Shakespeare & The Dragon

Chapter 1

The Shakespeare Solved series of novels are works of historical fiction. While the novels include famous actual people, events, and locations--all of the names, characters, places, and incidents are the creation of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to current events or locales, or to any living persons, is entirely accidental.

DEDICATION

Shakespeare dedicated most of his professional life to writing about soldiers and war.

It is therefore fitting that I should humbly dedicate this entire series of novels to my relatives who served and fought in several wars across history--and to soldiers who served their countries in times of war, and their families who made incredible sacrifices.

Shakespeare was born at a time of war. He lived most of his life with the threat of war. He rose to fame just as England had to defend herself from the first of many armadas sent by Spain, which was determined to conquer the British Isles.

His first play was about a fictional Roman general, Titus Andronicus. By the time of Shakespeare's death, he had written over 30 plays. Eighty percent of them were about war, about the men and women who fought, and the threat of war. In Hamlet, the Danish royals are so busy scheming against each other, they fail to defend the country from a successful invasion from Norway. From King Henry the Fifth, to Joan of Arc, to Petruchio, to Benedict, to General Othello, and especially to Sir John Falstaff--Shakespeare's plays examine war and warriors from many different angles.

This later anonymous poem might have been written by Shakespeare himself:

God and the soldier

All men adore

In time of trouble,

And no more;

For when war is over

And all things righted,

God is neglected -

The old soldier slighted.

CHAPTER 1

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

And He called a child to Himself and set him among them, and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. So whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name, receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depths of the sea."

Matthew 18:1-6 NASB

A glowing hazy light erupted to pierce the deep darkness of space—and then suddenly and soundlessly exploded into a brilliant light, quickly illuminating the whole fabric of the vast universe.

As bright as one hundred billion suns, this fantastic light struck the Earth—and cast an ethereal pearlescent glow in the nighttime sky over England.

The people of Stratford-Upon-Avon, at the heart of the country, opened their doors and windows, to peek outside. Some were brave enough to emerge from their houses, and to step into the light at once. Others were more cautious, and were afraid of crossing their own thresholds.