The Blue Dragon

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 714, 13 July 1929, Page 15

The Blue Dragon

And How He Saved a Town

There was once a blue Dragon, and his name was Mud. Now Mud isn't a nice name, even for a dragon, but 1 will tell you how he got it. He was one of seven. Ilis Mother was a beautiful purple Dragon with crimson eyes, and his Father was spotted. Mud and his six brothers and sisters were all born in a cave— a large damp cave. It had to l>e large because Mother Bragon was three hundred and twenty-seven feet long. It was damp, well, just because it hadn’t any drains. And it happened the morning they were all born that their Mother decided to name them. She had no im- | agination—no dragons have—so she i looked out of the cave and named them after the things which she saw. The eldest was a boy, and the first thing which met her in. the face and made her blink was the West Wind, so she called him Wind. The next was a girl, and so she ! called her Sky after the great ceiling of patterned blue and silver. The next she called Stream, and his brother Wood. Suddenly there rose from the stream a flight of wild duck, so she called the next one Bird, and his sister Hill from the purpled-topped Bowns which rolled away to the sea beyond the woods. That was everything which she could see from the entrance, so she folded her paws and was silent. At last the little blue Bragon could bear it no longer, so he looked up into her face as well as he could for the smoke which poured out of her nose — and squeaked; “And aren't you going to name me?” The old Bragon lay still a minute, then she opened her mouth and said: “Mud!” just like that, anil shut it again, and went on pouring smoke out of Her nose just as before. After that they all began to grow: but, try as he would, Mud never could grow as big as the others. But though his limbs grew but little for a dragon, his mind grew mightily, and he was more intelligent than all his brothers and sisters put together. For instance, when Mother Bragon held school and asked “Add your nose to your tail! Now tell me, how much is that?” He could always answer “two' before Sky had uncurled his tail to see how he could add it to his nose, or Bird had stopped snuffling. And when she asked “What colour are you?” ho would answer readily “Blue with gold spots.” None of the others ever knew what colour they were. So they played and did lessons, and grew for seventy years, and then the old Dragon said that their education was finished, that they had been home long enough, and that it was time they went out into the world. The winding white road led down from the hill into the valley and away to the mountains. As they went down it they all cried. Wind because he hated leaving his Mother, and Sky because he wanted to stay at home. Stream and Wood because they were frightened, | and Bird just because he was too silly

|to do anything els-.-. Hill cried because ! he saw the others crying. Only Mud was dry-eyed, and held himself proudly, and walked along ; much like an old Dragon as possible. | At last they came to the l*ottom of the hill where a little stone bridge j spanned the stream, and four roads j went in different ways. Wind and Sky said good-bye and went away to the purple downs, while Stream and Wood, sniffling very hard through their noses, kissed Mud and went away to the valley, where the I Meadow-birds and rooks liathe in th** dew-ponds, and the .Moon shines doubi< j at night. Then Hill and Bird couldn’t stand it any longer, but, still crying very hard went home. Mud. however, taking h * courage in his hands, said farewell to his brothers and sisters, and turned down the valley alone. At first his way ran through stunted yew trees, and later between fields, until, toward evening, it opened out on to a smooth grassy track leading toward an old market town. At sunset he came into the town, very tired, very dusty, and his toes hurting him very much. It was a quaint little town with old slanting roofs, narrow cobbled streets, and a castle in the middle. The first person whom Mud saw was a woman in a blue dress, standing in the doorway of her house, crying. Mud smiled very nicely. “Lady,” he said, “I am very thirsty.” The woman did not seem at all surprised at the big Bragon, who filled the whole street with his blue and gold body. “Poor Bragon.” she said softly, and she gave him a bowl of milk, and went on crying quietly into her apron “Lady.” said the Dragon again, “I am very hungry.” And the woman said “Poor Dragon” again, and gave him a beautiful cottage loaf, all gold and crusty, then the woman looked at the Dragon’s toes, and when she saw that they bled she was filled with a great pity and washed them with water and bound them with a linen cloth. Now all this while she never ceased crying, and all the other* people whom Mud saw in the streets, and in the doorways of their houses, were crying bitterly too; some into their aprons, some into their hands, and some were just standing and letting the tears run down their faces and splash on the col*l>les of the streets, i Then Mud said gratefully: “Thank you. Lady. Now tell me why you are crying, and what there is I can do to help you?” “Dear Dragon.” said the woman at last, “tomorrow there is a great enemy coining to destroy our town. He is camped outside already, and is so powerful that we can do nothing against him. We love our town, and our little homes, and tomorrow they will be all in ruins.” Then Mud looked very grave, and the tip of his tail began to go flip-flap, like the pendulum of a clock, which is the fashion of Dragons when they are angry, and the fire rumbled in his throat like a train in a tunnel. Then : he said: “You have been kind to me. ' You have given me to eat and drink: I more still, you have bound up my so?>* j toes. I will kill your enemy and you will i be free and happy.” ! So all night Mud lay in the street I of the town from end to end—his head i at one gate and his tail just outside j the other. 1 In the morning there was a savage i and relentless battle. The people j watched in terror as it swayed first ' this way and then that. At last the ! Dragon was victorious, and everyone of the enemy either got killed or ran | away. He came back into the town , holding his head high and treading th- | cobbles bravely on his seventy-two toes, j Then the people came round to thank ; him. and they gave him a beautiful collar of gold and turquoise stones to i match his skin, and they told him that. while he wished, he could live always i with them and they would feed him • and take care of him. So Mud stayed in the town, and as years went on all the people (lied, and their children, and theirs, till at last, he was an old Dragon. Still he slep* by day in the sunshine of the market square while the little children played with his mane and stood on his head. In the evening the older people would ! sit under the trees telling each othe j stories by the light of the Dragon s fire. i And always the descendants of the \ Woman gave him milk and bread, and ! attended to his toes.