Once upon a time, my love (and it was so long ago that every one else has forgotten all about it), there was a land the other side of the world called Nod, where there weren't any people at all, just dragons. Well, clever people would have called them dinosaurs nowadays, but I prefer to call them dragons, if you don't mind.

Now, these Nod dragons were very quarrelsome creatures, and they looked extremely fierce. But the truth is, they were not very brave; in fact, they were all very cowardly; that is, except for just one of them.

He was only a young dragon, about a hundred years old (dragons live for about a thousand years, you know), and his name was Nod Wink. Their names all began with Nod, because that was what their island was called. If he had lived somewhere else, like on Sug, he would have been called Sug Wink. And Nod Wink was the only dragon in the land of Nod that was brave.

Because they were so cowardly, the older dragons all tried to bully the smaller young ones. (Even with humans, you know, it is the cowards that bully those that are smaller.)

For instance, if Nod dragons saw a smaller one eating something nice, they would open their mouths wide to show their huge teeth; they would roar so loudly that even the trees shook; and they would breathe out fiery flames that were so hot they would have cooked your dinner before you could say 'knife'. They only behaved like that, of course, because they knew that the young ones had not yet grown their huge teeth, or learned to roar and breathe out fire.

One day, Nod Blink, who was the biggest dragon of all, and also the worst bully on Nod, saw Wink eating a lovely ripe pineapple. (The dragons always called one another by their second names, unlike us, who mostly use our Christian names, which come first.) Yes, he saw Wink, and he was jealous.

Ah, he thought to himself, that's just right for a hot day like this, and it is much too nice for young Wink. And then, with a roar that shook the very ground, and showing his great big sharp teeth that were a foot long, he breathed out flames of fire that were as long as our back garden.

'Give that to me!' he roared.

Blink was so used to everyone else being terrified of him, that you can imagine how surprised he was at what happened next. Wink straight away jumped up in the air, and with the pineapple still held in his left claw, landed on that great big bully's back, and dug in the claws on his other three feet that he was not using, so that he could not be shaken off. There he stayed, eating his lovely ripe pineapple.

It not only hurt that great big bullying dragon; it made him more furious than he had ever been in his whole life.

Now in the middle of its back is the best place to be, when there are great big bullying dragons about. You see, they are so big that they can't reach as far as the middle of their backs with any of their four claws. Can you reach the middle of your back, my love?

And although they could turn their heads round, and breathe fire at anyone who was sitting there, if they did that they would burn their own backs. And although Blink did not have very much sense, he was not quite silly enough to do that.

So all that bullying dragon could do, was to roar as loud as he could at Wink, while the brave young dragon stood there eating that nice pineapple he was holding in his free claw.

Now, when the other young dragons saw what brave young Wink was doing, and how that great big bullying Blink was unable to bully him any more, they all got together and talked about it. And they talked and talked and talked, but they did not do anything.

Now, as I am sure you know, my love, it is quite a good idea to talk about problems, but unless one does something about them, that talking would have been just a waste of time.

Well, Wink stayed on Blink's back until that great big bully had roared for so long that his throat was too sore to roar anymore, and he stayed there until Blink had breathed out so much fire that he hadn't any more left, and he stayed there eating the lovely ripe pineapple until the bully had jumped up and down for so long trying to shake him off, that he had to lie down to rest.

Then Wink flew off Blink's back, and told him, 'Let that teach you a lesson, you big bully!' Blink was so cross then that he forgot he had no fire left and opened his mouth to blow, but only a tiny trickle of smoke came out, and Wink and all the other young dragons just laughed at him.

'What were you young ones talking about for so long, when I was on Blink's back?' the brave young dragon asked the group of young ones.

'Well...' they all said together. Then they were quiet — that was because most dragons have very bad memories, especially when they don't want to remember, so now they could not remember what they had been saying.

'I can guess what it was that you were all getting so excited about,' Wink told them. 'You were probably wondering why you had to put up with being bullied every day by dragons like Blink. Well, let me tell you. We don't have to put up with it any more. I am going to form a Union, and it will be called THE GRAND UNION OF YOUNG DRAGONS. Now, before I let you in to all our Grand Union secrets, claws up all those who want to join.' Twenty-four claws were immediately raised in the air (there were only twenty-four young dragons there, on the island of Nod).

'Right, we shall now begin,' said Wink. Everyone raise their right front claw in the air, and repeat after me: "I promise at all times to keep the Union's secrets, to be a true and faithful dragon, and to come to the aid of any other Union Member that is in distress. I promise at all times to help anyone that I see is being bullied, to share and share alike with any good things I may have, or find, and again I promise never to tell anyone any of the Union secrets."'

When they had all made their promises, Wink explained their new secret clawshake.

'If you meet dragons you don't know, you must hold out your right claw. Then, if they take it, give the other one's claw two short squeezes, and curl your tail over your back. If the other dragon stamps one foot three times, you will know he or she is a Union Member. Of course, if the other dragon holds out a claw first, and does those things, it is you who must stamp three times. Now, although those are all the rules, I think it is better that we all choose at least one friend, and then always to go about with them. That is not only because there is safety in numbers, but it is nice to have a friend, and it is easier to feel brave when you are not alone. Any questions?' he asked them all.

'What do we do if we get attacked or bullied by one of those great big bullies?' a young girl dragon wanted to know.

'You and your friends must immediately jump onto the bully's back, dig your claws in like I did, and stay there until they wear themselves out,' he told her.

As there were no more questions, Wink closed the meeting. For the next hour or so, the young dragons passed the time in practising their secret clawshake, and they soon became so good at it that they were able to do it so quickly that no one who was not a Union Member would have noticed it at all.

Would you believe it, before many days had passed, all the bullying on Nod had stopped. Those great big dragons with the loud roars, foot-long teeth and flaming breath soon found out how horrible it was to have two or three young dragons on their backs, digging their claws in right on the place where they could neither get at them, nor breath fire on them.

So the dragons on Nod lived happily ever after.

Fiction Archive

Len (Snowie) Baynes

21.12.06 Front Page

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