“Once upon a time,” Mama began.

And very far away…

…There was a kingdom, ruled by a very good king.

The people who lived there, were very prosperous and happy.

One day a fearsome dragon, which roosted under the mountain,

Took notice of their kingdom, and began to think dark thoughts.

All the treasures of men, eventually end in the hoards the dragons,

But this dragon was impatient, and did not wish to wait.

She experienced terrible envy, seeing the people so happy;

The dragon desired the astonishing treasure, which provided such joy as she had never felt.

She set out from her mountain, and went to the king’s castle;

The dragon approached at night; she flew with great stealth.

“But the dragon was spotted!” Vero interjected.

A girl had climbed up to the tallest tower in the whole castle.

She saw the dragon, and warned all the soldiers.

She shouted down to them,

‘Hey you lazy louts! Don’t you know there’s a dragon coming?’

And then they all had to jump into their rusty armor right quick,

Because they had all been eating, and drinking, and making jolly,

Instead of training and keeping the peace as they really ought to have been.

The militia all rode out with their lances, and their swords, and their axes.

The dragon swooped down on them, and plucked them up in its great claws.

It flew way up into the air, and tossed them away over the hills.

Then it smashed back down, and crumpled up the men like dry fallen leaves.

It grabbed them in its mouth, and crunched them up in its jaws.

The cavalry tilted at it, but their lances all broke against its hard scales.

The dragon roared, and all the horses took fright and threw their riders.

The dragon took a great breath…

Vero imitated a dragon drawing in breath, to make her part of the story seem more dramatic.

…And then it blew fire over all of them, and burnt them to a crisp.

So, then more troops came out, with crossbows and trebuchets.

And also, the king’s war wizards came out with them too.

There were catapults loaded with massive great stones,

And the wizards set them alight with magic fire.

They fired the flaming boulders, but the dragon dodged them.

Then it smashed all the big war machines into splinters.

Crossbow bolts pelted the dragon from all sides.

None of them hurt the monster at all though.

The war wizards called down lightning on the dragon.

And that did hurt it…

So, the dragon got very mad.

It beat its wings so fast that it knocked all the wizards off the city wall.

Splat!

Vero couldn’t really think of anything else that should happen, so she stopped and Mama took over once again.

The dragon perched on the castle wall, and roared to the king,

‘See the destruction I have wrought.’

‘Now show me, king of men,’

‘Where is your precious treasure?’

The king brought out all his gold, and all his silver…

…But there was nothing there unlike that which the dragon already possessed.

The dragon became very wrathful;

She demanded that the king tell her, 'What do you prize most in your entire kingdom?'

The king replied, ‘My daughter,’

‘She is more beautiful, than all the wealth in my keep;’

‘She is more precious, than all the treasures in my vaults.’

‘For if anything were to take her from me, she could never be replaced.’

The dragon smiled at the king, and with great cruelty said,

‘Then give her to me, and I promise I will leave.’

‘Otherwise, I will burn down your castle around you;’

‘I will slay your people; I will lay waste to your fields.’

‘I will reap such destruction, that all men will know,”

‘And no one will ever return here.’

The king was very frightened,

Yet he could not bear, to lose his dear daughter.

However, the princess also heard the dragon's words,

And she could not bear, to see her people come to any further harm.

The king forbade her to leave the castle,

But the princess knew many clever paths, and many ways to avoid her father’s guards.

The princess loved a man in the city, whom she would often visit,

But she could not marry him, because he was only a blacksmith’s apprentice.

She went to see her love;

She told him of her intention, to give herself to the dragon.

The smith’s apprentice pleaded with her not to go;

He begged her to stay hidden, so the dragon could not find her.

But the princess told him, have faith in the gods,

And that all would be well, in the end.

The princess went to the dragon, and called out ‘Here I am!’

The dragon looked at the princess, and found her beautiful.

But of course, dragons are eternal,

And she knew eventually age, would take its toll on the princess.

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The dragon also looked at the king, and at his people;

She saw them weep, when they discovered the valiant princess’ sacrifice.

Witnessing their misery, satisfied her envy;

The dragon took the princess carefully in her claws, and flew away.

The king was fraught with fear, he was plagued with panic;

He began to pull out his beard, and started to lose his hair.

He put out a call for a great hero, anyone gallant enough to come to his aid;

A grand tournament was announced, and the winner would face the dragon.

