The Dragon

• Schuyler Foulke, Grade 4, J M Mckenney Middle School
• Short Story
• 2001

Finalist in the '2001/2002 Schools Short Story Competition - Magic and Mystery Theme' competition

“Wake up, are you sick? It’s nearly four o’clock!” “Mmmmmf! Already?”
Tom stumbled out of bed and into his clothes. Then, he did the morning chores before breakfast. “We’re out of blueberries. Go fetch some form the forest,” his mom said.
The cool morning felt good on his face. He walked to the forest on the base of the mountain. The morning dew made his feet damp. He picked some blueberries and ate them. The juice ran down his chin.
Suddenly, a loud blast knocked him into a blueberry bush. He checked to see if he was hurt. Whatever the noise was, it made him deaf for a minute. He gathered his blueberries that had fallen out of the pail, but instead of going home he went toward the sound of the noise.
There stood a mother dragon. He had been warned about dragons since Grandfather Dragon burned down the town. The mother dragon said, “Finally, a gallant knight!” “I’m not a knight,” Tom said meekly.
But the dragon would have nothing of it! She told him the story of the burning of the town. She told him that Mr. McKee had captured her babies and was going to burn them in two days. “You must save my babies,” cried the dragon. Tom quickly ran home. “Where have you been?” his mother shouted! He got a “royal whipping!”
The next morning, he went to the village looking for Mr. McKee. “Excuse me, I’m looking for Mr. McKee,” but no one listened to him. Suddenly, Mr McKee towered over him. He felt very small under Mr. McKee. “What?” he boomed.
Tom mustered up all his courage and told Mr. McKee the story of how the town had burned accidentally.
“Bah!” he said. “I was there. That was not an accident!” Tom knew he was mad. He ran before he could get even madder.
At supper that night, his father commented that the dragon burning was tomorrow. They had been asked to bring cookies. He quickly asked to be excused, claiming to get strawberries for the cookies. He took five pails and ran outside.
At the dragon’s home, he told her that the plan had failed. The dragon wiped a tear from her eye. “Take this!” she said. It was a dragon’s tear. A dragon’s tear held all the knowledge that the dragon had. He put it in a pail.
“Make sure all the strawberries touch that tear at least once,” said the dragon.
The next morning, the house smelled great from Mom’s cooking. At the dragon burning, the reverend was making a speech when they arrived. The cookies were passed around.
Suddenly people knew the truth about the town burning, and that it had been an accident. The Grandpa dragon sneezed and that set the town afire.
Tom was the town hero.