Dragon Breath

Once upon a time in a lush mountain setting there lived a dragon. He was a very lonely and unhappy dragon. He vaguely remembered his old home having left it when he was young. Dragon arrived in this world after being blown off course during a tai-fung. He had never flown so high and for so long  He could not find his way back home. He was a lost young dragon.

He lived in a world, where as beautiful as it appeared to be, he was a dragon. Humans despised dragons. Dragons were considered evil and, it was believed their kind would do much harm. Dragons were supposed to wreck the countryside, hide treasures and capture young maidens. As such, dragons were always being hunted.

Having numerous nasty experiences with humans, the dragon withdrew to a far distant mountain land.  He felt no one would ever find him. The little dragon hid in the great mountain forest that surrounded a forgotten city. This place was far away from those who would do him harm. Dragon was safe. He knew deep in his heart that he missed the good people and animals of his home world. Yet, the memories of home were fading as time went on, and dragons live for a very long time. Sad and alone he said to himself over again, “I’m secure here. I have the animals. I am safe but the only dragon here.”
 
***

In this world of men and women, wars are a common occurrence. A great number of people from one village had to flee their homeland because of one. They took refuge in the Dragon’s wooded and mountainous home. It was far distant from the turmoil. It was so far away that no one ever bothered to venture there. Once a great peoples had lived there. They disappeared leaving only a vacant city. For some unexplained reason the area seemed to be there and not there. It was almost as if the land was invisible and forgotten. It was not located on any maps. And, anyone who ventured near, passed through the area as if in a dream, forgetting about it as soon as they were out of eyesight. Children were less affected but no one listens to children’s wild tales.

The refugees entering the forest had very little food and no shelter. The pre-winter winds were blowing out of the northeast. The leaf colors were changing. The geese flew in large flocks almost blackening the sky and the little animals were disappearing as they began their winter hibernations. The people were tired and frightened. The Dragon saw them approach his home with dread.

Dragons have keen eyesight and incredible hearing. Dragons also have the gift of tongues. They have no trouble understanding different languages. Some where back in the early days of their existence the Dragon Clans were given the gift of understanding. A wizard from a distant world bestowed this gift. The wizard thought the earth would be a better place if the most intelligent beings would be able to understand each other. The dragon saw the refugees arrive and overheard their conversations long before they got close and set up camp. He knew what he had to do.

***

By the time the people reached the base of the mountain forest they discovered food, lumber for shelter and other items as they might require. They all asked at one time or another:

“How did this happen?”

“Who could have done this?”

“Is it for us?”

Of course Dragon was not so foolish as to come out of hiding and say, “It was ME!” They looked around and found no notes, letters or tracks for that matter. It’s as if the all this bounty appeared out of the air.

Day after day, fall and winter stretched on into spring. Dragon managed to assist the people as they grew stronger and more settled. Dragon was never spotted. Dragons have the cloak of invisibility! Dragons are born with the ability. They can turn it on or off at will. He was careful not to reveal himself.

Little did Dragon know his cloaking had an unintended effect on most humans that ventured near. As was mentioned, for some unexplained reason up until now, the area seemed to be there, but not there. The cloaking made the area seem to be not there especially to the conscious adult mind.

And, day after day they attempted to discover their great benefactor, to no avail. The Dragon cared for them as his own, yet he was cautious. He was not looking for benefit or power. That was Dragon’s nature. It mattered little if the humans knew it was their “local dragon” who out of the kindness of his heart kept them alive in the first rough year. It would have been nicer if he could have let them know.

One day, as it is wont to happen, Dragon, tired after his exertions, let his cloak fall as he rested under a great cedar tree. It was the biggest tree in the whole forest. There was nothing like it. It was Dragon’s favorite tree. He seemed to feel he derived some nourishment from its perfume. Around the same time Dragon was dozing two children came upon him. They had been wandering through the woods and were attracted to that very spot by the size of the cedar tree. They looked at each other, and back at the dragon, and then to each other again.

“Shall we?” asked one.

“Let’s,” said the other.

They picked up some tree limbs and acting like the soldiers they had witnessed in the recent past, began to attack the dragon. The two were really too young to know better but old enough to know this was a “good and proper” action for the given situation. They were not afraid.

