"Oh, dear!" cried the boy, "I wish you'd try and grasp the
situation
properly. When the other people find you out, they'll
come after you with spears and swords and all sorts of things.
You'll have to be exterminated, according to their way of
looking at it! You're a
scourge, and a pest, and a baneful
monster!"
"Not a word of truth in it," said the
dragon, wagging his head
solemnly. "Character'll bear the strictest
investigation. And
now, there's a little sonnet-thing I was
working on when you
appeared on the scene--"
"Oh, if you WON'T be sensible," cried the Boy, getting up,
"I'm going off home. No, I can't stop for sonnets; my mother's
sitting up. I'll look you up to-morrow,
sometime or other, and
do for goodness' sake try and realize that you're a pestilential
scourge, or you'll find yourself in a most awful fix. Good-
night!"
The Boy found it an easy matter to set the mind of his parents'
at ease about his new friend. They had always left that branch
to him, and they took his word without a murmur. The shepherd
was
formally introduced and many compliments and kind
inquiries were exchanged. His wife, however, though expressing
her
willingness" target="_blank" title="n.情愿,乐意,自愿">
willingness to do anything she could--to mend things, or set
the cave to rights, or cook a little something when the
dragonhad been poring over sonnets and forgotten his meals, as male
things WILL do, could not be brought to recognize him
formally. The fact that he was a
dragon and "they didn't know
who he was" seemed to count for everything with her. She made no
objection, however, to her little son spending his evenings with
the
dragon quietly, so long as he was home by nine o'clock: and
many a pleasant night they had, sitting on the sward, while the
dragon told stories of old, old times, when
dragons were quite
plentiful and the world was a livelier place than it is now, and
life was full of thrills and jumps and surprises.
What the Boy had feared, however, soon came to pass. The most
modest and retiring
dragon in the world, if he's as big
as four cart-horses and covered with blue scales, cannot keep
altogether out of the public view. And so in the village tavern
of nights the fact that a real live
dragon sat brooding in the
cave on the Downs was naturally a subject for talk. Though the
villagers were
extremely frightened, they were rather proud as
well. It was a
distinction to have a
dragon of your own, and it
was felt to be a
feather in the cap of the village. Still, all
were agreed that this sort of thing couldn't be allowed to go on.
The
dreadful beast must be exterminated, the country-side must be
freed from this pest, this
terror, this destroying
scourge. The
fact that not even a hen roost was the worse for the
dragon's
arrival wasn't allowed to have anything to do with it. He was a
dragon, and he couldn't deny it, and if he didn't choose to
behave as such that was his own
lookout. But in spite of
much
valiant talk no hero was found
willing to take sword and
spear and free the
suffering village and win deathless fame; and
each night's heated
discussion always ended in nothing.
Meanwhile the
dragon, a happy Bohemian, lolled on the turf,
enjoyed the sunsets, told antediluvian anecdotes to the Boy, and
polished his old verses while meditating on fresh ones.
One day the Boy, on walking in to the village, found everything
wearing a festal appearance which was not to be accounted for in
the
calendar. Carpets and gay-coloured stuffs were hung out of
the windows, the church-bells clamoured noisily, the little
street was flower-strewn, and the whole population jostled each
other along either side of it, chattering, shoving, and ordering
each other to stand back. The Boy saw a friend of his own age in
the crowd and hailed him.
"What's up?" he cried. "Is it the players, or bears, or a
circus, or what?"
"It's all right," his friend hailed back. "He's a-coming."
"WHO'S a-coming?" demanded the Boy, thrusting into the throng.
"Why, St. George, of course," replied his friend. "He's heard
tell of our
dragon, and he's comin' on purpose to slay the deadly
beast, and free us from his
horrid yoke. O my! won't there be a
jolly fight!"
Here was news indeed! The Boy felt that he ought to make quite
sure for himself, and he wriggled himself in between the legs of
his
good-natured elders, abusing them all the time for their
unmannerly habit of shoving. Once in the front rank, he
breathlessly awaited the arrival.
Presently from the far-away end of the line came the sound of
cheering. Next, the measured tramp of a great war-horse
made his heart beat quicker, and then he found himself cheering
with the rest, as,
amidst welcoming shouts,
shrill cries of
women, uplifting of babies and waving of handkerchiefs, St.
George paced slowly up the street. The Boy's heart stood still
and he
breathed with sobs, the beauty and the grace of the hero
were so far beyond anything he had yet seen. His fluted armour
was inlaid with gold, his plumed
helmet hung at his saddle-bow,
and his thick fair hair framed a face
gracious and gentle beyond
expression till you caught the sternness in his eyes. He drew
rein in front of the little inn, and the villagers
crowded round
with greetings and thanks and voluble statements of their wrongs
and grievances and oppressions. The Boy heard the grave gentle
voice of the Saint, assuring them that all would be well
now, and that he would stand by them and see them righted
and free them from their foe; then he dismounted and passed
through the
doorway and the crowd poured in after him. But the
Boy made off up the hill as fast as he could lay his legs to the
ground.
"It's all up,
dragon!" he shouted as soon as he was within sight
of the beast. "He's coming! He's here now! You'll have to pull
yourself together and DO something at last!"
The
dragon was licking his scales and rubbing them with a bit of
house-flannel the Boy's mother had lent him, till he shone like a
great turquoise.
