The Book of Dragons Read online

  I. The Book of Beasts

  He happened to be building a Palace when the news came, and he left allthe bricks kicking about the floor for Nurse to clear up--but then thenews was rather remarkable news. You see, there was a knock at the frontdoor and voices talking downstairs, and Lionel thought it was the mancome to see about the gas, which had not been allowed to be lightedsince the day when Lionel made a swing by tying his skipping rope to thegas bracket.

  And then, quite suddenly, Nurse came in and said, "Master Lionel, dear,they've come to fetch you to go and be King."

  Then she made haste to change his smock and to wash his face and handsand brush his hair, and all the time she was doing it Lionel keptwriggling and fidgeting and saying, "Oh, don't, Nurse," and, "I'm suremy ears are quite clean," or, "Never mind my hair, it's all right," and,"That'll do."

  "You're going on as if you was going to be an eel instead of a King,"said Nurse.

  The minute Nurse let go for a moment Lionel bolted off without waitingfor his clean handkerchief, and in the drawing room there were two verygrave-looking gentlemen in red robes with fur, and gold coronets withvelvet sticking up out of the middle like the cream in the veryexpensive jam tarts.

  They bowed low to Lionel, and the gravest one said: "Sire, yourgreat-great-great-great-great-grandfather, the King of this country, isdead, and now you have got to come and be King."

  "Yes, please, sir," said Lionel, "when does it begin?"

  "You will be crowned this afternoon," said the grave gentleman who wasnot quite so grave-looking as the other.

  "Would you like me to bring Nurse, or what time would you like me to befetched, and hadn't I better put on my velvet suit with the lacecollar?" said Lionel, who had often been out to tea.

  "Your Nurse will be removed to the Palace later. No, never mind aboutchanging your suit; the Royal robes will cover all that up."

  The grave gentlemen led the way to a coach with eight white horses,which was drawn up in front of the house where Lionel lived. It was No.7, on the left-hand side of the street as you go up.

  Lionel ran upstairs at the last minute, and he kissed Nurse and said:"Thank you for washing me. I wish I'd let you do the other ear.No--there's no time now. Give me the hanky. Good-bye, Nurse."

  "Good-bye, ducky," said Nurse. "Be a good little King now, and say'please' and 'thank you,' and remember to pass the cake to the littlegirls, and don't have more than two helps of anything."

  So off went Lionel to be made a King. He had never expected to be a Kingany more than you have, so it was all quite new to him--so new that hehad never even thought of it. And as the coach went through the town hehad to bite his tongue to be quite sure it was real, because if histongue was real it showed he wasn't dreaming. Half an hour before he hadbeen building with bricks in the nursery; and now--the streets were allfluttering with flags; every window was crowded with people wavinghandkerchiefs and scattering flowers; there were scarlet soldierseverywhere along the pavements, and all the bells of all the churcheswere ringing like mad, and like a great song to the music of theirringing he heard thousands of people shouting, "Long live Lionel! Longlive our little King!"

  He was a little sorry at first that he had not put on his best clothes,but he soon forgot to think about that. If he had been a girl he wouldvery likely have bothered about it the whole time.

  As they went along, the grave gentlemen, who were the Chancellor and thePrime Minister, explained the things which Lionel did not understand.

  "I thought we were a Republic," said Lionel. "I'm sure there hasn't beena King for some time."

  "Sire, your great-great-great-great-great-grandfather's death happenedwhen my grandfather was a little boy," said the Prime Minister, "andsince then your loyal people have been saving up to buy you a crown--somuch a week, you know, according to people's means--sixpence a week fromthose who have first-rate pocket money, down to a halfpenny a week fromthose who haven't so much. You know it's the rule that the crown must bepaid for by the people."

  "But hadn't my great-great-however-much-it-is-grandfather a crown?"

  "Yes, but he sent it to be tinned over, for fear of vanity, and he hadhad all the jewels taken out, and sold them to buy books. He was astrange man; a very good King he was, but he had his faults--he was fondof books. Almost with his last breath he sent the crown to betinned--and he never lived to pay the tinsmith's bill."

  Here the Prime Minister wiped away a tear, and just then the carriagestopped and Lionel was taken out of the carriage to be crowned. Beingcrowned is much more tiring work than you would suppose, and by the timeit was over, and Lionel had worn the Royal robes for an hour or two andhad had his hand kissed by everybody whose business it was to do it, hewas quite worn out, and was very glad to get into the Palace nursery.

