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Mungo put the pictures of
the dragons and wizards all over the walls of the living room. Some were
purple, some were green, some were black and others were dark crimson. One
or two of the dragons had flames shooting out of their mouths; others had
horns. One had spikes down its back. All of them were covered in shiny
scales and had large, sharp claws. The wizards were wearing cloaks and
hoods and some held staffs in their hands. "This should put them in the
mood, shouldn’t it girl," he said to Ginger, his cat. "Tonight we’re
having fantasy night. I’ll take them into a world of evil dragons, magical
wizards, goblins, dwarves and other creatures." He looked around at his
handy-work. Ginger ran into the kitchen to nibble on her food.
DING DONG! Mungo opened the
front door. "Hello, Mr. McGee," said Gregor. "Am I the first one here?" he
asked, smiling broadly.
"You are, indeed. Come
inside," Mungo said, letting him past.
"Wow! Look at the cool
dragons and wizards. Is that what we’re going to talk about tonight?"
Gregor asked. "Is that what your story is going to be about?"
"Yes, that’s right, dragons
and wizards. Do you like them?"
"I love dragons," Gregor
said, delighted with the pictures surrounding him.
DING DONG! "Who is it this
time?" Mungo said, opening the door. "Ah, its Gavin and wee Fiona, and oh,
there’s wee Hamish too. Come in, all of you."
"Wow! Cool! Look at that!"
Cries of oohs and ahs came from the room. Mungo smiled. He was happy that
his idea was such a hit. He loved pleasing the bairns.
DING DONG! Mungo had no
sooner shut the door than the doorbell rang again. "Who is this?" he said,
peeking through a small crack. Opening it wider he said, "Andy and Morag.
Glad to see you both. Come inside."
Morag laughed when she saw
the dragons and wizards covering the wall. Andy just stared quietly.
"Well, bairns. I trust you all are enjoying the dragons."
"Yes!" they cried out.
"Tonight, I’ll be telling
you a story about a dragon and a wizard. I might throw in an elf or a
goblin for fun. Oh dear, I forgot the snacks. Everyone sit down and I’ll
be right back." Mungo returned a few minutes later with a large tray.
"Tonight, lassies and ladies, we’re going to have something special to
eat."
"What’s that?" asked wee
Hamish.
"We’re going to have dragon
fingers, goblin noses, elf ears and wizard teeth," he said.
"There’s no such thing as
that, Mr. McGee," said Gregor. "Is there?" he questioned.
"Look for yourself," Mungo
said. He put the tray down on the floor. There were chocolate fingers and
marzipan that had been shaped like noses with warts. Mungo had rolled them
in colored sugar for an added effect. There were scones with raisins that
were shaped like pointed ears and sweeties that Mungo had cut up to look
like long teeth.
"These are wonderful,"
Gavin said, devouring some wizard teeth.
"I love this. What a fun
night this is going to be," added Morag. "Isn’t it, Gavin?" she asked.
"Yes, it is," he answered,
eating a few noses with warts.
"Grab a handful of goodies
and sit down. Let’s start the story. Are you ready?" he asked them.
"Ready," they replied
together.
"There once was a land far
away from Scotland, called Zarabo. Zarabo is the land of the wizards. At
least a hundred of them have castles spread about the land. Each wizard
has his area that he is in charge of. The people of the land around his
castle are his to protect," Mungo said.
"Protect from what?" asked
Gregor.
"Dragons!" Mungo said
loudly. The bairns looked around at the pictures of the dragons on the
walls. "In a land not far from Zarabo, in a place called Dimron, lived the
dragons."
"Were they black dragons or
green ones?" asked Gavin.
"What about the red and
purple ones?" Andy said, softly.
"There were all kinds of
dragons, all colors of dragons, and all sizes of dragons! They all lived
together in Dimron. The dragons had a leade, who ruled them and commanded
them. Her name was Grash. She was a crimson dragon. Her scales were
metallic and shiny. She had sharp horns that grew from the top of her
head, between her pointed ears. Her tail was long and had a poisonous
stinger at the end of it. She could breath fire that would sizzle you in a
second. The worst part is that her cold, black blood was mixed with acid.
Any other dragons that tried to fight Grash died when they bit into her
and touched the acid blood, so none of the other dragons dared challenge
her."
"She sounds like a mean
dragon," said wee Fiona.
"Aye, lass, she was. In the
land of Zarabo lived a special wizard named Dankel," Mungo said.
"Did the wizards have a
king or queen?" asked Morag.
"No. The wizards didn’t
need one. They each had their own area to watch over and they respected
each other’s rights. Dankel’s castle was beautiful. It was made of gray
stones, and had towers on it, topped with upside down cone roofs. They
were pointed and made the castle look like it was out of a fairy tale.
Dankel kept it clean and the people in his land were happy. In Dankel’s
lands were several mines where the goblins worked hard digging up rubies
and emeralds and other precious gems. When they found them, they brought
them to Dankel and he kept them in a large wooden chest. He took good care
of his people and shared his crops and animals with them. It was a happy
land. It was the happiest land in all of Zarabo."
"I like rubies and
emeralds," said Morag.
"So do most people. All
around Dankel’s land were other lands, watched over by other wizards. Most
of them were nice, like Dankel, but one of them was not very nice. His
name was Jazi. His castle was made of a black stone called obsidian. It
was more glass than stone. He’d gathered it from the volcanoes that were
scattered about his land. It was an eerie looking castle. He wasn’t good
to the people in his land, nor to the goblins, elves and dwarves either.
