“Raul was a member of the Scottish Highland order of dragons, one of the very few with a double red tail, and he lived on the Glass Peak of the Rocky Mountains. He had never met another of his kind, because dragons are solitary animals.
Raul didn’t have much to do and he was bored most of the time. In the afternoon he would venture out in search of a snack, and in the evening, he would fly up to the Glass Peak and amuse himself by blowing smoke rings out of his nose or practicing fire-breathing. His days passed terribly slowly.
One Sunday morning – he didn’t know it was Sunday, of course, because dragons don’t name their days as we do – he had a bold thought, then he flew three times around the Glass Peak, spread his huge wings and headed skywards.
He lost himself in a white, frothy cloud, and decided that wherever the cloud wandered, then so would he: he was bound to end up somewhere sooner or later, eventually. Wherever he landed, it was sure to be a much more interesting place than the Glass Peak and the Rocky Mountains.” “He had been sailing alongside the white cloud for some time when he looked down and noticed something incredibly interesting. He saw a shiny, slender thing that almost reached the sky, with smaller – although still very tall – similar peaks towering nearby. The sky-high thing looked a lot like the Glass Peak, only it was much thinner and more graceful.
The little dragon lowered himself down to get a better view, and an incredible sight appeared before his eyes: between the lower and the higher peaks lay long symmetrical strips with tiny, colourful beetles running along them – or at least Raul thought they were beetles.
As he got closer to the ground, he saw animals walking on two legs, running, waving and making strange noises.
He had no idea where he was, but everything seemed very strange and exciting. Finally, he landed in a huge green gazebo, stretched his wings and decided to have a good look around. Paths wove past the gazebo, and along the paths the two-legged animals he had seen from above were busy doing their thing. Raul was surprised that they were not frightened or bewildered by the sight of him: he was used to smaller animals running away from him in the Rockies.” ““Look, Mum! A dragon! Wow! Look at the size of his wings and his gorgeous double tail!”
Raul cocked his head at the sound of this and saw a very small animal with long, shiny golden fur on its head. Next to it stood a slightly larger two-legged creature that looked very similar, with its fur smoothed tightly over its head.
“Oh, Emma… there you go again! You know there are no such things as dragons. Yesterday you saw a unicorn, the day before you saw a mermaid in a fountain… I’m getting really worried about you, what with you seeing so many strange things.”
“But Mum, they are real. It’s just like the one I read about in my favourite storybook… I bet it can even breathe fire.”
Raul was very surprised that he understood the little girl’s words, although he didn’t know at the time that Emma was a little girl – well, he didn’t know that her words were actual words. But he was even more shocked by what the larger two-legged animal said. Did he not exist? Well, the girl could see him, and she could see everything around him too.
“Now, do come on, or we will be late for dinner!” said the stern, two-legged creature with the pigtail, as she took Emma’s hand and moved off, dragging the little girl behind her. Emma blinked wide-eyed, and stared behind her at Raul, who then decided to find out what this was all about. He went after them.” ““Mum, the dragon is following us…”
Raul sneezed.
“And smoke is coming out of his nose! Mum, he will follow us all the way home.”
Emma’s Mum ignored her daughter’s words altogether and began to walk even more quickly. It was getting dark, and she was hungry; moreover, tomorrow was the first day of school, September 1. Emma would be starting in class two the next day.
Cautiously, Raul followed along behind Emma and her Mum. A couple of two-legged creatures passed by, but no one noticed him, although one little boy a little way off did seem to stare at him.
“Mum! Can the dragon come into the garden? Let him sleep here mum, please!”
Emma’s Mum was irritably fiddling with the key at the gate.
“For all I care, it can,” she said, adding under her breath, “I’m getting worried about this vivid imagination of yours…”
Emma turned to Raul and whispered:
“Hi, dragon! Come into the garden! You can sleep in my little wooden cabin out at the back. I’m Emma, and I’ll come out to talk to you tomorrow morning before school. But you had better be silent at night, and do not set the house on fire! I do hope you don’t snore.” She chuckled, and then ran into the house after her mother.” “Raul was puzzled. What animals were these? And why was it that Emma could see him and others couldn’t? What did that sentence mean, “no such thing as dragons”? A thousand questions tormented him, but he was so tired from the long journey and all the flying that he had no energy left to think.
He went to the cabin Emma had told him about. Luckily, one side was open, so Raul could squeeze in, and with his wings tucked in beside him and curl up on the floor.
He fell asleep almost immediately.
He was woken up by scratching and giggling: Emma was sitting on his back, admiring his scales. Dawn was just breaking outside.
“Shh…” the little girl waved her hand, “it’s still very early, I don’t want to wake mummy up! Are you really a dragon? A real one?”
“As far as I know, I am… My name is Raul. And you?”
“I am human. You saw me with my mum yesterday… she doesn’t believe in dragons. She says there are no such things.”
“A human… wow! I’ve never seen a human before. There are no humans where I come from. In fact, there is nothing there at all, which is why I left. But tell me, what does your mum mean, ‘there are no such things as dragons,’ don’t I exist?”
“Good question, because I can see you and we can even talk. But you know what? Come to school with me and we’ll find out!””