Matthias and the Dragons
Striding quickly along, Matthias glanced uneasily at the black stone cliffs towering beside him. Ahead, a still lake swarmed with dark clouds of midges. Finally, he spied the faraway ocean. Now I know my way back, he thought. I'd better hurry. We're leaving the inn this afternoon, and Father won't be too pleased if I'm late.
Matthias spent happy days traveling around the kingdom with his father's band of puppeteers. On village greens at showtime, he joined the puppet masters behind the brightly painted theater. While the men pulled the puppets' strings and spoke for them, Matthias made the scenes even livelier by adding special sounds.
When the puppet princess knocked on the giant's castle door, Matthias rapped on a board. When the funny wizard brewed his potions, Matthias clashed pot lids. And when the prince — he had long brown hair like Matthias! — got lost in the forest, Matthias gave wonderful bird calls.
Matthias chirped, cheeped, and whistled so well because he spent lots of time listening to wild birds. Life on the road took him to many lonely inns surrounded by woods and meadows calling to be explored. Today, although he hadn't meant to break his father's rule about not going too far, he'd somehow wound up as lost as the puppet prince.
Now Matthias turned his steps south, eager to leave the forbidding cliffs and eerie lake, thinking, It's strange that I don't hear a single bird. An instant later, he understood why: a monstrous green dragon winged toward him, swooped, and circled.
Feeling like a mouse beneath a hawk, Matthias looked around desperately for a hiding place. The open ground offered no cover, and there wasn't time to dash to the lake and dive underwater. But in the nearby cliff face, he spotted a small hole.
With his heart pounding, he darted through the opening only to find he'd entered the smoke-scented cavern of a dragon twice as large as the first! This bright red creature lazed upon its hoard of riches like a great ship at anchor in a gleaming, golden bay. Before Matthias could flee, the dragon's long, scarlet tail thumped down, sealing the hole.
Matthias saw no other door to freedom except the cave's gaping mouth, which was located beside the dragon's mouth. For a terrible moment, he thought things were hopeless. But he soon realized the monster had merely changed its tail's position while stretching and hadn't noticed him...yet. Matthias crept behind two tall rocks. Peeking through a gap between them, he thought, When this dragon leaves to hunt, I'll —
The green dragon popped its head into the cavern's entrance. “Hello, dear,” it said to the red one. “I'm just checking on the adorable egg.”
“What a devoted mother,” said the red dragon, smiling.
Matthias followed the dragons' tender gazes to a jewel heap right in front of his rocky barrier. What he'd believed to be a huge pearl was in fact the shining egg.
“No joyful tap-tappings yet?” the mother dragon asked.
“Not one, my love,” said the father. “I'm guessing that our little darling won't crack out early.”
“It's so hard to wait.” The mother sighed happily, spewing flames. “Well, I'd best soar on to pick up lunch. Would you prefer deer or wild boar?”
“Pork sounds delicious.”
“Perfect. I'll grab six plump boars and flap straight back,” said the mother, and she flew away.
I have to sneak off before that lady dragon returns, thought Matthias. A protective new mother has eyes in the back of her head. He wanted to groan as the father, showing no signs of moving his tail, started sorting a treasure pile.
If only the egg would hatch, Matthias thought. That would get Papa on his feet. Suddenly, Matthias knew what to do. Imagining himself back at the puppet theater, he picked up a stone and struck it on the big rock sheltering him.
Tap.
The dragon paused, a diamond-encrusted crown dangling from one claw. Matthias forced himself to wait through a long minute of silence, thinking, Go slow. This performance must sound natural.
Tap.
“I did hear something!” cried the dragon. “Daddy's coming!”
As he lumbered toward the egg, his tail slid away from the hole. But Matthias couldn't risk tiptoeing off until he felt sure the dragon wouldn't look up.
Tap-tap.
“Old Dad's here, sweetie, ready to greet you,” the excited dragon told the egg. “And Mommy's flying home soon, bringing nice, fat piggy-wiggies!”
Matthias gave a last tap-tap before slipping out of the cave, scanning the empty sky, and running away. When he drew near the inn, he thought, my adventure's the kind of thing that happens to the puppet prince. Maybe we could…
A week later, Matthias sat behind the puppet theater's cave scene with his noisemaking tools ready. He grinned as the trapped prince told the audience, “I'll fool the dragon into believing the egg is hatching!”
The prince tapped with a fake stone; Matthias tapped with a real one. The crowd laughed loudly as the dragon puppet's pointed ears shot up and his head swiveled toward a wooden egg.
Matthias looked at his smiling father, thinking, Everyone loves our new show!
Tap-tap.