There once lived a brave knight who was always saving princesses.
One day he rode by a tower with a princess inside and a horrible
dragon nearby. The knight charged at the dragon and drove him off.
Victorious, he burst through the tower door and found the princess.
"I am here to save you!" said the brave knight.
"Save me from what?" asked the princess, looking angrily at her
broken door.
"Why, the horrible dragon that I chased away, of course," said the
brave knight.
"That dragon was my pet and there's nothing horrible about him!" she
yelled. "You'd better get him back or you'll never be a knight
again," she said (and she meant it).
The brave knight left right away to find the dragon that he was no
longer allowed to call horrible. The dragon was already miles away
because dragons fly quickly after a knight charges at them. It took
the knight days to find the dragon who was resting in a cave. The
brave knight crept up on the beast as he slept.
The dragon was having such a wonderful dream that fire came shooting
out of his nose. (You see, dragons breathe fire when they are scared
and angry, but also when they are very happy.) The fire made the
brave knight's armor extremely hot, so he started removing it until
he was wearing only the raggedy clothes underneath. He took his
armor and horse outside before waking the dragon.
"Excuse me," said the knight to the dragon.
"Mmmrph," said the dragon. "I've been chased from my home by a
horrible knight. Leave me alone!"
"That's awful," said the brave knight, realizing that the dragon did
not recognize him, "but maybe it was just a mistake. What if the
knight is not so horrible after all?"
"He is the most horrible knight ever!" answered the dragon. "I hope
I never see him again."
"If you take me to your home, I will talk to him for you and sort
all of this out," said the knight.
Before they left, the knight snuck outside, set his armor on the
horse, and told it to ride back to the tower. Riding on top of the
dragon, it did not take long for the knight to find the princess's
tower.
"I don't see him," said the knight, "where is the horrible knight?"
"I don't know," said the dragon.
After a few short hours of looking for the knight, they saw a horse
who came riding up to them, carrying shiny armor on his back (horses
are much faster without knights riding on them).
"That is the horse and that is the armor of the horrible knight,"
said the dragon.
"Oh no," said the knight, "It looks like he is gone. A knight does
not usually leave his horse or take off his armor. But what will
become of his kingdom? The townspeople will need a new knight to
fight for them."
"You could take over for him!" said the dragon who was now so happy
that fire shot out of his nose again.
So the knight put on the armor, and it fit extremely well. He hopped
on the horse and rode it perfectly. The dragon was very impressed.
With the pet dragon now safely home, the brave knight went inside to
tell the princess the good news.
"That's fantastic!" said the princess, "Now you have time to fix
that door that you broke."
As the brave knight fixed the tower door, the dragon watched him and
laid down for a nap. The dragon felt much better knowing that
despite the same armor, this new knight was not so horrible.