The Dragon Egg: A Fable

Two dragons lived in a cave at the edge of a cliff. Drat was a small red dragon; Graisse was a large silver dragon, and they were mates. Unfortunately, despite having more gold than any king or queen, they were not happy dragons.

One day, Graisse said to Drat: “This cave is too small for our gold. I want you to dig me a bigger one!”

“I’m half your size!” Drat replied. “You do it, you fat dragon!”

Graisse was so angry, she breathed fire on Drat and blackened his face.

Drat couldn’t take the physical abuse anymore. His face was badly scarred from his weekly firefights with Graisse, and his chest had turned black. “I’ve had it!” he said. “I’m going to find me a younger dragon, one that isn’t mean!”

“No dragon will want you!” Graisse scoffed. “You’re small and ugly.”

“We’ll see about that!” Drat said, and he walked out of the cave and flew away.

The next day, when Graisse woke up in her nest, she had laid an egg.

“Oh, my goodness!” she said. “I don’t want to have a son or daughter of Drat.”

Then she stared at the egg and sighed. “But if I have a baby, at least I won’t be lonely.”

So Graisse decided to keep her egg. Three months went by, and she sat on the egg from morning until night. With no time to go hunting, all she ate was the rats and mice in her cave, and the hungrier she got, the more she had doubts about becoming a mother.

One evening, after she couldn’t find any rats or mice to eat, she cried, “I can’t raise a dragon on my own. I’ll starve to death!”

Graisse decided to get rid of her egg. She picked it up in her clawed foot, walked out of the cave to the edge of the cliff, and was about to get rid of it when Drat appeared in the sky.

He flew to her and yelled, “Don’t drop it!”

“Don’t tell me what to do! I laid this egg, not you!”

And Graisse dropped her egg.

Drat flew like a lightning bolt and caught the egg before it hit the ground.

He flew back to the top of the cliff, took the egg into their cave and set it gently down in Graisse’s nest.

Graisse followed him inside and asked, “Why do you care so much about my egg?”

“I searched all throughout the land,” Drat explained. “And we’re the only dragons left!”

Graisse opened her eyes wide. “The only dragons?”

“Yes,” Drat said sadly. “Men have slayed every dragon but us.”

“Then this egg is precious,” Graisse said.

“Yes, it is. But it was always precious. It will be our baby!”

“Do you want to make more baby dragons with me?” Graisse asked.

Drat looked at Graisse up and down. “Definitely!” he said with a big grin. In the three months Drat was away, she had lost 500 pounds.

“I’m not too fat for you?” Graisse asked.

“Nope. I’ve always been attracted to big dragons!”

This made Graisse smile. “Can you get me a moose for me to eat? I’m starving!”

“Whatever you want, I will get it.”

Drat kissed Graisse on the cheek and flew out of the cave.

And so, Graisse and Drat became the parents of twelve dragons. They stayed together until the end of their days, and even though they still had a nasty fire fight once in a while, they were happy.