A Bedtime Tale

A/N: My younger son's favorite bedtime story for a long time was "The Three Bears", but after hearing it about a million times, my older son begged for something new.  Thus was born our version...

Once upon a time, long, long ago, a young dragon lived in a cave, high above the forest.  He was not really a scary dragon, but people were scared of him, anyway.  He thought he was a rather handsome dragon,  with his beautiful blue scales, and bright yellow eyes.  He did eat some of the local cows and horses and deer on occasion, when he got hungry.  His closest neighbors were a nice family of bears; of course, there was Daddy Bear, Mama Bear, and little Patrick Bear. 

One day, the dragon came down with a cold.  His head and throat hurt, and he kept sneezing flames that scorched the rocks in his cave.  He just didn't feel well at ALL!  So he asked one of the mice that made their home in the corner of his cave if she would go tell Mama Bear that he was sick. 

When Mama Bear heard the dragon was sick, she made a big pot of chicken soup. Then Daddy Bear, Mama Bear, and Patrick Bear all went to check on the dragon and bring him the soup.  The dragon was so happy to see his friends, and thanked them for taking care of him.

A few days later, the dragon was feeling better, and wanted to return Mama Bear's pot to her.  He went down the mountain into the forest where the Bears lived.  When he got close to their house, he saw a little girl looking in their windows.  Humans were scared of him, and since he really was a nice dragon, he didn't want to scare her.  But as he watched, he realized that the Bears weren't home, and the little girl opened their kitchen door and went inside anyway!

Now,  the dragon was curious.  What could that little girl be up to?  He made his way quietly to the house, bent down close, and looked in the kitchen window.  He saw the little girl eating the food that the Bears

had left on the table to cool.  Then he watched as she went into the Bears' living room.  She was jumping on the furniture!  Oh, no!  He could only hold his breath as he watched her run across the floor and land in Patrick Bear's chair. It made him sad to see the chair break.  Then, she went upstairs.  He couldn't see her through the kitchen window anymore, so he moved around to look in from the upstairs windows.  He saw her go in and out of Daddy and Mama Bear's room, and go into Patrick Bear's room.  She played with his toys, and dumped out his building blocks, and threw all his books on the floor!  Then she crawled into his bed, and fell asleep.

The dragon decided to go look for the Bears, and he set the pot down by the kitchen door.  He headed for the path that led to a small park nearby.  But the Bears were coming back from visiting Mr. Turtle at the pond, on the other side of the forest.  They returned home, and Mama Bear saw her pot sitting by the door.  She was happy, because that meant the dragon was feeling better. But when they opened the door, they could not believe the mess! They walked inside and began to look around. They were stunned and saddened by the eaten food and broken chair.  Then, they went upstairs, where Patrick Bear found the little girl, asleep in his bed. 

The girl woke up, and saw the Bears standing in the room, and she was very scared!  She screamed, and ran for the window.  When she looked out, she realized how far it was to the ground, but was scared the Bears were going to eat her!  There was a thick vine that was growing up the side of the house, and she climbed down, using the vine.  She ran into the woods.

The dragon was on his way back to the Bears' house, since he had not found them at the park.  He wanted to see if the girl was still there. Then he saw her, running down the path.  He stepped out of the woods, in front of her.  She screamed again, and fell down.

"Little girl," the dragon said.  "I saw you go into the Bears' house without permission, and make a mess.  That was not a very nice thing to do."

The little girl was so scared, so could not even talk. She looked up at the dragon with tears in her eyes.  "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Its not me to whom you need to apologize.  Its the nice Bear family whose house you were in.  Now get up, and come with me."

"Now?!" she said. " Are they going to eat me? Or are YOU?"

"I don't eat little girls!  They give me indigestion.  They are supposed to be made of sugar and spice and everything nice, but most little girls are definitely NOT!" replied the dragon.

So together they walked back to the Bears' house, where the dragon made her knock on the front door, and wait to be invited inside.  The little girl was still scared, but she apologized to the Bears.

"It was very rude, what you did," said Daddy Bear. "But if you come back every day for a week, and help us clean up, and help make Patrick Bear a new chair, we would appreciate it, and know you've learned a lesson."

So the little girl did, and soon became good friends with the Bear family. And she never went in anyone else's house without permission again.

THE END.