Sharing Your Life with a Dragon

  Sharing your life with a dragon. Some of the pitfalls to be encountered.

                                                   By David Stevens

    The Red Dragon, or as it is sometimes called the Fire Dragon is a creature of immense mythical proportions. Those of us that are fortunate enough to have encountered such creatures during their formative years, soon realise that they are honoured to be counted amongst their friends.

   In my case I discovered a single egg some years ago. To this day I do not know if the egg I encountered had been placed perfectly for myself to discover, or had arrived at the point of our meeting by coincidence. To me it matters not in its origin, only does it matter that since my discovery I have been associated with a creature I am proud to call my friend, and with whom at times I despair of.

   First let me point out that dragons, any dragons, are not pets; nor are they owned. They are, simply put, creatures from the other place, which have decided for their own reasons to share their lives with some humans. The dragon egg I discovered I took home and to my amazement, I watched as a tiny creature exploded from within as the egg cracked directly down its middle. The snout of a red hue popped through the gap shortly, followed by the rest of a fire red body; tiny wings opened and flapped and as I watched the creature rocketed into the air, immediately crashing into the roof beams. I reacted by catching the tumbling bundle and holding it gently on my knee.

   For the opening years of our budding relationship I housed the dragon I had decided to call Robert, in my home, but dragons grow fast and a home is not the place to keep one for long. Soon I discovered that Robert had developed a nose for the estate on which my home was placed. He also insisted on annoying both my defensive battle dwarves and my, until then placid gardening fairies. Soon he discovered a home of his own, as dragons are want to do. It was a cave set within the ancient woodlands a short distance from the main gates of the estate.

   I was led by Robert to this, his discovery, and the look he gave me could not be misinterpreted! He wanted the cave; he wanted a place of his own. I was a tad reluctant at that point what with him being a young teenage dragon with all the angst that such mythical creatures have locked within them, but as he looked at me and as I looked at him, I felt the slight concern and resistance in me shatter. So, it was that Robert came to occupy the cave.

   Now I have a warning of sorts for anyone wishing to share their lives with a creature such as this.

    Firstly once the living quarters have been discovered you need to be aware of the food intake of a dragon. Now Robert has a favourite dish we had swiftly discovered, it is lamb, liberally coated in fresh honey and slightly over cooked, which he does to perfection himself.

I know what you are thinking right now.

   Some of you reading this might be concerned at this point, but let me explain. We keep a field flock of sheep near to the main house. These sheep receive the best care it is possible to have. In fact, they are mostly spoilt rotten. Robert watches over them and protects them, which was my intent as foxes are rife in this land and we do have the occasional wild jaguar roaming free. Wait for it… Robert believes that the flock is the source of his meals, but in truth they are not. We obtain his meat for those via the local butcher, who I have to say always looks nervous whenever he makes a delivery, as there is the secret to be kept from Robert.

   The next thing you should be aware of is the risk of fire when you have a Red Dragon around the place.

   Now the manor house is spell protected, as are the surrounding bridges and buildings, but sadly as I discovered one day a few years ago, the ancient woodland is not! Robert with the help of a play mate managed to ignite the woods. Had they been left they would have been completely lost and so something had to be done urgently.

    I being a mage and a fully paid up member of the guild of extraordinary magicians attempted to put the fire out by spell. Dragons and their acts I learned that day are immune to such magic and so the fire expanded leaving me with only one option. I had to call the local Fire Brigade to put out the blaze. The tale behind this can be found, should you want to know more at:

http://davidstevensbooks.blogspot.co.uk

    If you look for ‘John Shuman’ on the list of submissions at the bottom of the page on blogspot you will discover exactly where he tells his version of the events, said I can assure you in his own words. You should then soon know all the terrible ins and outs of that day.

   I have spent many years in close proximity to my Red Dragon and one last thing I have learned, and I will give to you as a warning when considering owning a dragon, is that dragons of all sorts like booze!

    I discovered this simple fact when Robert decided (as I was away visiting the Water Dragons that reside in some of our lakes in our mini submarine) to have a party. He and his friends discovered how to gain entrance into my wine cellar and between them they removed most of the bottles and barrels of both wine and beer to one of the larger barns, along with a single barrel of sherry! To this day no dragon has admitted drinking the sherry, but the barrel was discovered empty never the less. Obviously, I have had to ensure that there cannot be a repeat of this blatant drunkenness and devious theft.

I believe this is all I chose to say for now, but if it is of interest then I will consider posting out more of the adventures and scrapes of my young teenage dragon called Robert.

                    Yours David Stevens.