The Knight and the Dragon
Copyright © September 1, 2018 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.
The following story is included in my book: Grandpappy's Stories for Children of All Ages.
In olden days when dragons terrorized the earth there were a few brave knights who would single-handedly take on an invincible dragon and slay it. This story is not about one of those brave knights.
Instead this is a story about a simple teenage farm boy, named William, who was afraid of the dark. When he would hear strange noises at night he would pull his blanket up over his head and hide under it.
William lived on a small farm about two hours from the nearest castle. A king and a queen and lots of brave knights lived in that castle but William had never seen any of them. However, he had heard stories about them and he wished with all his heart that one day he could do something brave and maybe even become a knight.
William did not know it but his wish was soon going to be granted. A fierce dragon had invaded the land and the dragon began eating the king’s sheep and cattle. The king sent his best knights out to slay the dragon but none of his knights were ever seen again. There were stories that the dragon had killed every one of them. But there were other stories that the knights had simply cringed in fear when they saw the fire-breathing dragon and they had all ridden their powerful war horses far away into distant kingdoms. However, they had left their armor behind because they didn’t want to explain why a brave knight was fleeing for his life.
One day the milk cow that belonged to William’s family broke through a rotten board in the fence that surrounded its pasture and William was told to go find the cow and bring it home so it could be milked before supper. This was typical of the chores William did every day. William followed the cow’s tracks until he came to some trees on top of a hill. He saw something on the ground near the trees and when he got closer he found a set of new armor that had once belonged to a knight. The armor was in perfect condition and there was not a scratch or dent anywhere on the armor. There was also a nice sword lying in the grass beside the armor. William was tall for his tender age of 17 and he decided to try on the armor. He gradually figured out how to put it on and when he had finished he discovered the armor fit him okay, except it was a little big across his shoulders. He then picked up the sword and he began swinging it from side to side as if he were fighting an evil knight.
He was so busy pretending he was fighting an imaginary knight that he did not see the dragon that was flying above his head. And he did not see it land on the ground behind him. Nor did he hear it as it crept towards him so it could eat him. William had almost defeated his imaginary knight and he knew if he could just land one more powerful blow then he would be victorious. So he swung his sword with both hands as hard as he could but the sword was too heavy and the weight of the sword turned him around and he lost control of it and the sword flew threw the air and it struck the dragon between its scales and it pierced the dragon’s heart. The dragon fell backwards onto the ground with the sword sticking up out of its chest.
Four farmers happened to be standing on a hill not too far away and they had watched as the dragon landed on the adjacent hill and then they saw it fall over backwards with a sword through its heart. Then the farmers saw William step forward and pull the sword out of the dragon’s chest. The farmers cheered and they ran and picked up William and they put him on their shoulders and they carried him all the way to the castle where they told the king and the queen what they had just seen.
William was a humble boy so he simply apologized to the king for putting on the armor he had found and for using a sword that wasn’t his. He also told the king that he really didn’t want to be a knight and that if the king didn’t mind then he would like to return to his home of the farm. The king granted his request. But from that day forward William was no longer afraid of the dark.
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The Moral of this Story
The moral of this story is that time and chance can sometimes make a hero out of an ordinary person.
THE END
Grandpappy's e-mail address is: RobertWayneAtkins@hotmail.com