The Fiery Dragon] · page 21 2 3101"You don't speak very good English," said Elfin. "102But come, what will you give me if I tell you?"103"If you tell me what?" said the tiresome Prince.104"What you want to know."105"I don't want to know anything," said Prince Tiresome.106"Then you're more of a silly even than I thought," said Elfin. "107Don't you want to know how to settle the dragon before he settles you?"108"It might be as well," the Prince admitted.109"Well, I haven't much patience at any time," said Elfin, "and now I can assure you that there's very little left.110What will you give me if I tell you?"111"Half my kingdom," said the Prince, "and my cousin's hand in marriage."112"Done," said the pig keeper. "113Here goes!114The dragon grows small at night!115He sleeps under the root of this tree.116I use him to light my fire with."117And, sure enough, there under the tree was the dragon on a nest of scorched moss, and he was about as long as your finger.118"How can I kill him?" asked the Prince.119"I don't know that you can kill him," said Elfin, "but you can take him away if you've brought anything to put him in.120That bottle of yours would do."121So between them they managed, with bits of stick and by singeing their fingers a little, to poke and shove the dragon till they made it creep into the silver hunting bottle, and then the Prince screwed on the top tight.122"Now we've got him," said Elfin. "123Let's take him home and put Solomon's seal on the mouth of the bottle, and then he'll be safe enough.124Come along--we'll divide up the kingdom tomorrow, and then I shall have some money to buy fine clothes to go courting in."125But when the wicked Prince made promises he did not make them to keep.126"Go on with you!127What do you mean?" he said. "128I found the dragon and I've imprisoned him.129I never said a word about courtings or kingdoms.130If you say I did, I shall cut your head off at once."131And he drew his sword.132"All right," said Elfin, shrugging his shoulders. "133I'm better off than you are, anyhow."134"What do you mean?" spluttered the Prince.135"Why, you've only got a kingdom (and a dragon), but I've got clean hands (and five and seventy fine black pigs)."136So Elfin sat down again by his fire, and the Prince went home and told his Parliament how clever and brave he had been, and though he woke them up on purpose to tell them, they were not angry, but said: "You are indeed brave and clever."137For they knew what happened to people with whom the Prince was not pleased.138Then the Prime Minister solemnly put Solomon's seal on the mouth of the bottle, and the bottle was put in the Treasury, which was the strongest building in the town, and was made of solid copper, with walls as thick as Waterloo Bridge.139The bottle was set down among the sacks of gold, and the junior secretary to the junior clerk of the last Lord of the Treasury was appointed to sit up all night with it and see if anything happened.140The junior secretary had never seen a dragon, and, what was more, he did not believe the Prince had ever seen a dragon either.141The Prince had never been a really truthful boy, and it would have been just like him to bring home a bottle with nothing in it and then to pretend that there was a dragon inside.142So the junior secretary did not at all mind being left.143They gave him the key, and when everyone in the town had gone back to bed he let in some of the junior secretaries from other Government departments, and they had a jolly game of hide-and-seek among the sacks of gold, and played marbles with the diamonds and rubies and pearls in the big ivory chests.144They enjoyed themselves very much, but by-and-by the copper treasury began to get warmer and warmer, and suddenly the junior secretary cried out, "Look at the bottle!"145The bottle sealed with Solomon's seal had swollen to three times its proper size and seemed to be nearly red hot, and the air got warmer and warmer and the bottle bigger and bigger, till all the junior secretaries agreed that the place was too hot to hold them, and out they went, tumbling over each other in their haste, and just as the last got out and locked the door the bottle burst, and out came the dragon, very fiery, and swelling more and more every minute, and he began to eat the sacks of gold and crunch up the pearls and diamonds and rubies as if they were sugar.146By breakfasttime he had devoured the whole of the Prince's treasures, and when the Prince came along the street at about eleven, he met the dragon coming out of the broken door of the Treasury, with molten gold still dripping from his jaws.147Then the Prince turned and ran for his life, and as he ran toward the dragonproof tower the little white Princess saw him coming, and she ran down and unlocked the door and let him in, and slammed the dragonproof door in the fiery face of the dragon, who sat down and whined outside, because he wanted the Prince very much