  Nurse was there, and tea was ready: seedy cake and plummy cake, and jamand hot buttered toast, and the prettiest china with red and gold andblue flowers on it, and real tea, and as many cups of it as you liked.

  After tea Lionel said: "I think I should like a book. Will you get meone, Nurse?"

  "Bless the child," said Nurse. "You don't suppose you've lost the use ofyour legs with just being a King? Run along, do, and get your booksyourself."

  So Lionel went down into the library. The Prime Minister and theChancellor were there, and when Lionel came in they bowed very low, andwere beginning to ask Lionel most politely what on earth he was comingbothering for now--when Lionel cried out: "Oh, what a worldful of books!Are they yours?"

  "They are yours, Your Majesty," answered the Chancellor. "They were theproperty of the late King, your great-great--"

  "Yes, I know," Lionel interrupted. "Well, I shall read them all. I loveto read. I am so glad I learned to read."

  "If I might venture to advise Your Majesty," said the Prime Minister, "Ishould not read these books. Your great--"

  "Yes?" said Lionel, quickly.

  "He was a very good King--oh, yes, really a very superior King in hisway, but he was a little--well, strange."

  "Mad?" asked Lionel, cheerfully.

  "No, no"--both the gentlemen were sincerely shocked. "Not mad; but if Imay express it so, he was--er--too clever by half. And I should not likea little King of mine to have anything to do with his books."

  Lionel looked puzzled.

  "The fact is," the Chancellor went on, twisting his red beard in anagitated way, "your great--"

  "Go on," said Lionel.

  "--was called a wizard."

  "But he wasn't?"

  "Of course not--a most worthy King was your great--"

  "I see."

  "But I wouldn't touch his books."

  "Just this one," cried Lionel, laying his hands on the cover of a greatbrown book that lay on the study table. It had gold patterns on thebrown leather, and gold clasps with turquoises and rubies in the twistsof them, and gold corners, so that the leather should not wear out tooquickly.

  "I must look at this one," Lionel said, for on the back in big lettershe read: _The Book of Beasts_.

  The Chancellor said, "Don't be a silly little King."

  But Lionel had got the gold clasps undone, and he opened the first page,and there was a beautiful Butterfly all red, and brown, and yellow, andblue, so beautifully painted that it looked as if it were alive.

  "There," said Lionel, "Isn't that lovely? Why--"

  But as he spoke the beautiful Butterfly fluttered its many-colored wingson the yellow old page of the book, and flew up and out of the window.

  "Well!" said the Prime Minister, as soon as he could speak for the lumpof wonder that had got into his throat and tried to choke him, "that'smagic, that is."

  But before he had spoken, the King had turned the next page, and therewas a shining bird complete and beautiful in every blue feather of him.Under him was written, "Blue Bird of Paradise," and while the King gazedenchanted at the charming picture the Blue Bird fluttered his wings onthe yellow page and spread them and flew out of the book.

  Then the Pr
ime Minister snatched the book away from the King and shut itup on the blank page where the bird had been, and put it on a very highshelf. And the Chancellor gave the King a good shaking, and said:"You're a naughty, disobedient little King!" and was very angry indeed.

  "I don't see that I've done any harm," said Lionel. He hated beingshaken, as all boys do; he would much rather have been slapped.

  "No harm?" said the Chancellor. "Ah--but what do you know about it?That's the question. How do you know what might have been on the nextpage--a snake or a worm, or a centipede or a revolutionist, orsomething like that."

  "Well, I'm sorry if I've vexed you," said Lionel. "Come, let's kiss andbe friends." So he kissed the Prime Minister, and they settled down fora nice quiet game of noughts and crosses while the Chancellor went toadd up his accounts.

  But when Lionel was in bed he could not sleep for thinking of the book,and when the full moon was shining with all her might and light he gotup and crept down to the library and climbed up and got _The Book ofBeasts_.

  He took it outside to the terrace, where the moonlight was as bright asday, and he opened the book, and saw the empty pages with "Butterfly"and "Blue Bird of Paradise" underneath, and then he turned the nextpage. There was some sort of red thing sitting under a palm tree, andunder it was written "Dragon." The Dragon did not move, and the Kingshut up the book rather quickly and went back to bed.

