The Great Green Dragon And The Toddler King

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A long time ago, in the Kingdom of the West, there was a Toddler King named Samuel. Samuel was expected to become a great leader. He had trained with ponies for a year already and he loved to ride his horse with his knights.

One day, his knights and their army took him to fight against the Kingdom of the East. They went to fight about what most armies fought about, -silly things of little importance.

Nearby, The Great Green Dragon was trying to take a nap after a busy morning. His friend, The Little Blue Warbler, who had a magical voice, was helping to sing him to sleep.

The two had a fine friendship. The Little Blue Warbler’s singing calmed the nervous dragon, and The Great Green Dragon protected The Little Blue Warbler from cats and hawks and bad weather.

On the other side of the hill, the two armies had started their silly fighting. Samuel became frightened when he saw things going badly for his knights and his horse got scared and started to run.

It ran so fast and so far that almost a mile away, The Toddler King fell from his saddle into the tall grass and his horse continued off into the distance. Finding himself alone and unable to see above the grass, he started crying and wandering about.

The Great Green Dragon, who had very good ears, heard Samuel crying and opened his eyes. A moment later, Samuel pushed through the grass and emerged right in front of The Great Green Dragon and The Little Blue Warbler.

The Toddler King had never been alone with a Great Green Dragon and a Little Blue Warbler before. And so, because Samuel didn’t know what a Great Green Dragon was, he toddled over to him and wrapped his arms around one of his paws, seeking comfort.

The Great Green Dragon didn’t know what to do and looked up at The Little Blue Warbler. The Little Blue Warbler thought it best to sing one of his beautiful songs to put The Toddler King to sleep, and so he did and they all slept.

When Samuel woke up he began to cry. The Great Green Dragon and The Little Blue Warbler could tell that he was hungry. The Great Green Dragon knew what people liked to eat, so he flew off to find something while The Little Blue Warbler sang to The Toddler King.

A little while later, The Great Green Dragon returned with some bread for Samuel, who happily ate as much as he could. The Great Green Dragon knew that he had to return The Toddler King to his castle if he wanted to avoid any trouble, so the three of them started heading west.

Being only three years old, Samuel was too young to ride The Great Green Dragon as he flew, so they had to walk. On the way, there was a very bad storm, but The Great Green Dragon found a place under some trees and sheltered The Toddler King with his wing while The Little Blue Warbler sang them to sleep.

The morning after, Samuel cried and cried because he was very hungry again. The Great Green Dragon found a raspberry bush for The Toddler King and the hungry little boy ate his fill. Then, they continued on.

The next day, they heard The Army of the East approaching, so The Great Green Dragon found a hiding spot for them behind a waterfall. While The Toddler King and The Little Blue Warbler waited, The Great Green Dragon confronted the army, scared them into retreat and stole some of their food. After they had fled, Samuel ate his fill and slept to the sound of the rushing water.

When The Toddler King woke up, they continued on their way. As they started to get close, they had to be careful not to be seen by anyone. As the sun began to set, Samuel started to get very hungry and began to cry. This made The Little Blue Warbler and The Great Green Dragon very nervous. To avoid being discovered by anyone, The Little Blue Warbler sang him a cheery song that he knew all children loved.

Finally, they came upon The Toddler King’s castle. It was heavily guarded by a lot of soldiers, so they waited for night to fall and things to get quiet before they approached the castle door.

Every-so-quietly and ever-so-slowly, they cautiously crept towards the door. Then, The Great Green Dragon knocked hard enough for all to hear. He made such a racket that voices immediately started to call out. As The Great Green Dragon and The Little Blue Warbler flew away and The Toddler King started to follow them, the gate was raised and the soldiers ran after Samuel and brought him inside.

And so it came to pass that The Toddler King was safe, and over the years forgot about The Great Green Dragon and The Little Blue Warbler and grew up to be a great young king who had many adventures and came to celebrate his 11^th birthday.

The Great Green Dragon and The Little Blue Warbler also had many great adventures. However, more and more men were trying to capture or defeat The Great Green Dragon because they didn’t understand him and were afraid of him. Meanwhile, The Little Blue Warbler had grown old – for warblers only live for ten or twelve years or so.

It was because The Little Blue Warbler had become old that he and The Great Green Dragon had become captured. The Little Blue Warbler had fallen asleep early one night and could not sing to The Great Green Dragon like he was used to.

This had made The Great Green Dragon tired and cranky, and when he fell asleep, he had very deep and troublesome dreams. Being so deep asleep kept him from hearing trouble approaching, and the soldiers from The Kingdom of the West snuck up on him and captured him!

Deeply ashamed, The Great Green Dragon hung his head as he was led to the castle of King Samuel. The Little Blue Warbler, who was so very sorry that he had failed his old friend, rode on top of The Great Green Dragon’s head crying his apologies.

When they reached the castle, they were paraded right up in front of Samuel the boy-king, who looked down upon them sternly and had no memory of the help they had given him as The Toddler King.

“I have been told that you are The Great Green Dragon that has been eating the animals in my royal forest. This cannot go on! I hereby order you to jail!” Samuel decreed.

With the royal order, Samuel’s knights started to take him away. The Great Green Dragon was truly sad that he would no longer be free. However, The Little Blue Warbler thought of something that he could do that might help.

He sang. He started to sing the old song that he thought he might have sang for The Toddler King and The Great Green Dragon when they had been returning him to his castle eight years ago.

The song pierced the air with its beauty and everyone was caught off guard, but no one was caught off guard as much as Samuel was, for he remembered The Little Blue Warbler’s song and it rushed into his heart like a long lost memory. Then, The Little Blue Warbler sang the song that had kept Samuel happy when he had been hungry, and the boy-king remembered that too.

With everyone listening to The Little Blue Warbler’s song, Samuel spoke to his loyal knights. – “Then, the legend is true!” he cried, “I came to think that it had only been a dream, but these are the ones that helped me home when I was just a toddler! I am only here because of them! Stand back and rejoice at the return of my friends!”

Everyone cheered at the good news and Samuel rushed forward to hug The Great Green Dragon’s paw and bow thanks to The Little Blue Warbler for his song. The great memory of their kindness had been remembered through music and would never be forgotten.

From that day forward, The Great Green Dragon and The Little Blue Warbler didn’t have to worry about knights hunting them anymore. They ate well and slept well and lived out their days as the favorite friends of King Samuel – whom they had helped to protect and raise as The Toddler King.

 

…and King Samuel finally got to go flying with them…!!!