A Dragon's Tale
Once upon a time there lived a handsome young prince. One day, when the boy was twenty summers old, his father summoned him into the throne room. “You’ve learned all there is to learn from books, my son. Now it is time for you to go out into this world and prove your valour if you ever wish to be king.”
Heavy of heart, the book-loving prince trudged out to the stables to mount his favourite horse. “I guess it’s you and I now, eh boy?”
***
In a village at the border of the kingdom, a hunter’s daughter named Rochelle made ready to leave. Her father had just been killed on a hunt and now her stepmother meant to have her married off to the mayor of the town, a rich but evil-tempered man. After putting on her father’s old hunting gear, she sneaked out of the window at the back of the house and made her way swiftly and quietly out of the village, across the forest towards the capital.
***
Meanwhile the prince had reached the countryside outside the capital and was looking for a place to sleep. Knocking on the door of a cabin, he was glad to find the old woman who lived there willing to take him in. She fed him and bade him to sleep in the only bedroom, saying she preferred her rocking chair anyway. Tired as he was, the prince didn’t argue and he soon fell asleep.
The next morning the prince woke up to find the cabin gone and his hostess, seemingly shrunken, standing in front of him on the dew-covered grass. “I knew you the moment I saw you, Your Highness,” she spat. “Your father killed my son, so I’m taking his.”
“Please, don’t kill me,” begged the prince, finding to his surprise his voice had become much deeper overnight and smoke came out as he spoke.
“Oh I won’t kill you,” cackled the sorceress. “I’ll leave that to your father. The people will be begging him to take action once they see a wild dragon!”
“Please, is there no way to break the spell?” pleaded the prince.
“Of course, but it’ll never happen. Only if a woman willingly dines with you and sleeps next to you, staying until sunrise, will the spell be broken.”
***
Ten days later, Rochelle reached the capital only to find it in a state of commotion: the beloved prince had gone missing. Only his horse had returned just as a dragon had appeared near the city. The beast was said to be terrible to look at, with pointy horns along its spine and breathing fire up to ten feet away. Many bounty hunters, big, strong and tough as they were, had taken one look and run for their lives.
The next morning, after a fine dinner at the inn, a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast, Rochelle left the city by the opposite gate and made her way to the mountains, wanting to just get across the border to the neighbouring realm. Destiny had other plans though as her path brought her right up to a cave. It was nearing nightfall and there didn’t seem to be any other shelter in sight; she had no choice but to go in.
***
“You smell different,” came a deep voice from the shadows.
A chill came over Rochelle as she realised it must be the dragon. “Please don’t eat me,” were the first words out of her mouth.
The dragon chuckled: “I won’t eat you if you promise not to kill me.”
“Deal,” agreed Rochelle quickly. “I have no weapons, only a hunting knife which probably won’t even pierce your scales.”
“You hunt?” the dragon’s silver eyes lit up in the gloom. “You haven’t hunted on the way, by any chance?”
“I’ve got a few rabbits, but there’s no wood for a fire to cook them,” Rochelle spoke, making the dragon laugh again.
“I have fire, don’t you worry.”
So Rochelle put the rabbits down on the floor of the cave and stood back against the far wall as the dragon breathed his fire on them. In the glow of the fire the silvery horns looked fierce and she recoiled, but once the dark returned she heard the kindness in his voice as he spoke: “Dinner is served, my lady.”
After their meal, Rochelle became sleepy and took her blanket out of her pack, curling up against the cave wall to sleep. It was too cold for comfort though so she soon got up again and moved towards the dragon. “You don’t roll over in your sleep, do you?”
The dragon laughed again. “Don’t worry, my lady. I don’t sleep.”
That was enough for Rochelle and she curled up against the dragon’s side for warmth. As she dozed off a thought came to her. “Did you really kill the prince?”
“The prince and the dragon can’t exist at the same time,” the dragon answered, and while she was still trying to figure that out, sleep took her.
***
The next morning as the light of dawn came filtering in, Rochelle woke up. As she padded quietly to the cave’s opening, the dragon watched her go with tears in his eyes, thinking she was leaving. But then she called out: “Come look, it’s beautiful”, and he hurried to her side. The rays of the rising sun hit his scales and suddenly a glow came from within him as well, so bright that she had to look away. As the sun became fully visible over the horizon, she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. “Who are you? Where’s the dragon?”
“I am the dragon,” the prince spoke, back in human form. “You broke the spell.”
Hesitantly, Rochelle reached out, brushing the hair out of his eyes and finding them to be the same shade of silver as the dragon’s. “It is you!” she laughed and hugged him tight.
Hand in hand, they walked back to the capital.