If the warrior could rescue his daughter, the king solemnly proclaimed:

'The savior will be given the princess hand in marriage, no matter who he may be.'

All the greatest knights in the realm, came when they heard the call;

Their shining armor gleamed in the sun; their spurs jangled as they rode.

They wore coats of arms on their tabards, and trailed them on colorful banners from their lances;

All but one knight on a tired old horse, whom no one recognized.

This knight’s armor was plain, he carried no standard…

…And he never removed his helm.

“But Mama, why would the king hold a tournament in the first place?” Vero asked.

“You usually like tournaments, dear one. You asked me to include more of them in the stories we tell.”

“I do like them, Mama. It’s only that- well, why doesn’t the king just send all the knights at once and kill the dragon that way?”

“Because the dragon would see a big horde of knights coming, and might gobble up the princess before they got there. And anyway, the whole army already failed to defeat the dragon, remember? What they need to rescue the princess is a great hero.”

Vero nodded. She hadn’t thought of that. She was often surprised just how much wisdom Mama had. “Ah, I see. Um… give me a moment…”

Oh! Oh! And for the tournament they put up a great big arena…

Away from all the fires and bodies left by the battle, probably.

And the knights all got onto their great big warhorses, and raced at each other;

They smashed their lances against each other’s shields, and sent themselves flying.

One knight was very masterful at tilting.

He broke lance after lance, and no one could knock him down.

So, a greedy knight decided to try and impale him through the back,

But the valiant knight heard the evil one behind him.

He stood up in his saddle, and leapt right off his horse!

He grabbed the backstabber, and pulled him off his mount!

Once they were wrestling fair in the mud,

The chivalrous knight easily pinned down the evil one.

Once everyone had seen that he’d won,

He killed the dishonorable coward, by stabbing him all over with his dagger.

And then there was a great big melee,

And one of the knights had a huge axe! He swung with both hands!

One of the knights, he clobbered another with a great big mace,

And I think he probably also had to use both his hands.

The honorable knights all met in the center, and battled with their swords;

Until the big giant with the axe came,

And they all had to wallop on him together to bring him down,

And then they all went back to slashing at each other again.

A big group of bad knights all had one good knight surrounded,

And he had to duck out of the way as they swung at him,

And then he had to beat each of them in a row;

Just like one, two, three!

The crowd were all cheering very loudly for him…

But then the one with the mace charged!

The mace knight knocked him down, and started to pummel the good knight!

But then the good knight turned them over, and started to thump the bad knight!

Vero paused to catch her breath and think of something else exciting to happen. She allowed Mama to take over again in the meantime.

“And in the end, after all the excitement was over…”

It was only the mystery knight, who was left standing;

The king commended him, and declared him the winner.

The crowd wished to behold his face, the face which would rescue the princess,

Or at least, perish very bravely in the attempt.

However, the knight refused, saying,

‘I shall remove my helm, only when I return your princess to you.’

The king found this very strange, he pondered what it could mean,

But he chose to respect the knight’s wishes.

The enigmatic warrior set out at once, he left for the dragon’s lair;

The lonely peak rose up, it towered high above him.

The knight stopped, and then dismounted;

His stallion was brave enough to stand beside him, but he bade it to stay.

The dragon’s lair would have tight walls, it’s floors would be uneven;

It was no place for a cavalier and his charger, the knight went on alone.

A single winding road led up, it ended at a cavern mouth;

The cave glowed with red and orange, from an unseen fire somewhere within.

The knight drew his sword, and ventured on with great bravery,

But he stopped to stare in wonder, at the massive dragon-size of the entrance.

The brave knight saw and realized; he was only an insect to her;

Regardless he continued forwards, in search of the illumination.

The strange glinting light led him on, like a will-o-the-wisp;

Until at last, he found the source…

Gold! A whole pile of it!

Just lying there, spread across the floor!

The knight began to rush forward, eager to lay hands on it at once;

Before remembering himself, and his reason for being there.

He advanced cautiously, with his shield raised,

And he did not weigh himself down, with the material treasures of this world.

As he drew onwards, he saw more gold behind the first pile;

Silver, jewels, and gemstones as well.

Past that pile there was another, and then another,

And the knight realized, he beheld only the thinnest outer traces of a hoard.