They poked, prodded, banged and yelled all sorts of things. They did a dance around the sleeping dragon. Dragon became aroused as one would by a fly buzzing around while one slept. He opened one eye to see just where this bothersome noise was coming from. He spied the two and let them continue their attacks for a while. Then he realized, What’s all this! They can see me! How can they see me? He realized he had dropped his cloak before he dozed off. He awoke fully, quickly and alert!

His head turned around to face his two attackers who were yelling and laughing until the two big dragon eyes bore down on them. The two children stopped immediately. Dragon inquired gently, “Children, just what are the two of you attempting to accomplish here? And more importantly, why?”

“You Are A Dragon,” the smaller of the two replied quickly.

“Yes, and we are soldiers and we are supposed to slay you” said the other.

Both were nodding in agreement.

Dragon breathed in a deep breath and sighed asking. “Why must you slay me? Have I done anything to harm you?”

“NO, you’re a Dragon. It’s the rules,” one of them shouted. They renewed their attack.

Brave little ones, he thought.

“And who made those rules?” he asked over the clatter of their wooden tree branch weapons banging off Dragon’s armored body.

The children never had contact with a real Dragon before. They had only heard stories about dragons. They stopped their attack. The two children looked at each other and back at Dragon and each other. They shrugged their shoulders.

“Just because,” said one.

“Yes, just because,” said the other.

“Just Because is not a real reason for anything when you think about it, is it?” Dragon attempted to reason.

The children had no answer and were puzzled. Dragon gestured for them to sit. They sat by his tail and wondered what was to happen next. But, they were not worried. They had seen worse than a sleepy inquisitive dragon.

As if Dragon could read their minds, “Well first, I’m not going to hurt you, just because.”

A giggle.

“And, I’m not going to hurt you for cause either. How’s that for starters?”

“OK. We like that,” Both of them said while nodding. Intuitively they both knew if something bad were going to happen it would have occurred.

Dragon was now serious when he inquired, “Now answer me this, how did you two get here? Why aren’t you with your families?”

“That’s an easy one,” the youngest replied. “We are all looking for the person or people who gave us the food and supplies. They never show themselves. We think it’s magic. The adults don’t know what to think. They want to thank who ever it may be.”

“AND, We saw this big tree and wanted to look at it,” explained the other.

“Then we saw YOU,” the youngest interrupted.

Dragon thought, that was a nice gesture but at this point in time I’m not sure anyone would believe me, or these two youngsters here. What to do?

I must be more careful too, he thought.

Dragon said, “Listen you two. Maybe I can help you find your benefactor.” He continued, “However you must never mention me or that you met me until I tell you it’s ok. You may meet me here and I will have some information or some assistance for you.  I will leave what I find and what you require under it. OK?”

Dragon was unsure of this plan considering the fact that these two attacked him and they represented the group think of their kind. I will chance it.

“We will,” one responded to his question.

Though they had no idea what they were actually going to do, something entirely new was taking place.

“This is exciting,” said the older one.

“See you tomorrow. By the way, what do you think your elders could use most?” Dragon asked.

“BOOKS, nails, tools, supplies for household activities...”

...and toys,” the younger added sheepishly.

Dragon heard books! “BOOKS? What kind of books?”

“We’re not sure. We do want to educate everyone. Everyone reads writes, does mathematics and science. We have very few books since we left our homes during the wars.”

***

Dragon gave some thought to the requests. Basic requirements I can do easily enough. Books are another issue. He would have to guide them to the library and that would take some doing and trust.

Dragon thought to himself, in the old abandoned city on the other side of the mountain there is a library. Somehow who ever designed it made it so the books and goods inside would remain in stable condition. The books were preserved, as was the town. It was the Dragon’s second home especially in very bad weather. The forest was his first home with all the trees and animals.

Over time Dragon supplied the settlers with less and less. They were able to fend for themselves rather well. He also noticed these people were not warlike as the others he had met in the past. He chalked up the initial rude awakening he experienced by the two children to their past experiences and cultural myths. The two children met him every now and then. He was polite but careful knowing quite well what humans were capable of doing especially when they were afraid.

As the children grew older and bolder they asked more specific questions. Dragon answered as best he could. Dragon was feeling less lonely as he had more contact with these two. He felt comfortable.  To them, he describe in detail, many aspects of his existence. No one had ever known these things. They took notes on all of this.