  But the next day he wanted another look, so he took the book out intothe garden, and when he undid the clasps with the rubies and turquoises,the book opened all by itself at the picture with "Dragon" underneath,and the sun shone full on the page. And then, quite suddenly, a greatRed Dragon came out of the book and spread vast scarlet wings and flewaway across the garden to the far hills, and Lionel was left with theempty page before him, for the page was quite empty except for the greenpalm tree and the yellow desert, and the little streaks of red where thepaintbrush had gone outside the pencil outline of the Red Dragon.

  And then Lionel felt that he had indeed done it. He had not been Kingtwenty-four hours, and already he had let loose a Red Dragon to worryhis faithful subjects' lives out. And they had been saving up so long tobuy him a crown, and everything!

  Lionel began to cry.

  "The dragon flew away across the garden." _See page 8._]

  The Chancellor and the Prime Minister and the Nurse all came runningto see what was the matter. And when they saw the book they understood,and the Chancellor said: "You naughty little King! Put him to bed,Nurse, and let him think over what he's done."

  "Perhaps, my Lord," said the Prime Minister, "we'd better first find outjust exactly what he has done."

  Then Lionel, in floods of tears, said: "It's a Red Dragon, and it's goneflying away to the hills, and I am so sorry, and, oh, do forgive me!"

  But the Prime Minister and the Chancellor had other things to think ofthan forgiving Lionel. They hurried off to consult the police and seewhat could be done. Everyone did what they could. They sat on committeesand stood on guard, and lay in wait for the Dragon, but he stayed up inthe hills, and there was nothing more to be done. The faithful Nurse,meanwhile, did not neglect her duty. Perhaps she did more than anyoneelse, for she slapped the King and put him to bed without his tea, andwhen it got dark she would not give him a candle to read by.

  "You are a naughty little King," she said, "and nobody will love you."

  Next day the Dragon was still quiet, though the more poetic of Lionel'ssubjects could see the redness of the Dragon shining through the greentrees quite plainly. So Lionel put on his crown and sat on his throneand said he wanted to make some laws.

  And I need hardly say that though the Prime Minister and the Chancellorand the Nurse might have the very poorest opinion of Lionel's privatejudgement, and might even slap him and send him to bed, the minute hegot on his throne and set his crown on his head, he becameinfallible--which means that everything he said was right, and that hecouldn't possibly make a mistake. So when he said: "There is to be a lawforbidding people to open books in schools or elsewhere"--he had thesupport of at least half of his subjects, and the other half--thegrown-up half--pretended to think he was quite right.

  Then he made a law that everyone should always have enough to eat. Andthis pleased everyone except the ones who had always had too much.

  And when several other nice new laws were made and written down he wenthome and made mud-houses and was very happy. And he said to his Nurse:"People will love me now I've made such a lot of pretty new laws forthem."

  But Nurse said: "Don't count your chickens, my dear. You haven't seenthe last of that Dragon yet."

  Now, the next day was Saturday. And in the afternoon the Dragon suddenlyswooped down upon the common in all his hideous redness, and carried offthe Soccer Players, umpires, goal-posts, ball, and all.

  Then the people were very angry indeed, and they said: "We might as wellbe a Republic. After saving up all these years to get his crown, andeverything!"

  And wise people shook their heads and foretold a decline in the NationalLove of Sport. And, indeed, soccer was not at all popular for some timeafterward.

  Lionel did his best to be a good King during the week, and the peoplewere beginning to forgive him for letting the Dragon out of the book."After all," they said, "soccer is a dangerous game, and perhaps it iswise to discourage it."

  Popular opinion held that the Soccer Players, being tough and hard, haddisagreed with the Dragon so much that he had gone away to some placewhere they only play cats' cradle and games that do not make you hardand tough.

  All the same, Parliament met on the Saturday afternoon, a convenienttime, for most of the Members would be free to attend, to consider theDragon. But unfortunately the Dragon, who had only been asleep, woke upbecause it was Saturday, and he considered the Parliament, andafterwards there were not any Members left, so they tried to make a newParliament, but being a member of Parliament had somehow grown asunpopular as soccer playing, and no one would consent to be elected, sothey had to do without a Parliament. When the next Saturday came aroundeveryone was a little nervous, but the Red Dragon was pretty quiet thatday and only ate an Orphanage.

  Lionel was very, very unhappy. He felt that it was his disobedience thathad brought this trouble on the Parliament and the Orphanage and theSoccer Players, and he felt that it was his duty to try and dosomething. The question was, what?

  The Blue Bird that had come out of the book used to sing very nicely inthe Palace rose garden, and the Butterfly was very tame, and would perchon his shoulder when he walked among the tall lilies: so Lionel saw thatall the creatures in _The Book of Beasts_ could not be wicked, like theDragon, and he thought: "Suppose I could get another beast out who wouldfight the Dragon?"

