A story about what a difference can make, making a difference and...what difference does it make?
A Dragon of bright green flew across the hot blue sky. He
might have been from Russia,
But I couldn’t be sure.
He wore emeralds strung about his throat, wrists and ankles.
As he sailed towards the cloudless horizon he noticed
something flickering below him.
He stopped in mid – air and shifted his small head from side
to side.
Then he decided to drop a half a mile to get a closer look,
What he saw interested him greatly,
There was a great forest below with a large clearing. In its
centre he saw a green flame.
It glimmered and glowed like nothing he had every seen
before, so he decided there
and then to go down and claim it for himself.
He alighted close to the flames and warmed his hands and wings.
Then he sat for a while soothing himself by the green light.
Soon he was completely mesmerized.
Nearly one hour had past, though it only seemed like minutes
and he was deep in daydreams, when he suddenly sensed he was not alone. He
looked around, but there was nothing; then he looked up and was most annoyed to
see another dragon hovering above.
“Blast!” he cursed.
Up in the sky was a shimmering red dragon. He might have
been from India, but I couldn’t be sure.
He wore a gold crown with a ruby in its centre.
He’d immediately spotted the flame, and was extremely
exited.
“Ah!…A red flame, how delicious, I shall swoop down and
claim for myself”
But before he’d finished his sentence, he spotted the green
dragon.
“Oh what a pain,” he thought himself, I shall have to get
rid of him first, then I can
have those flames.
Then trying to seem disinterested, he drifted down
gracefully and alighted gently next to the green dragon.
The green dragon pretended to be pleasantly surprised.
“Oh was a pleasant surprise,”
“Likewise…” Lied the red dragon, “…and what has brought you
to this part of the forest, oh magnificent one?”
“Oh nothing really, I just spotted a warm flame and decided
to rest here for a while.
“Mmmm.” The green dragon thought, this was not likely.
So they sat eying each other suspiciously; now and then
flashing the most insincere smile.
Soon they were both now gazing into the fire. The red dragon
saw red flames and the green dragon saw green.
Another hour passed, when both dragons became aware of another
presence.
They both looked up at the same time and were horrified to
see, another dragon.
This one was a rich and deep purple colour. He might have
been from Africa. But I couldn’t be sure.
He wore a silver tunic with amethysts for buttons.
He had been hovering for some time now and seen the flames
just as they had.
Well this dragon was not shy at all.
“Oh what a glorious purple flame, I must have it at once!”
He boomed paying no
attention to the other dragons.
He did not drift down gracefully nor float gently. He
thundered to the ground like
A roaring meteor and smashed into the other dragons sending
them both hurtling into the trees.
“Ha Ha Ha,” he bellowed “What a glorious purple flame!”
“I beg your pardon.”
Said the green dragon, shoving tress aside and stumbling back over. “But the flame is green and I was here
first.”
“What difference does that make?” Fumed the red dragon, “ Are you stupid? They are not green, they’re red!” and he
snapped his jaws shut and twisted his mouth.
“You are both idiots.” Boomed the purple dragon. “And utterly wrong! For any fool can see, the
flames are purple…Therefore, they are mine!”
“It’s red!” …“Green!!”…“Purple!!!” They argued.
Things were getting unpleasant and the dragons were starting
to do more than just argue.
Now they were fighting.
The earth rumbled and shook as they bashed and bullied, pushed and
pulled, bit, scratched, spat boiled breath and hurled balls of fire at
each other.
Now not too far away at the edge of the clearing was a tall tree
with branches could poke through clouds. In the highest branch of the tree was
a nest, and in that nest, was a baby owl. She was still fluffy and pale grey.
Now everyone knows that owls are the wisest creatures in the
world and even baby owls know a thing or two…about a thing or two.
She had been watching with a widening gaze the whole scene
unfold from beginning to now. It wasn’t looking too good and she was worried.
So she decided to call out to the battling dragons.
“Ooooh ooo.” She called.
They did not hear. So
she called out again, louder. This time they heard but they did not listen.
So being brave as well as clever she stood on the edge of
her nest and flapped her tiny wings. She
flapped those wings faster and faster and faster…then she jumped!
It was a long way down, but she landed, fairly safely on the
ground.
But it was too late.
Oh dear” she sighed softly “This is awful, there are bits of
dragon everywhere. There’s an ear there and a foot there, a wing over there…and
oooh, I don’t know what that is. What shall I do? What shall I do?”
Then suddenly she heard a friendly voice from inside herself
and it said
“Put them back together again”
“Yes!” she said aloud, “I could do that.”
So feeling confident, she started to sew the pieces back
together. She was kept very busy all day, stitching, matching and sticking and
was having a lot of fun.
It was early evening and she was almost finished. She was
fairly satisfied, but had an funny feeling that something was not quite right.
“Never mind”, she said and swept the doubts into the corner
of her mind.
She carried on until the last dragon was put back together
again.
“There!” she cooed with pride “As good as new”
She smiled at her work, she grinned at her work and she
beamed at her work.
But the dragons were not smiling.
They were looking at each other in a very strange way. Then
they were looking at Baby owl in a very strange way, and she stopped smiling
and began to feel afraid.
Green dragon spoke first.
“What have you done? Why do I have red ears?”
Then the red dragon cried out, “Why is my tail green?
Then the Purple dragon made a low growling noise.
“Never mind your tail and your ears!…” he raged. “…JUST LOOK
AT MY WINGS!! One in red and one is GREEN!”
Baby owl’s heart sank when she realised her error.
So there it was and there it is. Owl had been very creative,
but all the dragons were now different colours.
They began to lurch towards her. They stuck out their fierce
claws, showed their huge pointed teeth and snarled. They towered over the tiny
owl and were ready pounce, but suddenly the green dragon shouted out,
“Look!”
And they stopped. “Look at the fire” he gasped. So they
looked.
“It’s purple.” Said the red dragon.
“And red.” Said the green dragon.
“And green.” Said the purple dragon.
“It’s all of those colours…” Said the Owl brightly. “…And
more if you care to look closer”
So they did look closer and they saw yellow, orange, blue,
pink, turquoise even black. They saw in that fire every colour that ever was,
colours they’d never seen before; colours they didn’t even have names for.
They forgot their argument and their difference and that
evening; when the sun dipped and the earth pulled on her coat. The dragons and the owl sat together around the great flames and
named all the colours.
The dragons lived for a
thousand years, But owls don’t live that long.
When she was ten, she went to sleep and the dragons cried for ten years each. Before they left that place for good they wrote some words on a piece of wood.
Our
best friend Little Wings, Queen of the Dragon.
