By 3rd Grade Students at Huff Elementary
March 2021
The dragon guarded his cave. Ayla the cat watched. She wondered what the dragon guarded.
The dragon was huge! At least as big as a bus. He was lavender in color, which Ayla thought was quite pretty. His wings seemed ridiculously big, and they were a lighter lavender in color. His body was covered in shiny lavender scales, and he had spikes on the ends of his wings.
Ayla thought the scales would be rough to the touch and that the dragon would also feel quite spiky.
He smelled like smoke. Ayla wrinkled her nose. She didn’t like smoke. It always made her nose twitch and her eyes burn. He had been growling ever since Ayla got there. She was afraid that he might have seen her. This dragon’s growl felt like a low and constant roar.
ROARRRRRRR.
Ayla’s tail went up. It always did when she was afraid.
Suddenly, the dragon grabbed a hunk of pizza and started to chomp on it. Ayla loved pizza—yummy, gooey, pepperoni cheese goodness. She thought it tasted sour, which was one of her favorite taste sensations.
She was determined to get into the cave and she had a plan for getting into it. She had already built a trap for the dragon. Now she was going to call attention to herself and get the dragon to follow her. When she jumped over the trap, he would fall in!
Ayla put her plan in motion. “Hey dragon!” she yelled. “Want to catch me?” She raced for the trap. The dragon lumbered after her. When she got there, she leapt over the trap.
She turned around to see the dragon fall. But, he didn’t. He jumped over the trap too.
Oh-no!
She kept running. As fast as she could. She started running in circles, big ones, small ones. The dragon followed. She hoped to confuse him and even possibly make him dizzy. Maybe she would be able to lure him to fall again. She got closer and closer to the trap.
When Ayla got to the trap, she jumped it. So did the dragon.
Oh-no! What did she have to do to get rid of this dragon?
Ayla decided to do something a little outrageous. She jumped into the trap herself. It was a very deep hole. When she got to the bottom she began to dig–toward the cave. Her tunnel was way too small for the dragon to get into. This time, she would be able to sneak into the cave without the dragon foiling her plot.
Ayla dug and dug. She dug all the way to the cave. She was able to tell when she got inside because it sounded different to her. More echo-y. She started to dig upward. Finally, she broke ground into the main portion of the cave. She was exhausted. She dragged herself out of the tunnel. Lit torches filled the cave with bright light. She looked around.
There was a cage in the middle of the cavernous space. And someone was in the cage. But who? She creeped near. The creature turned around. It was a cat.
But not just any cat. It was her best friend–Spotty!
Oh no! The dragon had taken her best friend prisoner? This was horrible! But what luck that she was here to save him.
She quickly used her claws to pick the lock! And then she gave him a huge cat hug. “Spotty!” she said. “I’m so glad I came here! Now I can save you.”
“Gosh I’m glad to see you, Ayla!” Spotty cried.
“Follow me!” yelled Ayla. She raced to the tunnel. She jumped down it, and Spotty followed. They crawled through it back to the big hole that was supposed to act as a trap. Once they were there, they helped each other to climb out of the hole.
“We’re almost safely away!” Ayla shouted.
As they dragged themselves onto land, a big shadow loomed over them. The dragon! He had been waiting for them this whole time.
“Run!!!” Spotty cried.
They raced off through the trees, doing their best to hide from the dragon. But he was relentless. He pursued them through the forest, through the desert, through a meadow. He just wouldn’t stop.
They got closer and closer to home, but they were so afraid to bring the dragon there.
Suddenly, a small person showed up in front of them. “Hey, my name is Dude. You seem to be in a spot of trouble. I’ll help you. I shall lure the dragon to a nearby castle—my castle.”
“Oh thank you,” said Ayla. “Spotty, run home and warn everyone about the dragon. I’ll help Dude.”
Dude did jumping jacks to get the dragon’s attention. And it worked. The dragon became very focused on him. He followed Dude, and Ayla followed the dragon. She wouldn’t leave Dude alone to deal with him.
As Ayla watched, Dude lured the dragon into a very tall tower. And then once the dragon was inside, Dude slid out from a window and climbed down the stone wall.
“Oh, woe, woe, woe!” cried the dragon. “My tale of woe – it’s so heart wrenching. You must understand that I’m a terribly sad dragon. My life has been the worst possible one. You cannot imagine. My entire childhood, I never got anything I wanted. You must help me, my sweet small human and adorable cat. You must understand that it’s your job to give me back a life that has some joy in it.”
Dude and Ayla looked at each other. Then they looked at the dragon.
Ayla was not fooled by this tale of woe. “I think you are trying to make us do something foolish. But we will never do it!”
Ayla and Dude left the dragon crying like a little dragon-baby in the tower. They went back to the cat village to let all the cats know they were safe.
And they never returned to the tower.
The End.
Or was it?
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