All he saw there were but a few scraps, carelessly discarded for their paltry worth;

A trail leading to caverns, unthinkable in their scope,

The dragon’s vaults stretched, down deep into the earth;

Each vast enough to accommodate, the great halls of a hundred castles within.

Suddenly, there was a rush of air,

And a horrible sound, coming up from the unseen depths.

The knight could hear something below, he heard the great dragon bellow,

And he started to climb, down a cliff face of marble statues.

The knight’s feet settled, in a desert of precious golden sand;

He slipped and slid, over drifts and dunes of coin and pearls.

At last, he found the dragon;

She roosted over a great forge, and heated it with her own fire.

Inside the forge was contained, a great mass of molten gold,

And beside it, was the captured princess.

The dragon knew, that human beauty is only ever temporary,

And so she intended, to cast the princess in gold.

The pure form of the princess, would thus be preserved for all eternity;

An endless sacrifice of perfect love, the centerpiece of her collection.

The knight stepped forwards; he challenged the dragon;

He raised his sword up high, and swung it with all his might.

But a dragon’s scales can be pierced, by no weapon of mortal make;

The blade shattered against the dragon’s hide, as any sword must.

The dragon laughed. ‘Ser Knight, you see,’

‘No weapon forged by mortal hands, can penetrate my armor.’

‘But look here, Ser Knight, I have jaws that bite.’

She snapped her jaws, but the knight held his courage.

‘And look here, Ser Knight, I have claws that catch.’

And she flashed her claws, but the knight still held his courage.

Vero made urgent signs to Mama that she wanted to continue the story again.

“And… and then…” Vero started off haltingly. “...And then, the dragon pounced at her- at- at the knight, I mean.”

The dragon pounced at her;

Like the way a cat pounces at a mouse.

But the knight jumped away, at just the very last moment!

Treasure was sent flying everywhere.

The dragon chased after her- after the knight…

…But she slid away, riding on her shield like a sled!

And ahead of her, she saw another sword in the treasure,

And it was glowing, because it was magic.

The knight swooped over towards it,

And she reached out, and grabbed it as she slid right by.

Behind her, the knight heard the dragon taking a deep breath;

It was about to breathe its fire at her!

But she spun around and raised her shield, and blocked the whole blast of fire!

She took the magic sword, and the dragon was surprised!

And she stabbed it right in the heart!

Because it was a magic sword and not a mortal one, the dragon fell over and died!

The good knight won!

“The knight was victorious,” Mama began very seriously.

But before she could climb, back up to the princess;

She stopped, and she drank some of the dragon’s blood.

At that moment, the knight heard the song of nature,

For that one brief moment, she saw eternity as the dragon did.

As the dragon lay dying, she told the knight,

‘Now you have seen the world, as it truly is.’

‘Though you may return to your castle, you can never go home again.’

And the dragon died.

The knight returned to the princess,

And they both traveled back to the castle together.

The people had heard echoes of the great battle,

And they feared that the brave knight had been killed.

Suddenly a cry went up;

The knight and the princess had returned!

The knight rode to the castle in triumph, with the jubilant populace at her back;

They stood before the king, who embraced his daughter.

Then he asked the unknown hero, to show them all their face;

Slowly, the knight removed the helm,

And revealed…

Mama smiled and paused for Vero, who nearly exploded with excitement.

It was the girl!

The one in the tower who warned the soldiers!

She was the princess’ sister, who was just as pretty,

But also strong too, she was just like Aaja the huntress!

She knew the other knights weren’t any good.

So, she had to save her sister herself.

Mama picked up the narrative again seamlessly.

And because the second princess, obviously, couldn’t marry her own sister,

She told their father that she wanted her elder sister, to marry whomever she wished.

The elder princess ran at once, to the smith’s apprentice,

At last, they could finally be married!

For you see, it was he, who had made the plain-yet-sturdy armor,

And it was he, who had cared for the old horse, when its master had abandoned it.

The second princess explained, how he had given her these things,

So that she would have everything she needed, to rescue her sister.

There was a grand wedding, and everyone celebrated;

Except, for the second princess.

She found she could no longer enjoy her old simple pleasures, not as she once did,

And she remembered, the dragon’s final words to her.

At last, she donned her armor, mounted her horse…

…And vanished into the night.

The king and his people were very sad, that their heroine had disappeared,

But the princess told them all, that her sister had gone on to greater things.

This answer satisfied the king, and his people,

And together, they all lived happily ever after.