The Dandelion Dragon

Once upon a time, there was a dragon feared by all in the land for being ruthless and evil. But really he was a kind creature who just wanted a friend. Unfortunately, parents would plant the prejudice and false myths about the dragon in their children's naive minds, and they too would grow up to loath the evil dragon that plagued their village.

One day a small child around the age of five, whose family lived near the base of the dragon's mountain, wandered up the slope towards the dragon's humble dwelling. The child stumbled, unbeknownst to him, into the dragon's cave and started to use his unaffected imagination to occupy himself.

The dragon, puzzled at the unfamiliar noise, warily crept towards the mouth of the cave. When he saw the young boy giggling over the bones of a dead elf. The dragon didn't enjoy killing his elven friends, but his hunting zone was limited because if he went towards the small village, he was sure to be shot down.

While the dragon was watching the child play, he shifted his clawed foot and the sound of a bone snapping, loudly resonated throughout the small cave. The boy looked up in surprised and eyed the intimidating dragon in shock, unable to move or scream. Before the child regained control over his body the dragon moved closer to him to try and communicate that he was harmless. But, as a dragon he could not talk. Saddened by the thought, the dragon waited for the boy to start screaming and run away to tell his parents about the scary demon lurking in the cave on the mountain.

As the dragon sat there watching the child close his mouth, he heard a sound. It was a whooshing noise, whoosh! Woo! Whoosh! Woo! Whoosh! Woo! Wondering where it came from, the dragon looked around his cave, taking in the claw marked walls, bone scattered floor, and rocks covered in various animal blood and dirt. Nothing in the cave could be making that noise, and then as he looked around some more he noticed that the whoosh! Woo! Was in synchronization with the up and down movement of the child's chest. The dragon listened again and realized that the boy wasn't making any noise as he breathed. Yet the dragon heard it.

And then the dragon realized where it came from! It was in his mind. The young boy was communicating with him through telepathy. With that monumental revelation the dragon excitedly started whispering soothing messages towards the child's mind, reassuring the boy that no harm would befall him here.

The child's tense visage relaxed and his mouth lifted into a tentative smile. The dragon continued to whisper things to the child and soon the child started to whisper back. First small things, "What is your name?" and absurd things, "Why are you up in this cave, strange, giant dog?"

Soon the boy and dragon were talking and laughing together, tumbling and playing around on the cave floor together. The dragon and the boy became good friends that day and when it was time for the boy to leave the dragon cried.

The boy saw the dragon's glistening tears roll down the dragon's nose and plop onto the dirt floor of the cave, a dandelion popped up from the ground where the tear fell. The boy looked at the flower in wonder, but his concern for the dragon was greater than his wonder at the flower. "What is wrong, dragon?" he pushed the question towards the dragon's mind.

The dragon replied, "You have to go. I have made a friend, and now he is leaving and will never return."

"I promise I will return!" The boy whispered silently.

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

"I will be back." And with that the boy rushed down the mountain towards his home. When he got back to his house his mother was waiting for him at the door, a scowl marring her pretty face. He thought his mother was as pretty as the sun.

"Young man, where have you been?” She scolded. "I told you to stay around the house."

"I went up the mountain to play!" The boy squealed. "I made a new friend! He speaks into my mind!"

Alarmed, his mother asked, "What type of friend?"

"He is a very large, blue dog!"

"A what?"

"He has wings too!" The little boy added on excitedly.

The mother finally realized what her son was talking about. The dragon. She started frantically screaming for her husband to come quickly. Her husband rushed into the room with a hatchet in hand and a wild look in his eyes, ready to hack the supposed enemy into pieces, "Where is the bastard?" He roared. "I'll kill him!"

"No dear, calm down." The mother soothed. Then she leaned into him and whispered in his ear what their son had been doing all day.

Growling the boy's father stomped out of the house and gathered all of his farmhands. Telling them about the dragon they all started to yell and ran off to gather their weapons.

The boy was very curious as to what was going on and ran up to his father, "Daddy, what is going on? Why are all of you getting your killing things?"

"We are going to go kill that dragon! It has messed with my family and now if must die." The father yelled. "It has terrorized this village for too long and now it must pay."

Confused the boy asked, "What dragon?"

While the boy was talking to his enraged father, his mother had walked up behind him, "The large, blue dog, sweetie."

With a cry the boy latched onto his father's pant leg and wailed, "No! You can't! He is my friend, please don't kill him!"

"My darling boy, I know you think he is your friend, but he is dangerous and will eat you alive the next time you see him." His mother explained.

Sniffling the child cried, "But he's not dangerous, he is kind."

Having heard enough the father and the farmhands loaded down with torches, bows, knives, swords and hatchets surged towards the mountain in a swarm of seething anger.

Afraid for his new friend, the boy ran past his mother, despite her protests and followed his father. But the men were too fast for the boy and had already reached the mouth of the cave. The boy ran faster and just as he reached the cave he heard the pitiful roar of his new friend as the men hacked at his abdomen and sliced his head off. The child ran up to the dragon and sobbed when he saw the shimmering blood seep out of the dragon's decapitated body. He threw himself on top of the dragon and wept for the innocent life lost.

By the time the boy lifted himself from his dead friend, his eyes were dry as bone and could not leak anymore. He looked around and saw that he was alone in the cavern. He surveyed the dragon and the sorrow in his heart was overwhelming.

The boy left the cave and went to his home where he refused to talk to his concerned mother and father. He didn't know how they could kill such a wonderful creature.

When he woke up the next day, the boy got dressed, didn't talk to his parents and went up to the mountain again. He did that for a full year until, his parents moved them closer to the village so that he could go to school.

Many years later, the boy went to the cave again. As he looked around the cave his gaze stopped on a single flower that was surrounded by the bones of the dead dragon. A dandelion. The same dandelion that had grown when the dragon's tear dropped from his magnificent nose to the cave floor. And at that moment the boy realized that the dragon was like the dandelion. Mistaken for a vicious weed, hated by all, but really a beautiful creation that was just different from others.