That's quite a prompt for just four lines; I guess I shall be grateful you didn't just tell us to use six words for it :) And I notice you didn't specify what species the child has to be either, which is making me thoughtful.
The dragon and the child When she was born the dragon landed in the village, crushing the church and swiping the priest-house with a long, scaly, spike-encrusted tail, and reminded her mother that the price of her survival five years ago was her first-born.
When she was three the dragon trampled orchards and crop-fields and exhaled clouds of poisonous gas until all that remained of a distant hamlet was another child, of an age with the dragon's daughter, that the dragon picked up in teeth larger than him and flew off with.
When she was fourteen the first knight arrived to challenge the dragon, hoping to ride off with a fair maiden, and was stunned to find the dragon's champion -- also fourteen -- waiting for him and rather better prepared.
When she was eighteen and as beautiful as the first moments of dawn on midsummer's day, the dragon's peers considered her and the boy and agreed that the dragon had indeed won first prize in that year's human-show and -rearing competition.
Olly was worried. His mother had told him not to get involved with humans. She'd licked his face and gently pushed him out of the nest, telling him it was time to find his place in the world, but dragons did not Get Involved with humans. But Olly hadn't listened, and now everything always seemed to be going wrong, and Olly didn't know what to do.
3 comments:
That's quite a prompt for just four lines; I guess I shall be grateful you didn't just tell us to use six words for it :) And I notice you didn't specify what species the child has to be either, which is making me thoughtful.
The dragon and the child
When she was born the dragon landed in the village, crushing the church and swiping the priest-house with a long, scaly, spike-encrusted tail, and reminded her mother that the price of her survival five years ago was her first-born.
When she was three the dragon trampled orchards and crop-fields and exhaled clouds of poisonous gas until all that remained of a distant hamlet was another child, of an age with the dragon's daughter, that the dragon picked up in teeth larger than him and flew off with.
When she was fourteen the first knight arrived to challenge the dragon, hoping to ride off with a fair maiden, and was stunned to find the dragon's champion -- also fourteen -- waiting for him and rather better prepared.
When she was eighteen and as beautiful as the first moments of dawn on midsummer's day, the dragon's peers considered her and the boy and agreed that the dragon had indeed won first prize in that year's human-show and -rearing competition.
Olly was worried. His mother had told him not to get involved with humans. She'd licked his face and gently pushed him out of the nest, telling him it was time to find his place in the world, but dragons did not Get Involved with humans. But Olly hadn't listened, and now everything always seemed to be going wrong, and Olly didn't know what to do.
Greg - ah, that's a good point. I was just thinking of one of the boys with a dragon, but you obviously don't have that immediate reference point :)
Well, you managed to stretch those four lines as far as they could go, and beautifully so. And oh man did I not see that ending coming.
Morganna - ah, poor Olly. I think he's doing well with his friend, so there's that at least!
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