By 3rd Grade Students at Bubb Elementary
September 2015
The dragon guarded her cave. A huge pack of hunting dogs watched. Their leader was a female. Her name was Layla. Layla wondered what the dragon guarded.
The dragon was violet-colored with sky blue wings. She was at least three times bigger than Layla. Layla had never seen a dragon before. She thought the creature looked a lot like a flying snake—a really big one! The dragon had huge ears—way bigger than the biggest dog ears. She had five horns on the top of her head. She was breathing green fire. The horns looked hard and sharp. Layla thought the dragon’s skin would be rough and scaly. The fire the dragon breathed was an inferno like the the earth’s outer core. The dragon stunk of burnt ashes. The smell was really strong. Layla didn’t like it. She wrinkled her nose.
Layla and the other 39 dogs in her pack were hiding in a forest. She didn’t think the dragon had seen them. The dragon was puffing…pfuff—pfuff—pfuff! She thought it was the dragon’s way of breathing. At least Layla hoped it was just a form of breathing and not an indication that the dragon knew they were near.
She was having a hard time keeping these dogs quiet. They kept barking. She did warning barks, trying to shush them.
The dragon was munching on a pile of poison ivy. Layla refused to eat anything remotely like a plant. Ick! The ivy had to taste as bad as ashes.
Layla and her pack waited patiently. She hoped that after eating the dragon would fall asleep. Sure enough an hour later the dragon collapsed in a heap and snored loudly. Layla commanded her pack to stay.
She tiptoed past the dragon into the cave. It was pitch dark. Once her eyes adjusted, she saw a teensy mouse. He jumped high into the air—so high that Layla couldn’t see him anymore until he suddenly landed. When he landed, Layla saw the huge mound of gold behind him.
Ohhhhhhh, she thought. I can be rich if I steal that gold. In fact, my whole pack can be rich. We just have to take the gold from the mouse and the dragon.
The mouse said, “I can tell that you are thinking about stealing my gold. But I warn you, that is a terrible idea. If you attempt to steal this gold it will turn to coal.”
At his words, Layla realized how bad it was to steal. “I’m sorry mouse. I will return to my pack. Your gold is safe from me.”
Layla tiptoed back out of the cave and straight into the dragon who was very much awake!
“What are you doing in my cave?” the dragon asked.
Layla didn’t say a word. Instead she ran around the dragon in circles as fast as she could, hoping to make the dragon dizzy. It worked! The dragon spun around and fell to the ground.
Layla peeled off and sprinted to her pack. The dragon stood and followed. She took to the air. Suddenly, Layla was picked up by the dragon, caught in her monstrous talons. The dragon brought Layla back to the cave and imprisoned her in a fire cage. Layla was terrified. She trembled. She thought all was lost. She was doomed.
Then she heard a familiar croak. “Your friends tell me you are in a spot of trouble!” The creature who spoke was Spark the Frog! She was a magical frog, and she was Layla’s very good friend.
She twitched a leg and the fire disappeared. Layla was saved! She ran with the frog out of the cave and back to her pack, without the dragon noticing. The joyous pack ran leaping and jumping and barking all the way though the forest.
Suddenly, there was a huge boom! “Avalanche!” Layla cried. The frog twitched and created a shield. Snow came down all around them, but the shield saved them….for now.
The “Cliffhanger” End.
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