The Mouse And The Dragon
Stanten S., 12, Texas, USA
The moral of my fable: Treat others how you would like to be treated.
My Fable: The Fire-Breathing Dragon roared, spitting fire everywhere. A small armadillo scurried away with its tail on fire. The dragon, having vanquished it’s enemy, curled up inside its wings. “At last.” It murmured. A drop of fire dripped from its red eyes. “I am alone. All alone…” It stood up and roared.
Mouse awoke with a start. Another poor animal defeated by the dragon. He thought when he heard the familiar roar of victory. When will this stop? Then, he got an idea. All of the other animals who have entered have been big and strong. What they need is a small, fast spy to get in and out and bring them information!
The next day, Mouse talked to the King of AnimalVille. “Sir, I believe that I can do it.” The King stared at him with his bald eagle eyes. “You?” “I’ll gather information. And then we can plan an attack. Since I’m so small, I can get in for long enough to find out what its weaknesses are, and it won’t even see me.” Bald Eagle looked up. “That might work. But if it sees you, you’re literally burnt toast!”
* * * * *
Mouse looked at the cave. He glanced back at the town behind him. This might be the only time I ever see it again. He tried to swallow the large lump in his throat and plunged in.
For hours, he saw nothing but darkness. Then, an orangey glow began to fill the tunnel. Soon, Mouse burst into a large chamber filled with piles of… tissues? Mouse was perplexed. I thought Dragons horded gold, not Kleenexes. He looked around. Where is the dragon, anyways? Then, he heard a sound almost like… crying? Something was seriously off here.
He climbed up one of the Kleenex mounds and gazed upon the mountains of tissues. He saw the gigantic red dragon huddled amongst them, blowing her nose. Tears of flame were streaming down her face. “Why?” She sobbed. “Why won’t anybody be my friend?” She blew her nose again and tossed the ashes into another pile. “Everybody who comes in here tries to hurt me. Why?”
Mouse decided to go down there. He slid down the pile of Kleenexes. “I don’t want to hurt you!” He said. The dragon’s eyes widened. “Who’s there?” She roared. “P-please don’t come closer!” She squinted. Mouse stood right in front of her. When she saw him, she jumped. “Please don’t hurt me!” She cried. Then she realized what she was looking at. “Hey, you can’t hurt me. You’re too small!” Mouse waved. “Hi there! I’m Mouse! Nice to meet you.”
“I think I know why nobody is your friend.” Mouse said. “Really?” Dragon’s eyes filled with hope. “Why?” she lifted him up to her level with her claw. “Woah!” cried Mouse. “This is fun!” He brushed off his fur and looked Dragon straight in the eye. “Nobody is your friend because you attack them.” He said. Dragon looked puzzled. “But they attack me.” She said. “Only because they are afraid of you. I now know that you only fry us because you’re afraid of us.” He made hand gestures as he talked.
“Let me tell you about the Golden Rule.” He said. “What’s the Golden Rule?” Dragon said. Mouse replied, “Allow me to explain; The Golden Rule says that you should treat others how you would like to be treated.” An expression of understanding passed over Dragon’s face. “So, if I want people to like me, I have to stop breathing fire at them.”
Then one solitary tear of fire dripped from her eye. “But it’s too late. Everyone is so afraid of me that they won’t give me another chance. I’m going to be friendless forever!” She started bawling her eyes out. Mouse tapped his finger on his chin and then snapped them. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that!”
* * * * *
Bald Eagle relaxed, feet kicked up in a comfy recliner in his three-tree castle, watching the crowds gather to see if Mouse would make it out. I sure hope Mouse makes it! He thought. He took a sip of coffee and walked into the kitchen. As he microwaved some wonderfully delicious Salmon Casserole, he heard pounding on his tree. He walked over. His assistant, Golden Eagle, stood there, eyes wide. “Sir, you have got to see this!” Bald Eagle ran out onto the balcony. The fire dragon was flying towards his tree-castle! It landed next to his tree. And Mouse stood on its back! “How’s this for a battle plan?” Mouse yelled. “Yes!” Bald Eagle cried. “Good job, my friend!”
The Fire Dragon and the citizens lived Happily Ever After.
The Penguin And The Polar Bear
By Joshua R., 10, Florida
The moral of my fable: It is best to do today’s work today rather than to wait until later.
My Fable: There once was a hard working penguin named Kronk and a very lazy polar bear named Duffy.
Kronk would catch fish for his family, gather material for the nest and he would always take the trash to the dump. On the other hand, Duffy, Kronk’s neighbor had fish delivered to his igloo and never took the trash to the dump.
One day the town got news of a blizzard coming the next day. So, Kronk got to work preparing the for the storm. He caught extra fish and took the trash to the dump. After that, he went to Duffy’s igloo to see how he was faring. When Kronk neared Duffy’s house the stench of rotten fish ran up his nose because Duffy had not hauled the trash to the dump for weeks. Kronk told Duffy he should go fishing because the delivery truck was broken down and could not make it before the blizzard. He should also take the trash away. After Kronk left, Duffy reluctantly went fishing thinking he would take care of the trash in morning before the storm hit.
In the morning Duffy woke to loud banging on his window. As he looked out he saw things blowing over his fence and into the street. The blizzard had come earlier than he thought and he realized he should have hauled his trash to the dump yesterday, but it was too late. His trash had blown all over town in the storm. The town made Duffy pick up all the trash. Kronk, the good neighbor as always, offered to help. While they were picking up trash, Duffy admitted he should have taken Kronk’s advice.
After that day, Duffy always took the trash away and even caught his own fish. He had learned the perils of being lazy.