Douglas the Dragon
Book One
“Douglas the Unloved Dragon"
By
William Forde
Illustrations by Dave Bradbury
Copyright January 2012 by William Forde
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Author’s Foreword
As so often in life, learning best comes from our most traumatic experiences. Over fifty years ago as a young boy of twelve, I was run over by a large wagon and received multiple injuries. My parents were told that I’d never walk again. For three years following my accident, a spinal injury prevented me from feeling any signs of life below my waist. The predominant emotions I experienced during this period were ‘Anger’ and ‘Fear’: intense ‘Anger’ at what had happened to me and ‘Fear’ of the inevitable consequences of never walking again. In time, ‘Anger and Fear’ consumed me. I stopped loving myself and felt unable to ‘Love’ others.
During the remainder of my teenage years, and aided by prayer and the practising of numerous eastern disciplines, my ability to walk returned. While being unable to pin point the precise cause of this seemingly miraculous recovery, I had, nevertheless, stumbled across the bodily correlation between ‘Fear, Anger and Love’ without realising it at the time, and how the malfunctioning of these three emotions govern our behaviour patterns.
In later life, as a Probation Officer serving in West Yorkshire, I found that my professional training left me ill-equipped to help many recidivists change their offending behaviour. After analysing the behavioural response patterns of 600 offenders, I found that the three human emotions of ‘Fear, Anger and Love’, and in particular, the inability to appropriately express these emotions, constituted the core of their general unhappiness, dissatisfaction and offending behaviour.
Remembering my own childhood experiences and my re-discovery of the behavioural correlation between ‘Fear, Anger and Love’, I abandoned the traditional Probation Officer method of working with offenders and, instead, constructed a group programme of work that I used thereafter. For the following 24 years, I operated hundreds of these group programmes with all ages of mixed sex in Probation Offices, Hostels, Prisons, Hospitals, Educational Establishments and Community Halls. These were my very first ‘Anger Management’ programmes operated in Great Britain. I’m proud to say that many similar group programmes have mushroomed in Europe, America and across the English speaking world ever since.
The principle of all successful Anger Management work has three essential stages at the heart of its process; a process of which I am the original founder, and which I freely gave to the world in 1971:
(1) Learn how to face and confront our ‘Fears.’
(2) Learn how to ‘Love’ ourselves so that we can be enabled to ‘Love’ others.
(3) Learn how to manage and appropriately express our ‘Anger.’
Fighting for the heart of every man, woman and child are two dragons; a ‘Dragon of Anger’ and a ‘Dragon of Love.’ These two dragons fight for the supremacy of control over one’s behaviour; what one thinks, feels and does. However, they cannot co-exist within one heart and body. In order to expel the ‘Dragon of Anger’ from our heart we must first invite in the ‘Dragon of Love.’
Douglas the Dragon symbolizes ‘The Power of Love.’ He teaches one that only by climbing one’s ‘Hill of Fear’ and expressing one’s love through what one thinks, feels and does, can one rid oneself of one’s ‘Hill of Anger.’
The Douglas Dragon stories were read to her young children when they were aged between 7 and 9 years old by the late Princess Diana. It pleases me to know that the next King of England had my stories read to him and his brother during their early years of life. It also pleases me to know that until her death, Princess Diana, believed in ‘The Power of Love’ and used it whenever she had the opportunity.
William Forde January 2012.
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Douglas the Unloved Dragon
Our story begins long, long ago when dragons roamed the world and wizards were the masters of all that they surveyed. This was a time when the forces of ‘Good and Evil’ were in constant struggle; a time when war was waged between the human emotions of Fear, Anger and Love. The prize at stake was the greatest prize of all: control of the heart, mind and actions of every man, woman and child.
One mile, beyond the Village of Marfield, the hero of our story (a baby dragon), was being born through a slit in its mother’s stomach. Such entry into the world is known as a Caesarean birth. One hour before its birth, its mother had been killed by a wicked wizard. The wicked wizard believed that if he drank the warm blood of a female dragon that he’d killed with his own hands, he’d live forever.
After the wicked wizard had drunk the warm blood of the female dragon he’d killed, he left. He didn’t know that the female dragon was a pregnant dragon, and was due to give birth. Shortly after, a baby dragon was born through the slit in its mother’s stomach and it crawled into the nearby grassland. For the first few hours of its existence, the baby dragon’s eyelids were stuck and it couldn’t yet see the world into which it had been born. It only had its nose to guide it in those first few hours of life. It could smell two different smells. One was the stench of death close by and the other; an aroma of life in the direction of Marfield Village. So choosing life over death, it followed its nose through the long grass towards the Village of Marfield.
Meanwhile, a young boy called Douglas and his widowed mother who lived in Marfield Village were having a friendly dispute.
“Go on, Mum. I’ll not be too long. Please let me go to the long grass and look for frogs.” Douglas pleaded with his mother.
