From Bolts of Fire to Beautiful Friendships

Hi, Friends!  Mary Beth has been working very hard on writing several papers for her Essentials of the English Language grammar and writing class.  We were particularly fond of this one, so we thought we'd share it with you!  Enjoy!  :)

From Bolts of Fire to Beautiful Friendships

by Mary E. Wooten

            No one knew trouble was on its way. The golden sun shined brightly on this summer afternoon.  Couples strolled, children played, and citizens shopped. The smell of flowers, which brought happiness, filled the air. Suddenly, everyone saw the dark, black, massive shadow of a dragon. They heard a thundering roar.   From the now-cloudy sky, the dragon exhaled a stream of fire, which immediately killed people, destroyed buildings, and charred nearly everything in sight. This was not the first time the dragon had struck, but today’s attack certainly made an awful mess!

            The king heard about the tragedy and proclaimed, “I order a meeting of the citizens!”  The knights replied, “Yes, Your Majesty!” Hastily, they gathered the townspeople as the smell of smoke from the burnt city filled their noses. At the meeting, they decided that a knight would go slay the black dragon. Intrepidly, one scrawny thin villager named Peter Patterson stepped up. The king laughed with amusement when he heard Peter say, “Let me be the protector!” When he gazed upon the small lad, whose eyes were glistening bravely with hope, the king collected himself and said, “You leave at dawn!” That’s just what Peter did. The citizens gathered at dawn to cheer as he began his exodus.

            He set out to pursue this beast. On his way, Peter climbed over a dark mountain, crossed a rushing river, crawled through a cave, and finally-at the top of his second mountain-found himself face-to-face with his nemesis: the smoky-smelling, fire-breathing, flying, fierce dragon. They fought for hours. Peter pulled his bow. Arrows flew. Peter hurled stones repeatedly. Soon he realized the dragon’s breath could easily melt his shield. Finally, all the knight had left within reach was his sword, which was now flaming! An idea rose up within Peter’s brave mind—an idea that would bring a halt to this exhausting fight!

            Peter grasped the flaming sword and convinced the black dragon to come back to the kingdom by putting the sword to the dragon’s neck and threatening to kill him if he did not agree to come with him. In his mind, the dragon worried, “The village is not going to believe I have reformed my behavior!” Peter saw the worried expression on the dragon’s face and guessed what he was thinking. He said with bold determination, “We will help the village rebuild the things which you destroyed.” The dragon nodded in agreement.  Bravely perched upon the dragon’s back, Peter rode the flying beast back to tell the small kingdom.

Diligently, Peter and the dragon started rebuilding houses, stores, shops, and farms. They worked day and night. For the next week, the villagers heard saws buzzing and hammers clanging productively. The townspeople extolled Peter and the dragon and soon began to trust the kind and helpful creature. The citizens built a fort which the dragon could live in. Soon, everyone had returned to their normal life again, but now with one more friend.