  So he took _The Book of Beasts_ out into the rose garden and opened thepage next to the one where the Dragon had been just a tiny bit to seewhat the name was. He could only see "cora," but he felt the middle ofthe page swelling up thick with the creature that was trying to comeout, and it was only by putting the book down and sitting on itsuddenly, very hard, that he managed to get it shut. Then he fastenedthe clasps with the rubies and turquoises in them and sent for theChancellor, who had been ill since Saturday, and so had not been eatenwith the rest of the Parliament, and he said: "What animal ends in'cora'?"

  The Chancellor answered: "The Manticora, of course."

  "What is he like?" asked the King.

  "He is the sworn foe of Dragons," said the Chancellor. "He drinks theirblood. He is yellow, with the body of a lion and the face of a man. Iwish we had a few Manticoras here now. But the last died hundreds ofyears ago--worse luck!"

  Then the King ran and opened the book at the page that had "cora" on it,and there was the picture--Manticora, all yellow, with a lion's body anda man's face, just as the Chancellor had said. And under the picturewas written, "Manticora."

  In a few minutes the Manticora came sleepily out of the book, rubbingits eyes with its hands and mewing piteously. It seemed very stupid
, andwhen Lionel gave it a push and said, "Go along and fight the Dragon,do," it put its tail between its legs and fairly ran away. It went andhid behind the Town Hall, and at night when the people were asleep itwent around and ate all the pussy-cats in the town. And then it mewedmore than ever. And on the Saturday morning, when people were a littletimid about going out, because the Dragon had no regular hour forcalling, the Manticora went up and down the streets and drank all themilk that was left in the cans at the doors for people's teas, and itate the cans as well.

  And just when it had finished the very last little halfpenny worth,which was short measure, because the milkman's nerves were quite upset,the Red Dragon came down the street looking for the Manticora. It edgedoff when it saw him coming, for it was not at all the Dragon-fightingkind; and, seeing no other door open, the poor, hunted creature tookrefuge in the General Post Office, and there the Dragon found it, tryingto conceal itself among the ten o'clock mail. The Dragon fell on theManticora at once, and the mail was no defense. The mewings were heardall over the town. All the kitties and the milk the Manticora had hadseemed to have strengthened its mew wonderfully. Then there was a sadsilence, and presently the people whose windows looked that way saw theDragon come walking down the steps of the General Post Office spittingfire and smoke, together with tufts of Manticora fur, and the fragmentsof the registered letters. Things were growing very serious. Howeverpopular the King might become during the week, the Dragon was sure to dosomething on Saturday to upset the people's loyalty.

  [Illustration "The Manticora took refuge in the General Post Office."_See page 13._]

  The Dragon was a perfect nuisance for the whole of Saturday, exceptduring the hour of noon, and then he had to rest under a tree or hewould have caught fire from the heat of the sun. You see, he was veryhot to begin with.

  At last came a Saturday when the Dragon actually walked into the Royalnursery and carried off the King's own pet Rocking Horse. Then the Kingcried for six days, and on the seventh he was so tired that he had tostop. He heard the Blue Bird singing among the roses and saw theButterfly fluttering among the lilies, and he said: "Nurse, wipe myface, please. I am not going to cry any more."

  Nurse washed his face, and told him not to be a silly little King."Crying," said she, "never did anyone any good yet."

  "I don't know," said the little King, "I seem to see better, and to hearbetter now that I've cried for a week. Now, Nurse, dear, I know I'mright, so kiss me in case I never come back. I _must_ try to see if Ican't save the people."

  "Well, if you must, you must," said Nurse, "but don't tear your clothesor get your feet wet."

  So off he went.

  The Blue Bird sang more sweetly than ever, and the Butterfly shone morebrightly, as Lionel once more carried _The Book of Beasts_ out into therose garden, and opened it--very quickly, so that he might not be afraidand change his mind. The book fell open wide, almost in the middle, andthere was written at the bottom of the page, "Hippogriff," and beforeLionel had time to see what the picture was, there was a fluttering ofgreat wings and a stamping of hoofs, and a sweet, soft, friendlyneighing; and there came out of the book a beautiful white horse with along, long, white mane and a long, long, white tail, and he had greatwings like swan's wings, and the softest, kindest eyes in the world, andhe stood there among the roses.