“Okay,” relented Douglas’s mother. “You can visit the long grass, but you must collect a loaf before you come home as we’re out of bread. And, whatever you see on your travels, my boy, you leave there. You don’t bring it home! We’re overrun with your stray animals. We’ve already got two cats, four dogs, a three-legged pony, a poorly goose and a white rat. And only last week you tried to sneak a frog with a broken leg into your bedroom!”
“Thank you, Mum. Thank you, thank you, and thank you. You’re the best mum in the whole wide world. I won’t forget the bread, Mum,” Douglas said gleefully as he started to run off.
Douglas set out on his afternoon travels and after an hour or so he came across a creature crawling through the long grass in search of food and water. As the boy approached this strange-looking creature, he could sense that it was unable to see. Its large eyelids remained firmly closed and the skin that covered its body bore the wrinkles of something newborn.
The boy, who loved all manner of animals, had never seen anything quite like it before. It had the build and size of a baby crocodile, the face of a camel, the wings of a buzzard and the legs of a giant-sized turkey. The skin across its chest was pulled tight in regimented lines; giving it the look of an armoured breastplate worn by centurions during the time of the Roman Empire. Most of its body was coloured green, apart from its spiky mane; which stretched from the base of the creature’s neck to the tip of its long tapering tail. The only sound it made came in the form of short snorts from the two large nostrils in the centre of its face.
“Hello there, fella,” the boy said, as he gently picked up the creature to give it a cuddle. ”You’re a strange-looking creature if ever I saw one! You’re gorgeous, fella; simply gorgeous. I’d love to take you back home with me, but I can’t, fella, as mum would never allow it. She already says that I’ve got too many animals.”
As the boy cradled the creature in his arms, it opened its eyes for the very first time in its life and snorted loudly. This was the first time that the creature had set eyes upon the world into which it had been born, and Douglas’s face was the first face it had ever seen.
Douglas offered the creature an apple that he was just about to eat, which the creature quickly gobbled up before snorting for more. When Douglas placed the creature back down in the long grass, he half expected it to run off, but it didn’t. It started to hang on to his coat tail and follow the boy home. Douglas tried to tell the creature that it couldn’t come home with him, but whatever Douglas said and however sternly he tried to say it, the creature simply ignored his instructions to stay there. Instead, it followed the boy all the way back to his home in the village.
Now Douglas knew a great deal about many animals, but one thing he didn’t know was that when any newborn creature first opens its eyes, the very first thing it sees, it thinks of as its mother! The other thing that Douglas didn’t realise was the true nature of the strange-looking creature that was now in his presence. He didn’t know that he had found and befriended a baby dragon, or to be more precise; one of the few remaining dragons still alive on the face of the earth.
He couldn’t have known; having never seen a dragon before or even heard of one. Douglas didn’t even know that such creatures as dragons existed. Believing Douglas to be its mother, the baby dragon wouldn’t let the boy out of its sight once it had first set eyes on him. It followed Douglas all the way home, like a shadow the boy just couldn’t shake off!
When Douglas arrived home with the baby dragon in pursuit, his mother gave him an angry welcome.
“Douglas, where in heaven’s name have you been all morning? Where’s the fresh bread I asked you to collect from the bakers hours ago? And whatever have you brought home with you this time? You’ve already got two cats, four dogs, a three-legged pony, a poorly goose and a white rat. Are you trying to overrun us lad?" she remarked angrily.
Douglas had completely forgotten the loaf of bread his mother had sent him to fetch!
“Sorry, Mum. I was on my way to get the bread when I came across a cub fox trapped in the barbed-wire fence of Farmer Brown’s field. I just had to free it, Mum. By the time I’d freed the fox I’d completely forgotten about the bread and where I was going. Then I came across this little fella here and.........”
Douglas’s mother cut him off in mid-sentence. She had heard enough. She had heard it all before; too many times. Ever since the death of Douglas’s father, her only child, Douglas, had started to attach himself to all manner of creatures; homeless creatures and unfortunate animals who’d found themselves orphaned or badly maimed through some accident or other mishap. There wasn’t one week that went by when Douglas failed to bring home some stray or injured creature. His mother didn’t particularly dislike animals: she didn’t want them filling up her small house! The trouble with Douglas was that although he knew the difference between four-legged animals and two-legged humans, he couldn’t stop himself loving both in equal measure.
“We’re having no more of your strays in this house, my boy!” Douglas’s mother said in an angry voice.” We’re already overrun with half the strays in the village. We’re already accommodating two cats, four dogs, a three- legged pony....................”
Douglas interrupted,” But Mum, just look at it! It looks lost to me, poor little mite.”
“And it can jolly well stay lost as far as I’m concerned, my boy!” replied his mother.
“Mum....Please, Mum. It’s all alone in the world with no parents to protect it. Please let it stay a week; just one little week, Mum. Ple....ase,” Douglas pleaded.
