ONC 2024 ~ On Hold
Once upon a time there was a little golden dragon. He was the last of his kind and knew nothing of the ways of dragons. One day his hoard of gold was stolen by some men from the castle down the hill. This is the story of how the l...
Golden Scale walked with the lizard and the bird on his back. He walked for two seasons, passing over desert sands, and through the fairy forest, and around the Dark Mountain. They reached the Dark Forest and Golden Scale walked through the forest, crushing bushes and scaring away the wild animals that lived there.
They walked and walked, until Yellow Feather was sure they were lost. That was when they met a satyr who likes to play tricks. The Satyr tried to trick the dragon into staying in the forest and protecting him from all the wild animals, but that is another story.
The satyr did the right thing and escorted the trio to the edge of the forest and the end of the earth, where the sea met the sand at the greatest beach in all the land.
While they traveled, the old lizard told stories. Shina told the legend of how dragons came to be. Long, long ago, there was a lizard who couldn't lay eggs. She wanted so very much to have babies, so one day, she found a nest of abandoned chicken eggs, and she took the eggs for herself. Day and night, the lizard sat on the eggs until one day they hatched. But instead of chickens, winged lizards came out of the eggs. These winged lizards grew into the first dragons.
"Tell us another one," Golden Scale pleaded.
So Shina told the story of how dragons became hoarders of treasure. The first dragons grew up and had more dragons, and those dragons had more dragons, and soon all dragons forgot their lizardly heritage. They left the desert in search of grander things, and soon found the Dark Mountain. They made the mountain their home and dug caves deep into the mountain. The deeper the dragons dug, the more valuables they found. They found jewels, diamonds, silver, and gold in the mountains. Eventually, they found all the treasure that could be found in the Dark Mountain, but they were not satisfied. The dragons began to raid human villages, taking their treasure for themselves and locking it away in their caves. The dragons became greedy.
"Tell us another one!" Yellow Feather twittered.
"I don't know any more stories about dragons," Shina said.
"Then make up your own story, Shina! Please!" Golden Scale said, and so Shina made up this story, about the first dragon who wanted to return to the lizards:
"Once upon a time," Shina said, "There was a dragon who was lonely in the mountain. He had all the treasure he could ever want, but no one to share it with. So he decided to go on an adventure to find other dragons to share his gold with. The little dragon searched and searched, but he couldn't find any dragons. He left the forest and came to the desert, where he met the lizards of his heritage. The dragon learned the lizardly ways of sharing and protecting, and he decided that he would bring the lizards back home to share his treasure. But the lizards didn't want to leave the desert, and they had no use for treasure. The dragon didn't understand at first, but then he realized that it wasn't the lizards who needed to move. It was the dragon, and so he decided to stay in the desert and live out his life with the lizards. And he became the lizards' very best friend, and they taught him how to share and protect his friends. The end."
"That's a nice story," Golden Scale said.
"It doesn't have to be a story," Shina said wisely. "You really could stay with us, Golden Scale, and forget about the dragons who left you alone in your cave. You don't need friends like that. You need friends like us. The lizards will always protect you and share all that they have with you."
Golden Scale stopped walking. He was confused. He craned his neck around to look at Shina sitting on his back. "But if I'm so big, how will all you little ones protect me? And if you don't have treasure, what will you share with me?"
Shina shook his head sadly.
"Oh look!" Golden Scale shouted. "It's the beach. It's the island!"
And that is how a dragon failed to learn an important lesson about friendship.
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