Jazi owned a large gold mine. When the goblins brought the gold to him, he
took it and never shared. He didn’t allow them to eat any of the crops
that he forced the elves to take care of. He didn’t let any of them share
his animals either. There was no hunting in Jazi’s land," Mungo said.
"What did the people and
goblins do to eat then?" wee Hamish asked.
"They could grow a small
garden at their dwellings and now and then they snuck one of Jazi’s sheep
or goats and used it for milk, but if they got caught, watch out," Mungo
explained.
"I don’t like him," said
Andy.
"Not many did. One morning
the sun rose but it didn’t find a welcome land. Fires were burning around
the outside of Jazi’s castle, sending flames up into the sky," Mungo said.
"What was he burning? Gavin
asked.
"You don’t want to know,"
said Morag.
"Morag’s right. He was
burning bodies; goblin bodies, dwarf bodies, elf bodies, and any other
bodies he could find. He used them as slaves and when they died, he burned
their bodies and used their ashes for his potions and magic," Mungo
explained.
"That’s horrible," said
Gregor.
"The thick gray smoke
filled the sky. The people in Dankel’s land could see the smoke. So could
the dragons," Mungo continued.
"What did the dragons do?"
asked wee Fiona.
"Grash gathered her
dragons. Jazi’s fire was actually a signal to Grash, to bring her dragons
and attack Dankel’s lands. They were to capture all his emeralds and
rubies and burn the forests and all the creatures living in them. Jazi
knew that during the morning hours, the goblins of Dankel’s land would be
taking carts filled with jewels from the mines to the castle. Jazi’s
spies, coal-black ravens, had seen the goblins loading the wooden carts
and had flown quickly to his castle to tell him. Grash gathered her black,
purple and green dragons. They were the meanest of the dragons. They flew
towards Dankel’s land," Mungo said.
"I didn’t know dragon’s
could fly," wee Hamish said.
"They can fly. They’ve got
large leathery wings and can fly very fast. The sky was dark because there
were so many dragons that they shielded the earth from the sunlight.
Dankel had noticed the smoke near Jazi’s castle. He’d consulted his
magical glass ball. It had shown the dragons flying towards his land.
Dankel was very wise and very smart. He was ready for the dragons. He
started a fire outside of his castle and sent smoke billowing into the
air. He then gathered his flock of geese that he kept on castle grounds
incase of such an emergency. He explained to them what was going to
happen. They each picked up a bucket of water and carried in their webbed
feet. When they flew over Jazi’s land, they dumped their buckets out. The
water fell on the fires. When the dragons got closer, they were confused
and thought that Dankel’s castle was really Jazi’s castle and raided the
lands of Jazi instead. They stole all of his gold and burned all his
forests and crops. Grash, being an evil dragon, decided that she wanted
all of the land, so she attacked the castle. Fire shot out of her mouth.
It was so intense and hot that it melted the black rock. The castle turned
into a blob of soft black goo. Jazi was able to escape but everyone else
in his land died. He had to flee."
"So Dankel and his land
were safe. Good. What did the dragons do then?" Morag asked.
"The dragons, satisfied
with all the gold and jewels they’d captured, flew back to the land of
Dimron and kept it there. Grash had never had any intentions of sharing it
with Jazi. She was even more evil than he was. Zarabo became a peaceful
land once more."
"Wow. That was lucky for
Dankel and the goblins. They got to keep their rubies and emeralds and
they didn’t get killed," said Gavin.
"What happened to Jazi?"
asked Andy.
"Jazi disappeared. Nobody
knew where he went. Dankel knew that one day Jazi would be back, if for no
other reason than to get revenge on him and on the dragons who betrayed
him, but that’s another story," Mungo ended. He slapped his leg. "Did you
enjoy yourselves tonight?"
"I loved it. I don’t like
dragons though," said wee Hamish.
"There’s no such thing as
dragons," Morag snidely remarked.
"There are the dragons on
Mr. McGee’s wall," said Gregor. "Mr. McGee, can we take home a dragon
picture?"
"Certainly. Now, bairns,
finish up your snacks. Your mums and dads will be here shortly." They sat
quietly, nibbling on the food and deep in thought, staring at the pictures
of the dragons and wizards scattered about the walls.
Ginger, who had not been
put away in the bedroom earlier, came sneaking into the living room. She
hid behind the couch. Suddenly she jumped from behind it right into the
middle of the children. SCREAM!!!!!!!!!! Ginger scared them all to death.
"It’s only Ginger," said a shaken Gavin, once he realized it was only the
cat.
"I thought it was a
dragon," said wee Fiona.
"I did too," said Andy.
They all started laughing.
Ginger ran over to Gregor and was trying to eat the dragon fingers out of
his hand. "Stop that you silly cat," he said, pushing her away.
"Ginger, what are you doing
out of the bedroom? Did I forget to put you away?" Mungo remembered. He
picked her up and took her through to the room and shut the door.
"That scared me," said wee
Hamish.
DING DONG! It was time for
the children to leave. They each picked a dragon picture to take home. Wee
Hamish wasn’t sure if he wanted one or not. He picked a wizard instead.
"This is Dankel," he said, wanting something nice instead of something
evil, like dragons and bad wizards.
"Cheerio," said Mungo. He
shut the door and took the other pictures down off the wall. He stared at
a picture of a black dragon, shivered a little and put it in the box with
the others. He carried the box into the bedroom and put it away. Ginger
ran back out. When Mungo went into the living room, she was finishing off
the snacks. "Nibbling on some wizard teeth, are you girl?" Mungo said and
sat down in his chair laughing. It had been a grand night with the bairns. |
