By 3rd Grade Students at Huff Elementary
May 2020
The dragon guarded his cave. The chipmunk named Margie watched. She knew that the dragon was named John. She had known the dragon her entire life.
Margie was very curious. Despite having known John for oodles of years, she did not know what he was guarding. She had to know. It was her only mission in life.
John was wayyyyy bigger than she was. So huge. Margie was a dark brown color. She thought it was very interesting that John was light blue. If she hadn’t known him all her life, she would never have believed a creature could be that color! He was covered in smooth scales and he could breathe fire. Margie knew he could breathe fire a very far distance, like one hundred feet!
She knew, because many years ago when she was just a little chipmunk, her mom tried to sneak into the cave and find out what John guarded. But John breathed fire on her and she died. Margie grieved for a very long time. She vowed that one day, for her mother, she would find out what was in the cave.
While the dragon’s scales looked very smooth to the touch, his belly looked super rough. Margie thought it might hurt to touch it.
For a mean dragon who had killed her mom, John smelled surprisingly sweet… like a flower. It bothered Margie that he smelled so good when he was such a villain.
Right now, the dragon was shifting around and making loud thunks whenever he moved his legs, but he wasn’t roaring, which Margie thought was a very good thing. When he roared, he shook everything. It was horribly loud, like a fighter jet screaming through the sky.
Suddenly, a wizard walked by, holding a hotdog. He took a big bite out of it. Margie had never eaten a hotdog before, but she thought it would taste like everything she loved—meat, vegetables and nuts. She loved that combination. It was soooo sweet!
Margie had a plan. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake her mom made. She was going to be sneaky. She would tunnel her way into the cave. She started to dig.
She dug and dug. Finally, when she felt that she had dug enough, she worked her way to the surface. When she popped her head out from the tunnel, she saw a big cavern lit by torches. She’d made it into the cave!
There was also a large maze. She suspected she needed to get through the maze to see what the dragon guarded. She had come this far, she would not stop. She entered the maze.
She knew that it was a good idea in a maze to always turn in the same direction. So she kept turning right. Slowly she worked her way through almost the entire maze. But then, when she turned a corner, she ran straight into THE DRAGON!!!
AHHHHHHH!
And when she bumped into the dragon, the dragon did not look happy! Oh no! John was upset! Would he try to torch her too?
The dragon yelled, “What? How did you get in?” But then he paused, and said, “You were very brave. So brave, that I will let you see what’s in the cave.”
John led Margie through a long passage. The passageway opened up into a large pond. And next to the pond was a very big pile of emeralds, diamonds and gold.
Ohhhhhh! thought Margie. John was guarding treasure.
She began to cry. She couldn’t stop. All this time she’d been on a mission. To honor her mom by doing what she had not been able to do. By finding out what the dragon guarded. And now she had accomplished that. It was overwhelming.
John bent over Margie and grabbed her into his arms.
She struggled to break free. “Stop it!” she yelled. “Don’t you dare try to kill me the way you killed my mom!”
“I’m not trying to kill you!” the dragon cried. “I’m trying to hug you.”
Margie looked at the dragon in confusion. He seemed confused too. But why would he be confused. He was the one who had killed her mom.
John set Margie down on the ground. “I’m sorry if I scared you. I realize that I’m huge and you are quite small. I mean you no harm.”
“I would like to be your friend,” he added. “I’m sorry for what I did to your mom. I never meant to hurt anyone.”
“I forgive you,” said Margie. “We are friends.”
They walked back to the cave entrance.
But… the wizard was there.
For a moment, Margie was scared again, but then the wizard said, “Hey, what’s happening? How was your adventure?”
“What are you doing here?” Margie asked. She wasn’t afraid anymore, but she was confused.
“I was the one who brought the treasure here,” said the wizard. “I hired the dragon to guard it.”
They spent some time hanging out and getting to know each other.
Then a comet blasted into the sky.
AHHHHHH! Oh no! thought Margie. A comet.
But the wizard pulled out his wand and blasted the comet back into the cosmos.
“Wow!” yelled Margie. “You saved us.”
“Yes, you did,” yelled the dragon.
“Now we are all friends forever,” cried Margie.
“Yes, we are,” said the wizard.
“Please, wizard, may I ask you for one more favor?” asked Margie.
“Of course,” said the wizard. “Anything for you.”
“Please, can you bring my mother back to life?”
“Oh yes,” said the dragon. “I would appreciate that very much. I don’t like the idea of having killed anyone.”
The wizard smiled. “Of course.” He waved his wand and Margie’s mom poofed back into existence. And she wasn’t a zombie or anything like that! She was just a normal chipmunk mom.
“Woohoo!!” cried Margie. She threw herself at her mom and gave her a giant hug. “Mom, you’ll never guess what was in the cave! It was emeralds, diamonds and gold.”
The End.
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