The Little Dragon
(A little fairy tale)    
By Sara Wadington

There was a princess who loved all things beautiful. She had collections of the finest art and jewels from around the world.  But these things paled to her own beauty, with her long flowing hair of many colors and lovely face.  She would gracefully glide through her castle and around her estate admiring all the things of beauty around her. 

She also had a wonderful garden with all sorts of splendid flowers and trees, built to house her collection of rare and colorful songbirds.  The princess would spend hours in the garden entranced by their lovely songs sitting by the fishpond with the little fountain.   

Early one morning, well before dawn an eagle had picked up a rare tiny purple dragon off a high mountaintop where no man ever dared to venture. The eagle had snatched up this dragon as a meal. But upon realizing it was a dragon, and that dragons are poisonous to eat, the eagle discarded it quite a distance up.  Dropping the poor dragon right into the princess's garden.  Upon landing the dragon was severely injured and lay in the garden recuperating.  Everyday the dragon would see the beautiful princess enter the garden.  And everyday as the little purple dragon grew stronger so did his love for the princess.

Finally one day the dragon felt fairly well, though he was still disabled from the fall and walked with a funny hopping gait, and his dragons voice wasn't what it used to be.  While the princess sat enraptured by the songbirds he let out a sound, and then another and then he began to sing her a dragon love song as she turned to gaze down upon him.  So he sang his song as loud as he could.  But the little dragon hadn't sung in quite some time.  His voice was very hash and raspy, and all off key.  He didn't notice that all the birds had stopped singing. And the princess had a look of horror on her face! "What a dreadful noise you make! Go away little toad!"   His little eyes widened in such a look of sorrow.   The little dragon was so broken-hearted as he hoped off and away from the beautiful princess. She thought he was just a toad of all things.  And he realized how bad his voice must have sounded to her. He stopped and turned while standing on the edge of the fishpond, and was about to tell her he wasn't a toad. But then he slipped and fell backwards into the pond making such a gigantic splash that the princess was doused with green murky pond water.  Well, with that, she cried out and banned him from the garden forever.  "You horrid little toad now look what you've done, you've ruined my finest dress! Don't ever let me see you again!"  And with that she stormed out of the garden, leaving a trail of pond water behind her.

The turtles from the pond gathered around the poor broken-hearted dragon, and the birds also came down to comfort him.  For they all had grown to like him, and told him to just stay hidden until he was well enough to travel on.  If he were quiet the princess would never notice.  So that is what the little dragon did.

Well, as the months went by the princess became sick with a rare illness.  The village healer told her the only cure was a single tear drop of a very rare tiny purple dragon that lived high in the mountains to the east, and as he described the dragon her heart sank. 

That wasn't a toad she had banished from her garden, it was the dragon that so many months ago now she had so cruelly told to go.

So she issued forth an order to find this dragon, and everyone searched high and low.  But the dragon stayed hidden because he thought they were hunting him to be rid of him

So with time she grew weaker, but yet, everyday she would manage to go to the garden, which had become overgrown with weeds do to lack of care, to cry by the pond. Her beauty faded with the illness, but the little dragon never noticed.  He had been quietly hiding in the garden all this time.  He watched now with sorrow in his heart for her. The little dragon did not know what the matter was, as he watched quietly from the bushes by the fishpond. He would never reveal himself, for fear of another wrathful banishment.  He was content to just watch her from afar.

Finally one day as she sat in the garden she took one last breath and fell to the ground.  The dragon upon seeing this approached her.  He longed for just a touch, so he carefully limped over to her and up against her lips he touched his face ever so gently as her life faded from her, his dragon tears fell upon her.  With one last look at his beautiful princess lying at peace in her garden he turned and limped away. He left her garden never to return. He could no longer live where his love had died and went back to the mountaintop from which he came.  He did not know as he was leaving that just one tear from his eye had touched her lips. Her heart began to beat again, and as if in a fog she saw as her eyes opened the little purple dragon limping out of the garden and down the path, disappearing from view.

And slowly the princess did recover, but she never saw the dragon again.  Though she always looked around the pond every time she was in the garden just hoping to see him.  She wished she could thank him for saving her life, and how sorry she was for being so cruel to him.  But she never got the chance. So the princess had a beautiful pendant made to look like the dragon with diamonds and gold and a large amethyst stone, which she wore everyday. And as she told the story to her children and their children’s children she showed them the pendant. For of all the things of beauty, there is nothing more beautiful in its divine nature than pure love. Till the end of her days she never forgot the little purple dragon.

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