear what they hear; not to go about the world like blind mice, not believing in the fairies like a little boy I once heard of."

Alexander laughed. "He means you, George. You know, you never liked fairy stories, did you?"

George blushed. "I never said I didn't believe in them, but it always seemed as if they couldn't be real."

"Are you real?" suddenly asked the dragon.

"Of course I am," said George. "I'm as real as real can be."

"Well, you're not a bit, not a little bit real," replied the dragon. "Any boy who is lucky enough to find his way into this country, and then doesn't believe in the fairies, is not more real than a soap bubble, and will burst into little bits just as a bubble does."

Alexander laughed. "I should love to see George all in little bits. I wonder if we could ever fit him together again."

"No; he'd be just like Humpty Dumpty," said the dragon. "There have been hundreds of little boys like that, and I have never heard of one who was mended again. Some were patched up, but there were always pieces missing, and they were never the same boys. Their mothers soon got tired of them and gave them away to the rag-and-bone man."

George sat quite silent for some time. He didn't like being laughed at, and felt that both the dragon and Alexander thought him quite as stupid—or even more so—as the dragon in the story.

"Come, we'd better be starting," said the dragon. "She doesn't like to be kept waiting."

George was just about to ask who She might be, but he shut his mouth with a snap and pretended that he knew all about it.

"Get on my back!" ordered the dragon, and George jumped on at once and seated himself comfortably.

Off the dragon went like a great, long railway train, faster and faster, until they shot into a forest and it became as dark as the darkest tunnel.

"Wuff! Wuff!" barked Alexander. "Hold tight, George!"