The Nice Dragon

A scary but totally true story for children (and adults)

There once was a horrible, nasty dragon named Papalis, with seven heads and ten horns, who terrorized the people of the land of Cristiana. He would burn them to death with his fiery breath, and besides this, he had impish minions who would carry out his bidding, so that no citizen of noble Cristiana could escape his power. No one could defeat the dragon—indeed, anyone who even spoke against his terrors was seized by the imps and horribly tortured to death at the command of the dragon Papalis.

But there arose a valiant troop of dragonfighters called the Protestos troop. They fought the dragon and many of them died. Yet one day, the leader of the dragonfighters, Veritas, sent a soldier whose name was Fatis to battle the dragon. Papalis roared and spit his venom and fire against Fatis, but lo and behold, Fatis cut off one of the dragon’s heads with the sword of his friend Prophesos. The dragon slumped to the ground, and did not roar, but rather whimpered and dragged himself off to die. Prophesos warned the people to constantly be on guard for the dragon, for while it appeared that Fatis has struck a fatal wound, Prophesos assured them that the dragon would return to terrorize them once again when he regained his strength.

The people of Cristiana were on constant alert for the dragon’s return. But time went by, and as year rolled into year, the people of Cristiana slowly began to forget about the dragon. They were certain he was gone for good. Prophesos continued to warn them, yet he was getting old, and the people jeered him or even began to not even notice him.

Many years later, the dragon returned to Cristiana. But, lo and behold! He had transformed himself! He wore a broad smile on each of his remaining 6 heads. He brought gifts for the people, and assured them, “I am a nice dragon! With my strength, my ancient wisdom, and fire-breathing powers, I can protect the people of Cristiana from danger.” The people cheered and welcomed their new friend and protector. The dragon became very popular, indeed, he gained celebrity status. When a few students of history tried to remind the people of what Prophesos had warned them of, the people got very angry and said, “How dare you say such awful things about the nice dragon! He is our friend!” Even the descendants of the dragonfighters Protestos forgot how the dragon had killed their forefathers.

And, do you know what happened next, boys and girls?

HE ATE THEM.

—Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.