The Book of Dragons Read Online Free PDF Page A

but like all other animals, he could understand well enough when he liked.
    “Can I get you anything?” asked Tom, politely.
    The dragon opened his purple eyes with an inquiring smile.
    “A bun or two, now,” said Tom, coaxingly; “there’s a beautiful bun-tree quite close.”
    The dragon opened a great purple mouth and licked his purple lips, so Tom ran and shook the bun-tree, and soon came back with an armful of fresh currant buns, and as he came he picked a few of the Bath kind which grow on the low bushes near the pillar.
    Because, of course, another consequence of the island’s having spun the wrong way is that all the things we have to make—buns and cakes and shortbread—grow on trees and bushes, but in Rotundia they have to make their cauliflowersand cabbages and carrots and apples and onions, just as our cooks make puddings and turnovers.
    Tom gave all the buns to the dragon, saying:
    “Here, try to eat a little. You’ll soon feel better then.”
    The dragon ate up the buns, nodded rather ungraciously, and began to lick his wing again. So Tom left him, and went back to the town with the news, and everyone was so excited at a real live dragon’s being on the island—a thing which had never happened before—that they all went out to look at it, instead of going to the prize-giving, and the Lord Chief Schoolmaster went with the rest. Now, he had Tom’s prize, the
History of Rotundia
, in his pocket—the one bound in calf, with the royal arms on the cover—and it happened to drop out, and the dragon ate it, so Tom never got the prize after all. But the dragon, when he had got it, did not like it.
    “Perhaps it’s all for the best,” said Tom. “I might not have liked that prize either, if I had got it.”
    It happened to be a Wednesday, so when the Princess’s friends were asked what they would like to do, all the little dukes and marquises and earls said, “Let’s go and see the dragon.” But the little duchesses and marchionesses and countesses said they were afraid.
    Then Princess Mary Ann spoke up royally, and said, “Don’t be silly, because it’s only in fairy stories and historiesof England, and things like that, that people are unkind and want to hurt each other. In Rotundia everyone is kind, and no one has anything to be afraid of, unless they’re naughty; and then we know it’s for our own good. Let’s all go and see the dragon. We might take him some acid-drops.”
    So they went. And all the titled children took it in turns to feed the dragon with acid-drops, and he seemed pleased and flattered, and wagged as much of his purple tail as he could get at conveniently; for it was a very, very long tail indeed. But when it came to the Princess’s turn to give an acid-drop to the dragon, he smiled a very wide smile, and wagged his tail to the very last long inch of it, as much as to say, “Oh, you nice, kind, pretty little Princess.” But deep down in his wicked purple heart he was saying, “Oh, you nice,
fat
, pretty little Princess, I should like to eat you instead of these silly acid-drops.” But, of course, nobody heard him except the Princess’s uncle, and he was a magician, and accustomed to listening at doors. It was part of his trade.
    Now, you will remember that I told you there was
one
wicked person in Rotundia, and I cannot conceal from you any longer that this Complete Bad was the Princess’s Uncle James. Magicians are always bad, as you know from your fairy books, and some uncles are bad, as you see by the
Babes in the Wood, or The Norfolk Tragedy
, and one James at leastwas bad, as you have learned from your English history. And when anyone is a magician, and is also an uncle, and is named James as well, you need not expect anything nice from him. He is a Three Fold Complete Bad—and he will come to no good.
    Uncle James had long wanted to get rid of the Princess, and have the kingdom to himself. He did not like many things—a nice kingdom was almost the only