  The Hippogriff rubbed its silky-soft, milky white nose against thelittle King's shoulder, and the little King thought: "But for the wingsyou are very like my poor, dear lost Rocking Horse." And the Blue Bird'ssong was very loud and sweet.

  Then suddenly the King saw coming through the sky the great straggling,sprawling, wicked shape of the Red Dragon. And he knew at once what hemust do. He caught up _The Book of Beasts_ and jumped on the back of thegentle, beautiful Hippogriff, and leaning down he whispered in thesharp, white ear: "Fly, dear Hippogriff, fly your very fastest to thePebbly Waste."

  And when the Dragon saw them start, he turned and flew after them, withhis great wings flapping like clouds at sunset, and the Hippogriff'swide wings were snowy as clouds at moonrise.

  When the people in the town saw the Dragon fly off after the Hippogriffand the King they all came out of their houses to look, and when theysaw the two disappear they made up their minds to the worst, and beganto think what they would wear for Court mourning.

  But the Dragon could not catch the Hippogriff. The red wings were biggerthan the white ones, but they were not so strong, and so thewhite-winged horse flew away and away and away, with the Dragonpursuing, till he reached the very middle of the Pebbly Waste.

  Now, the Pebbly Waste is just like the parts of the seaside where thereis no sand--all round, loose, shifting stones, and there is no grassthere and no tree within a hundred miles of it.

  Lionel jumped off the white horse's back in the very middle of thePebbly Waste, and he hurriedly unclasped _The Book of Beasts_ and laidit open on the pebbles. Then he clattered among the pebbles in his hasteto get back on to his white horse, and had just jumped on when up camethe Dragon. He was flying very feebly, and looking around everywhere fora tree, for it was just on the stroke of twelve, the sun was shininglike a gold guinea in the blue sky, and there was not a tree for ahundred miles.

  The white-winged horse flew around and around the Dragon as he writhedon the dry pebbles. He was getting very hot: indeed, parts of him evenhad begun to smoke. He knew that he must certainly catch fire inanother minute unless he could get under a tree. He made a snatch withhis red claws at the King and Hippogriff, but he was too feeble to reachthem, and besides, he did not dare to overexert himself for fear heshould get any hotter.

  It was then that he saw _The Book of Beasts_ lying on the pebbles, openat the page with "Dragon" written at the bottom. He looked and hehesitated, and he looked again, and then, with one last squirm of rage,the Dragon wriggled himself back into the picture and sat down under thepalm tree, and the page was a little singed as he went in.

  As soon as Lionel saw that the Dragon had really been obliged to go andsit under his own palm tree because it was the only tree there, hejumped off his horse and shut the book with a bang.

  "Oh, hurrah!" he cried. "Now we really have done it."

  And he clasped the book very tightly with the turquoise and ruby clasps.

  "Oh, my precious Hippogriff," he cried. "You are the bravest, dearest,most beautiful--"

  "Hush," whispered the Hippogriff modestly. "Don't you see that we arenot alone?"

  And indeed there was quite a crowd round them on the Pebbly Waste: thePrime Minister and the Parliament and the Soccer Players and theOrphanage and the Manticora and the Rocking Horse, and indeed everyonewho had been eaten by the Dragon. You see, it was impossible for theDragon to take them into the book with him--it was a tight fit even forone Dragon--so, of course, he had to leave them outside.

  * * * * *

  They all got home somehow, and all lived happy ever after.

  When the King asked the Manticora where he would like to live he beggedto be allowed to go back into the book. "I do not care for public life,"he said.

  Of course he knew his way onto his own page, so there was no danger ofhis opening the book at the wrong page and letting out a Dragon oranything. So he got back into his picture and has never come out since:That is why you will never see a Manticora as long as you live, exceptin a picture-book. And of course he left the kitties outside, becausethere was no room for them in the book--and the milk cans too.

  Then the Rocking Horse begged to be allowed to go and live on theHippogriff's page of the book. "I should like," he said, "to livesomewhere where Dragons can't get at me."

  So the beautiful, white-winged Hippogriff showed him the way in, andthere he stayed till the King had him taken out for hisgreat-great-great-great-grandchildren to play with.

  As for the Hippogriff, he accepted the position of the King's OwnRocking Horse--a situation left vacant by the retirement of the woodenone. And the Blue Bird and the Butterfly sing and flutte
r among thelilies and roses of the Palace garden to this very day.

  UNCLE JAMES OR THE PURPLE STRANGER]