indeed.148The Princess took Prince Tiresome into the best room, and laid the cloth, and gave him cream and eggs and white grapes and honey and bread, with many other things, yellow and white and good to eat, and she served him just as kindly as she would have done if he had been anyone else instead of the bad Prince who had taken away her kingdom and kept it for himself--because she was a true Princess and had a heart of gold.149When he had eaten and drunk, he begged the Princess to show him how to lock and unlock the door.150The nurse was asleep, so there was no one to tell the Princess not to, and she did.151_See page 129.152_]153"You turn the key like this," she said, "and the door keeps shut.154But turn it nine times around the wrong way, and the door flies open."155And so it did.156And the moment it opened, the Prince pushed the white Princess out of her tower, just as he had pushed her out of her kingdom, and shut the door.157For he wanted to have the tower all for himself.158And there she was, in the street, and on the other side of the way the dragon was sitting whining, but he did not try to eat her, because--though the old nurse did not know it--dragons cannot eat white Princesses with hearts of gold.159The Princess could not walk through the streets of the town in her milky-silky gown with the daisies on it, and with no hat and no gloves, so she turned the other way, and ran out across the meadows, toward the wood.160She had never been out of her tower before, and the soft grass under her feet felt like grass of Paradise.checked by a teacher161She ran right into the thickest part of the wood, because she did not know what her heart was made of, and she was afraid of the dragon, and there in a dell she came on Elfin and his five and seventy fine pigs.162He was playing his flute, and around him the pigs were dancing cheerfully on their hind legs.163"Oh, dear," said the Princess, "do take care of me.164I am so frightened."165"I will," said Elfin, putting his arms around her. "166Now you are quite safe.167What were you frightened of?"168"The dragon," she said.169"So it's gotten out of the silver bottle," said Elfin. "170I hope it's eaten the Prince."171"No," said Sabrinetta. "172But why?"173He told her of the mean trick that the Prince had played on him.174"And he promised me half his kingdom and the hand of his cousin the Princess," said Elfin.175"Oh, dear, what a shame!" said Sabrinetta, trying to get out of his arms. "176How dare he?"177"What's the matter?" he asked, holding her tighter. "178It _was_ a shame, or at least _I_ thought so.179But now he may keep his kingdom, half and whole, if I may keep what I have."180"What's that?" asked the Princess.181"Why, you--my pretty, my dear," said Elfin, "and as for the Princess, his cousin--forgive me, dearest heart, but when I asked for her I hadn't seen the real Princess, the _only_ Princess, _my_ Princess."182"Do you mean me?" said Sabrinetta.183"Who else?" he asked.184"Yes, but five minutes ago you hadn't seen me!"185"Five minutes ago I was a pig keeper--now I've held you in my arms I'm a Prince, though I should have to keep pigs to the end of my days."186"But you haven't asked _me_," said the Princess.187"You asked me to take care of you," said Elfin, "and I will--all my life long."188So that was settled, and they began to talk of really important things, such as the dragon and the Prince, and all the time Elfin did not know that this was the Princess, but he knew that she had a heart of gold, and he told her so, many times.189"The mistake," said Elfin, "was in not having a dragonproof bottle.190I see that now."191"Oh, is that all?" said the Princess. "192I can easily get you one of those--because everything in my tower is dragonproof.193We ought to do something to settle the dragon and save the little children."194So she started off to get the bottle, but she would not let Elfin come with her.195"If what you say is true," she said, "if you are sure that I have a heart of gold, the dragon won't hurt me, and somebody must stay with the pigs."196Elfin was quite sure, so he let her go.197She found the door of her tower open.198The dragon had waited patiently for the Prince, and the moment he opened the door and came out--though he was only out for an instant to post a letter to his Prime Minister saying where he was and asking them to send the fire brigade to deal with the fiery dragon--the dragon ate him.199Then the dragon went back to the wood, because it was getting near his time to grow small for the night.200So Sabrinetta went in and kissed her nurse and made her a cup of tea and explained what was going to happen, and that she had a heart of gold, so the dragon couldn't eat her; and the nurse saw that of course the Princess was quite safe, and kissed her and let her go.1 2 3← previousThe Dragon Tamers]next →Kind Little Edmund]↑ back to The Book of DragonsThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/13/page/2/