By 3rd Grade Students at Bubb Elementary
September 2015
The dragon guarded her cave. Lily, an eighteen-year-old girl, watched. She had never seen a dragon before. She wondered what the dragon guarded.
The dragon was as big as Lily’s school, and she was fire red. Her wings were closed but appeared to be fire red too. She had sharp triangular spikes running down her back. The spikes had to be at least as long as her arm span. The dragon’s huge eyes were also fire red, and they had something in the expression that made Lily think that the dragon was both angry and also wanting people to stay away.
Lily thought the dragon’s skin would be bumpy, rough, and sharp. The dragon smelled bad, like fire which she didn’t like, but even stinkier than the biggest most stinky fire she had ever smelled. Suddenly, the dragon made eye-contact with Lily. She had no doubt that the dragon had seen her.
A low, rumbling growl ensued. The dragon’s growl was a low rumble at first, but it grew louder till Lily felt as if she was hearing the worst thunder storm ever. Despite the terrible racket, Lily heard something else coming from the cave. She heard a very high-pitched squeak that seemed to go forever. Squeaaaaaaaaaakkk!
The dragon ripped off a piece of raw meat from a carcass that Lily thought was deer. The dragon shoved it in her mouth and started to chew loudly. Lily wished she would cook the raw meat first. The raw meat looked disgusting, but a barbequed piece of deer might taste like steak. Then she realized that if the dragon tried to cook the meat it would char and still taste bad. All of a sudden, the squeak turned into an even higher-pitched shriek like a violin.
The carcass rose off the ground and began to spin. Bones and pieces of flesh started to fly around it and attach as it magnetized. Amazingly, a full deer baby was revealed until then it began to breathe. It was alive! It descended back to the ground and tried to run away but the dragon caught it in its talons.
Lily trembled. She had never seen anything like this before. Lily was determined to sneak into the cave to discover what was creating such amazing magic. With the dragon distracted by the deer, she snuck away to hide until the dragon had gone asleep. She waited nearby hoping to hear the dragon snore. When she heard the dragon sleeping, she crept back to the cave and tiptoed inside. The cave glowed, a red light. The first thing she saw was the deer! That surprised her! Then she spied a huge jewel in the corner. It was as big as a desk. It was a brilliant red, and the glow was coming from it.
Lily remembered the high-pitched squeaking that had come from the cave, but it was quiet now. There was a very loud sound from outside and then the dragon arrived.
“I smelled you! Can you please go away?” she bellowed.
Lily said, “Why are you guarding this cave?” She had to know.
“If you take that jewel, I will take you,” the dragon said.
Ah ha, thought Lily. The dragon was guarding the jewel. She did not want to touch that jewel for anything. There was something very strange about it. She asked again, ”Why are you guarding that jewel?”
The dragon said, “That jewel is precious. I will guard it with my life.”
Lily wondered why it was so precious. She also wondered what was in this cave that was so magical it could bring an animal back to life. And finally she wondered if she was going to survive this meeting with the dragon. She hoped so…
The “Cliffhanger” End.
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