The Five Tailed Dragon

• Chris Debono, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2019

There once was a very curious boy named Peter. Peter was an adventurous kid. Although his parents could not afford much food, Peter always tries to cope by imagining things. But one imagination was actually real...
One day, Peter was out in the meadows underneath a great big oak tree. He sat down and relaxed in the shade. He started to doze off, he had fallen into his own imagination. He imagined he had his own secret treehouse. It was in the shade hidden away where no-one could see it. It was a giant Maple tree. Peter had carefully put the wooden steps into place. It was a long trail of short wooden planks, reaching up to the sky. He climbed up to the top where his house was. As he went in, he saw an orange puff of smoke. Then a giant, scaly, five-tailed dragon appeared! Peter was astonished and did not understand what was going on.
Peter paused for a moment and asked, “What are you Mr. Uuuuuuuuhhhhh…-” “I’m a dragon. Mr. Dragon,” The Dragon replied moving his red chin up and down, swaying his white beard with every word. Peter was a statue, not moving at all. Shocked that the dragon could talk.

The dragon poked Peter with his sharp yellow claw. Then, Peter started to move and talk. The first thing that came out of his mouth was: “Why do you have five tails?” The dragon moved its head around to see its five bright-coloured tails. Then, it shrugged. “I guess I just do. I have one for each of the five elements. One for Fire. One for Water. One for Earth. One for Wind and one for Treasure… I think.” Peter just shrugged and asked him a question. “Do you think you can let me use your powers?” The dragon thought for a moment and replied. “Okay sure. But, there is one condition. You can’t tell anyone that you saw me or used my powers.” This made Peter’s mind spin like a ball. “What will happen if I tell someone?” This startled the dragon. The dragon thought for a moment why Peter had asked that question. “I am not sure, but you will end up with a cry like a sparrow.” Peter tugged on the tail of treasure. POOF!!!! Treasure came flowing! It was a pool of gold and silver. The diamonds were like fish. After that, Peter couldn’t remember.
That is because he woke up. But as soon as he told his Mother what he dreamt of, he turned into a dragon with the cry of a sparrow. From that day on, everyone thought of the Five Tailed Dragon as the animal of life and death and was worshipped for ever. But for poor old Peter, he ended up as the Dragon’s servant.