There were frequent skirmishes with much sword swinging and rock flinging and harsh harsh words during which the dragon would disappear into the dense foliage of the many trees and the townspeople would trudge wearily home, angry and sad that the threat of the dragon persisted, disappointed that they had failed in their mission to be rid of the dragon.
One day after a halfhearted effort to lure the dragon out of the woods into the open meadow with taunts and threats, the people gave up and gathered at the town's picnic grounds to share a meal together and tell stories and make plans.
The head cook brought out roasted meat sandwiches and young Isaac, age 2, and his brother Wesley, age 7 and graduate of Kindergarten, each took a sandwich, as did all the adults. The head cook soon brought out another platter, and everyone except Wesley took a second. Younger Isaac however, was not finished and did take a second meat sandwich. Later, the cook brought yet another platter and again little Isaac took a sandwich and bit off a bite. Ooh he can't eat three the people said, as they each took another to prove they could keep up with the little lad. But he did, and more. Plate after plate, the cook brought sandwiches and the wee Isaac took one and the adults took one until all the adults were so full they could not move. Soon they drifted off to an overfull dreamy slumber, leaning this way and that upon each other.
Surprised to find himself unsupervised by adults, Isaac finished off his last sandwich, picked up his small stuffed toy dinosaur in one hand and took his brother's hand in the other, and they wandered off. North, as it would happen. When they got to the shady woods, they saw many ferns. They started to make up a little song about living under the arching fronds with toads and chipmunks.
Soon the curious dragon heard their voices and came to see. The children saw the dragon peeking out from behind the trees and waved. Little Isaac just happened to wave with the hand that was holding the dinosaur toy and the dragon asked if the toy was a dragon like her. The children move closer to show the toy to the dragon and explain what they knew about dinosaurs, which was a great deal. Isaac told the dragon that the toy dinosaur was named Cow. The children and the dragon played some games and sang some songs and made up stories together.
Eventually some adults woke up and saw the boys were missing and roused the others and they set off to try to find them. After some misguided wandering south, and then east, someone got the idea to try to see if the Archie the hunting dog could give them a clue. They let the dog sniff the children's naptime blankets and pretty soon Archie headed off north. The adults followed. When they near the edge of the woods, there they saw the children playing with the feared and hated dragon and they hollered at Wesley and Isaac to come here, come here.
The children obeyed of course but before they went to the adults, they each took a hand of their new friend the dragon and brought him toward the gaggle of adults. At first the townspeople were horrified, but then the boys and the dragon started to skip and sing a song they'd made up. That's when everyone realized the error in their ways about the dragon and started asking the dragon questions and getting their pictures taken with the dragon. There were high fives and cheers and the dragon allowed herself to be petted and even gave a few of the smaller people short rides.
Isaac the Eater and Wesley the Playful are all grown up now but the people still enjoy a lovely relationship with the dragon. The dragon comes to tell them when the various woodland fruits and berries and nuts are ripe and the townspeople bring the dragon sweet treats now and then. The people have picnics at the edge of the woods and invite the dragon to picnics in their town square and the dragon participates in their parades and celebrations. Sometimes they have an outdoor play or concert so that she can enjoy some entertainment with them.
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There are some morals of the story there for you if you bother to look.
