A Story of Friendship, an adaptation

There once stood a beautiful castle on top of a hill. Underneath its stone floors, inside the dark caves of the hill there lived a dragon named Henry.

Henry lived underneath the castle for many years quietly watching the king and queen rule over their kingdom. Many times he had tried making friends with them and the villagers living in the kingdom, but each time he did, a ball of fire would come out of his mouth instead of words. Everybody would scream with fright and run away from him as fast as they could. Now, even at the smallest sight of him, people scurry away trying to avoid him. He was a very lonely dragon.

One day, Henry was resting in his cave when he heard tiny footsteps approaching. Henry stood up and wondered who it could be. The sound stopped and in the doorway of his cave stood a little princess. He had never seen the princess before for she was always told to avoid the scary dragon living underneath the castle.

The princess looked up at him. And then she gave him a great big smile.

“Hello, dragon. My name is Princess Eliza. What is your name?” she asked him brightly.

Henry stayed quiet for he knew that if he opened his mouth, a ball of fire would come out and frighten her away.

Princess Eliza stepped closer and said, “Mother said I might find you here below. Would you like to come outside and play?”

Henry didn’t want to be mean to her, but he kept his mouth tightly shut and shook his head. The princess bowed her head sadly, her eyes filling with tears.

“Then, I guess I shall go. Good night, dragon,” said Princess Eliza and she slowly turn around to leave.

As she walked slowly out of the cave, Henry felt so bad at having lost what would have been his first friend that he opened his mouth to call on her. In an instant, a big ball of fire flew out and hit the wall next to the princess. Princess Eliza screamed and ducked out of the cave just in time. Filled with horror and embarrassment, Henry ran deep into his cave and hid in the shadows. He had scared the friendly princess away and he feared she would never come back.

The next morning, as Henry dreamed of finding a way to make friends without breathing fire, he once again heard small footsteps entering his cave. He opened his eyes to see the Princess Eliza pulling a wagon carrying big buckets full of water. Henry looked wonderingly at the tiny princess, surprised that she had come back to see him.

“Good morning, dragon,” Princess Eliza said, “I brought a surprise for you.”

Pointing to the water, she said, “I told my mother that you couldn’t talk because of all the fire in your belly and she said that water puts out fire. So, I brought you lots of water to put the fire out so you could tell me your name.”

Henry was shocked. Princess Eliza had gone to all this trouble so she could know his name.

Slowly, he walked up to the buckets and took a long drink of cool water. The water felt good in his stomach.

“So, what’s your name, dragon?” Princess Eliza asked.

Henry shook his head. What if it hadn’t worked and he breathed fire again?

Princess Eliza moved closer. “Come on, say something,” she said.

Henry opened his mouth. Instead of a great ball of fire, out came a tiny puff of smoke. “My name is Henry,” he said slowly giving the princess a shy smile.

Princess Eliza smiled back and answered, “Nice to meet you Henry. Would you like to be my friend?”

“Oh, yes.” Henry happily replied.

Together, they walked out into the village to play, but as soon as everyone saw Henry they ran away screaming. Princess Eliza quickly went about and told everyone about the fire in Henry’s belly and that she had made him drink water to put the fire out. The villagers stopped and turned to face them. Henry took a long drink from the nearby lake before apologizing for having scared them. The people looked at him with joy and started to cheer.

To this day, Henry goes about playing with the children and helping the people all around the village. Everyone loves Henry and he has many friends. Each morning, before going out of his cave, he takes a long drink from the lake so he could speak without scaring anyone. And in the wintertime, he goes without water so that he could make fire to warm everyone. Henry is no longer a lonely dragon.