"Don't be VIOLENT, Boy," he said without looking round. "Sit
down and get your
breath, and try and remember that the noun
governs the verb, and then perhaps you'll be good enough to tell
me WHO'S coming?"
"That's right, take it coolly," said the Boy. "Hope you'll be
half as cool when I've got through with my news. It's only St.
George who's coming, that's all; he rode into the village half-
an-hour ago. Of course you can lick him--a great big fellow like
you! But I thought I'd warn you, 'cos he's sure to be round
early, and he's got the longest, wickedest-looking spear you ever
did see!" And the Boy got up and began to jump round in sheer
delight at the
prospect of the battle.
"O deary, deary me," moaned the
dragon; "this is too awful. I
won't see him, and that's flat. I don't want to know the fellow
at all. I'm sure he's not nice. You must tell him to go away at
once, please. Say he can write if he likes, but I can't give him
an
interview. I'm not
seeing anybody at present."
"Now
dragon,
dragon," said the Boy imploringly, "don't be
perverse and wrongheaded. You've GOT to fight him some time
or other, you know, 'cos he's St. George and you're the
dragon.
Better get it over, and then we can go on with the sonnets. And
you ought to consider other people a little, too. If it's been
dull up here for you, think how dull it's been for me!"
"My dear little man," said the
dragonsolemnly, "just understand,
once for all, that I can't fight and I won't fight. I've never
fought in my life, and I'm not going to begin now, just to give
you a Roman
holiday. In old days I always let the other
fellows--the EARNEST fellows--do all the fighting, and no
doubt that's why I have the pleasure of being here now."
"But if you don't fight he'll cut your head off!" gasped the Boy,
miserable at the
prospect of losing both his fight and his
friend.
"Oh, I think not," said the
dragon in his lazy way. "You'll be
able to arrange something. I've every confidence in you, you're
such a MANAGER. Just run down, there's a dear chap, and make
it all right. I leave it entirely to you."
The Boy made his way back to the village in a state of great
despondency. First of all, there wasn't going to be any fight;
next, his dear and honoured friend the
dragon hadn't shown up in
quite such a
heroic light as he would have liked; and lastly,
whether the
dragon was a hero at heart or not, it made no
difference, for St. George would most
undoubtedly cut his head
off. "Arrange things indeed!" he said
bitterly to himself. "The
dragon treats the whole affair as if it was an
invitation to tea
and croquet."
The villagers were straggling
homewards as he passed up the
street, all of them in the highest spirits, and gleefully
discussing the splendid fight that was in store. The Boy pursued
his way to the inn, and passed into the
principalchamber, where
St. George now sat alone, musing over the chances of the fight,
and the sad stories of rapine and of wrong that had so lately
been poured into his
sympathetic ears.
"May I come in, St. George?" said the Boy
politely, as he paused
at the door. "I want to talk to you about this little matter of
the
dragon, if you're not tired of it by this time."
"Yes, come in, Boy," said the Saint kindly. "Another tale of
misery and wrong, I fear me. Is it a kind parent, then, of whom
the
tyrant has
bereft you? Or some tender sister or brother?
Well, it shall soon be avenged."
"Nothing of the sort," said the Boy. "There's a misunderstanding
somewhere, and I want to put it right. The fact is, this is
a GOOD
dragon."
"Exactly," said St. George, smiling
pleasantly, "I quite
understand. A good DRAGON. Believe me, I do not in the least
regret that he is an
adversaryworthy of my steel, and no feeble
specimen of his noxious tribe."
"But he's NOT a noxious tribe," cried the Boy distressedly.
"Oh dear, oh dear, how STUPID men are when they get an idea
into their heads! I tell you he's a GOOD
dragon, and a friend
of mine, and tells me the most beautiful stories you ever heard,
all about old times and when he was little. And he's been so
kind to mother, and mother'd do anything for him. And father
likes him too, though father doesn't hold with art and poetry
much, and always falls asleep when the
dragon starts talking
about STYLE. But the fact is, nobody can help
liking him when
once they know him. He's so engaging and so trustful, and
as simple as a child!"
"Sit down, and draw your chair up," said St. George. "I like a
fellow who sticks up for his friends, and I'm sure the
dragon has
his good points, if he's got a friend like you. But that's not
the question. All this evening I've been listening, with grief
and
anguishunspeakable, to tales of murder, theft, and wrong;
rather too highly coloured, perhaps, not always quite convincing,
but forming in the main a most serious roll of crime. History
teaches us that the greatest rascals often possess all the
domestic virtues; and I fear that your
cultivated friend, in
spite of the qualities which have won (and rightly) your regard,
has got to be
speedily exterminated."
"Oh, you've been
taking in all the yarns those fellows have been
telling you," said the Boy
impatiently. "Why, our villagers
are the biggest story-tellers in all the country round. It's a
known fact. You're a stranger in these parts, or else you'd have
heard it already. All they want is a FIGHT. They're the most
awful beggars for getting up fights--it's meat and drink to them.
Dogs, bulls,
dragons--anything so long as it's a fight. Why,
they've got a poor
innocentbadger in the
stable behind here, at
this moment. They were going to have some fun with him to-day,
but they're saving him up now till YOUR little affair's over.
And I've no doubt they've been telling you what a hero you were,