Week 5 Story: The Killing of the Dragon
Once upon a time there was a ferocious dragon with great claws, massive teeth, and sharp horns. This dragon was the terror of the land, brutal and merciless, killing everyone who crossed his path without cause. His favorite place to prowl for unsuspecting victims was the main road to the village of King's Outlook, right where the road curved into the forest. This trap was inconvenient for some, terrifying for most, and outright maddening for the King, because his palace was just outside King's Outlook.
"We must do something," the King said one day to his advisors. He was pacing back and forth in the throne room, almost ready to tear out his hair. "Trade is almost at a standstill in this town--no merchants want to chance an attack with the dragon."
"You're right, we must do something," his advisors agreed.
The King stroked his beard thoughtfully. "We need to remove the dragon. What if we set a bounty on his head?"
"Yes, yes, we need to remove him. A bounty would do it," the advisors said, stroking their own beards.
So the King sent heralds to the far ends of his kingdom with a single message: he who defeats the dragon will receive the King's daughter in marriage, becoming heir to the entire kingdom. The dragon-slayer just needed to present the dragon's claws, teeth, and horns to the King as a token of his victory.
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The news spread quickly, far and wide throughout the kingdom until it reached the ears of a young knight. The knight, full of hot blood and visions of kissing the princess's hand, shouldered his sword and set off immediately. He didn't know if he would make it back alive, but he knew he had to prove himself, to test his mettle against the beast. It was a two days' hard ride, although his resolve never cooled.
By the time he reached the forest, he had a plan.
At the edge of the tree line, he selected a handful of sharp stones and put them in his satchel. Then, before he could change his mind, the knight entered the forest.
Instantly, the dragon was before him, blocking the path. "Well hello, little one," the creature hissed.
The knight saw the dragon's tail twitching and knew what was about to happen. "O mighty beast, don't ignite your powerful flames!" He raised his hands.
"Oh?" The dragon just chuckled, but his tail stilled regardless. "And why should I do that?"
"Because you've finally met your match," the knight responded.
Fortunately for the knight, the dragon was more amused at this proclamation than anything. "Go on."
"You think you're the first dragon I've seen?" (This dragon was the first one he'd seen, but the dragon didn't know that.) "I've already fought a dozen at least. I know I will defeat you because I already have."
"Prove it," the dragon sneered.
The knight opened his satchel carefully, exposing the sharp stones in the bottom. "See these teeth?" (They were merely stones, but the dragon didn't know that.) "These are the teeth of each of the dragons I've had mercy on. You don't want to know what happened to the ones who refused to surrender."
Now, dragons are famous for their poor eyesight, so when the dragon peered into the knight's satchel, he truly believed that there were five dragon teeth inside. Involuntarily, he began to tremble. "So what?" the dragon roared defiantly. "I'm not like those other dragons--I'm more powerful than all of them combined!"
"I can see that," the knight said. "How about this: I'll strike you a deal. In exchange for all of your teeth, one of your claws, and one of your horns, I'll let you go free without a fight."
Although the dragon didn't want to lose some of his weapons, he didn't believe that he would get a better offer from the knight, so he agreed. The dragon didn't make a sound as the knight twisted out the beast's teeth, trimmed off a claw, and sawed off a horn, and the knight found himself glad that he didn't have to kill the creature today.
The two parted ways under this fateful pact in an unsteady truce. The knight went straight to the King's palace and presented him with the teeth, claw, and horn. The King made good on his promise, and the knight fell in love with the princess, married her, and together they ruled the kingdom after the King's death. For the long duration of his rule, the knight was known for his wisdom, wit, and mercy.
The dragon, bereft of teeth and bleeding profusely, staggered into his cave, laid down his great head, and died in his sleep. His reign of terror was at an end. The kingdom was free.
Author's Note: The story that I adapted for this retelling was "The Killing of the Tiger," which is originally from Santal Folklore. In this story, a tiger is terrorizing the people by prowling along a path and killing anyone who travels on it. The Raja puts a bounty on the tiger, eventually raising it so that the one who kills the tiger would be rewarded with half of the Raja's kingdom. A shikari takes the Raja up on his offer, and sets out to kill the tiger and bring back pieces of the animal's ears and claws to prove his victory. The shikari spends the night in a tree in the woods, and the tiger finds him there. The two have a conversation and make their intentions known: the tiger wants to eat the man, while the shikari claims he's there to kill his fourth tiger. Using a trick with pictures of other tigers and a looking glass, the man convinces the tiger that he has killed previous tigers, which frightens the tiger. The shikari offers to have mercy on the tiger by only cutting off the tips of its ears, claws, and tongue in exchange for letting him go free. The tiger agrees to the arrangement, and the shikari returns to get his reward while the tiger dies from his wounds soon after.
The biggest change that I made to this story was to change the culture and the time period so that the story is set in more medieval times. I got the inspiration for this change from the Anglo-Saxon literature that I'm currently studying in another class. I thought it would be interesting to adapt this story to be about a quest to slay a different kind of beast, to see if it could translate across different cultures. I changed a couple of the details, such as the shikari's trick, but mostly kept the structure of the story.
Bibliography: "The Killing of the Tiger", by Cecil Henry Bompas, Folklore of the Santal Parganas.
Kenzie,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great bending of the classic Killing of the Tiger tale! I was getting some slight Beowulf/Eragon vibes in the beginning so that made me pretty giddy to continue reading:) I like that your story contained elements of conflict, chivalry, trickery, conflict-resolution, and a happily ever after. A very well formatted and wholesome tale in 800 words! I felt like there was a healthy balance of dialogue and description in this tale, and you even taught me a new word, mettle. I'm curious what class you might be taking that is going over Anglo-Saxon literature? Also, what stories of dragons or medieval culture influenced your writing here? It's good to have an English major in the bunch here and I look forward to reading more of your work! On a side note, thank you for your comment on my Great Flood story. I kept your recommendation on staying in the same verb tense in mind when writing my Week 5 story.
Hi Kenzie!
ReplyDeleteAWESOME picture to start with. It immediately made me want to read the rest of your story. You really added a lot of new elements to the original story, which wouldn't be easy. Great job!! I like how you switched the time frame, culture, and even huge, scary animal. It gave the story a completely new feel and perspective while still bringing home the same ending.
Hey Kenzie,
ReplyDeleteFirst off really great story! I like how you formatted this story in a medieval theme. I think this change in theme was great and did not take away from the story of slaying a beast. It actually added to the story and did get the point across of conquering a best across different cultures. You also did a really good job of detailing the original story in your authors notes I felt like I had good understanding of where your story derived. Did you consider a change in plot where the beast wins and the knight is considered unworthy of the princess ? There a number of ways to prolong this story for a storybook or portfolio. One suggesting would be prolonging the fight and maybe not having the knight win outright. But you can also add to the middle of the story this is just something I do when rewriting. Really well written story you have a talent for it, keep up the great work!
Hey Kenzie, I have never read the killing of the tiger and I can say I am okay with that because I absolutely loved your telling of it. The telling of how he took the dragon's tooth, claw, and horn without killing it reminded me of Maleficent and how that guy took her wings. In the end, I wanted the story to continue because you have such a way with storytelling!
ReplyDeleteWow! You did such a good job bringing this story to life. I have not read this story either, but I appreciated the way you expressed the emotions in the characters so well. You told this story in a way that allowed for me as the viewer, to picture it in my head as you told it and that is what good storytelling and writing is meant to do. I appreciated how you told this story as if it were a fable or bedtime story that people would tell each other back in another time. It really transported me! Well done.
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