Dragon had some questions for them too. He inquired of them, “How do you get away not participating in the level of chores I noticed everyone else doing. And why weren’t You missed on these long excursions from home?”

The older one began, “We’re Jews, an ancient tribe born of the early Bronze Age. Some of us in addition to the physical work you have noticed, have a duty to teach. All of us have a trade or business.  As we said we have been chosen to become teachers for our people. Parts of our lessons are to go around and explore our surroundings. We discover all there is to discover and to uncover. We are trusted and not questioned too much. We have to write stories, relate our work, linking back to the older books and making relevance to our times. We, like all of our people, are given lesson in mathematics, sciences, the arts and other incidentals. To answer directly, we were chosen and we are free to go about as we please.”

The older of the two continued, “We must tell you that meeting you, AND your very existence, has altered some of our preconceived ideas. That fact alone leads us to question some of the basics from which we take root.”

“We were taught blind faith leads to a blind mind,” said the younger. “You opened some boxes that we would like to investigate fully. This is how we advance. It’s science. One proposes, investigates, experiments and decides based upon the facts presented.”

Dragon was amazed. Those are big and wise words for such young people, to say nothing of adults. Maybe they are special and have been recognized as such. I can only imagine a world of such minds. He was more and more inclined to show them the old city and the books. As of this time he had not. He was deciding upon a correct and safe method for this when he asked, “Are you still searching for books?”

“Of course. Always. We love them and what they bring to light,” said one.

“Come sit on me and I will transport you to a place where there are more books then you can ever read in a lifetime. It’s not too far, as the dragon flies,” the Dragon said with some humor. “Yes, no, maybe another time? It is up to you.”

The older of the two put hands on hips looked and up straight into the eyes of Dragon. “YOU are a dragon. And, up until now, you are the first dragon we have ever met. You are supposed to eat us or enslave us or do something terrible horrible. But you haven’t.”

The younger child said to Dragon, “After that time we first met you, we questioned the concept of DRAGON with the elders. They told us You are not supposed to exist. You are supposed to be an allegory of some kind for the myth structure of the general society… according to them.”

The two continued to explain their logic, the older one concluding, “That the elder’s explanation, being the case, we said no more to them. However here you are! You do exist. Your existence and habits are contrary to some of our myths. In conclusion, and based upon the contradictions, we feel safe. Yes we will go with you.” And off they flew.

***

They flew high and wide. Dragon wanted them to see their world from his vaunted position as a sky animal as well as their land perspective. They were pointing things out to each other. They flew toward the abandoned city. He circled around it so they could take its size and direction from their home. They landed in an open old park. The streets were dusty and dirty but unlike any abandoned city, things were intact. There were no broken windows. Buildings were standing and roofs not leaking. There were rats and cats and bats along with a few dogs. No thing appeared to fear anything else and all the animals seemed to know Dragon.

Dragon led them to the library. They knew what it was immediately and squealed with delight. The library was Dragon’s favorite building. This was his other home. He lived here at times. He read here. He loved being HERE. Dragon knew great knowledge. Some he was born with. Other knowledge and wisdom he acquired in his home, here.

They gasped as Dragon opened the two great wooden doors. The doors were just so huge. The building was one of the larger ones on a strangely designed city grid. It was flanked by two other great buildings with a road leading straight down to yet other impressive structures with dusty marble monuments on either side.

As they walked the halls and stacks Dragon heard them say, “The elders had never seen anything like this in their lives.”
 
“We heard stories about places like this.”

“Everyone thought they were just that, stories.”

After many hours of pouring through the stacks they had to return home. Not wanting to leave, they set up another time to come with Dragon. Dragon smiled inwardly. He had to fight fear and prejudice to protect and hide a treasure. This was his treasure, the library. And now it became an even greater treasure, since he had someone to share all this with, these young people.

The young people mounted the Dragon’s back and took off. Dragon was delighted with the day. Dragon was a happy dragon. He did a loop the loop, a barrel roll and finished up with a cobra stall to a controlled glide in, wings wide and a gentle flare. Plop, he landed. The two young people were laughing all the way.

-- By Richard Tornello