“No!” replied Douglas’s mother firmly as she folded her arms resolutely.
“Please, Mum” Douglas continued to plea. “If you won’t let it stay a week, then three days. Please let it stay three days, Mum?”
“What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand, my boy. ‘No’ means ‘no!’” his mother replied adamantly.
“One night then, Mum; just one night, please. If we leave it out to face the elements all alone on the first night of its life, it’ll be dead by the morning and we’ll have as good as killed it! We’ll be no better than ‘murderers.’ Just one night, Mum. Ple....ase?”
“You always could get around me with those winning eyes,” Douglas’s mother replied.” You always know which heartstring to tug, my boy. Just one night then. One night only, but mark my words; when tomorrow comes, the newfound stray goes or else I will, and then you can also taste the experience of being motherless! If it stays, it sleeps in the barn, my boy, and it doesn’t come inside the house. Smelly creature!”
“Oh thank you, thank you and thank you Mum. You’re the best mum in the whole wide world, “said Douglas gleefully as he flung his arms around his mother’s neck before kissing her.
That first night was a night to remember. It was a night sent to test the patience of Douglas, with the insecurity of the baby dragon keeping him occupied all night long.
Close to the outskirts of the village stood two hills side-by-side. One hill was so tall that no villager ever tried to climb it, and became known as ‘The Hill of Fear.’ The other hill was known to the villagers as ‘The Angry Hill’ because it was forever grumbling its discontent deep down in its belly. It would build up its anger over one or two hundred years until it had stored up so much that it could no longer contain it. Then, when it was ready for ‘blowing its top off’, it would suddenly erupt and explode its volcanic larva down the hillside and destroy the very foundation of village life below.
That first night in the barn, the baby dragon was put to bed by Douglas beneath a blanket of straw. However, each time the boy started to leave the barn to return to the house; ‘The Angry Hill’ began to rumble its discontent. It had started to wake up from its angry sleep and although it wouldn’t erupt for a number of years yet, its expressed snores of anger sounded like thunder to the boy and baby dragon in the barn.
The sounds alarmed the baby dragon and it ran towards its ‘mother figure’, Douglas, and hugged his legs in a grip of comfort. Douglas tried to reassure the baby dragon that it was only thunder and would soon pass, before returning the creature to its blanket of hay. But before Douglas had reached the barn door again, ‘The Angry Hill’ roared had once more. Again, the baby dragon ran grappling for the comfort of Douglas’s touch.
“Okay, fella. I give up. It doesn’t look like I’m going to get a wink of sleep tonight unless we sleep together. And if you can’t share my bed, then I guess I’ll just have to sleep alongside you beneath the straw. Now budge up, Buster, and give me some of that cover. Night, night!” Douglas announced in a tone of resignation.
When Douglas’s mother came into the barn the following morning looking for her son and saw him sleeping alongside the baby dragon, she knew there and then that she was fighting a losing battle if she tried to separate her son from his newfound companion. Both were beneath the straw bed, cuddling each other and each wearing a smile of contentment; a smile the like of which she hadn’t seen on her son’s face since before the death of his beloved father.
At that precise moment, Douglas’s mother decided that it would be wrong to come between such happiness of human and creature; both of whom had experienced bereavement and loss. Looking at the couple beneath the hay, it was clear to see how much love and comfort they derived from each other’s presence. As she woke her son up gently, Douglas looked into his mother’s eyes and said, “Good morning, Mum. I love you, Mum.”
“I know you do, my boy. I know you do; and I love you too. I’ve been thinking, Douglas, as I watched you and that small creature there sleeping. I was just thinking how natural you look together. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you as happy, my boy; a long time. Not since before your dear dad died, have I seen you with such a look of contentment across your face, “Douglas’s mum said with a tear in her eye.
Douglas saw his mother start to cry. Giving her a cuddle, he said, “I know, Mum.... I know. It hurts sometimes. I miss dad also. But at least we have each other to love, whereas some poor creatures have nobody to love.” At this point, Douglas looked down at the baby dragon in the straw and the boy also started to cry.
The baby dragon opened its eyes and saw the boy and his mother cuddling and crying together; so it broke out into tears also! The baby dragon then decided to throw his arms around Douglas’s legs and comfort him. What a sight to behold. There was Douglas cuddling his mother, with the baby dragon cuddling Douglas. All three were cuddling each other and all three creatures were crying!
Looking lovingly into the eyes of her son, Douglas’s mother softly said, “Okay, you win, my boy. The creature can stay. But, it doesn’t come in the house. It lives here in the barn!”
“Oh Mum! Thank you, thank you, and thank you! You’re the best mum in the whole wide world. You’re the best; simply the best!”
“I know... I know” smiled Douglas’s mother. “Now get some breakfast down you and let’s be having you off to school my boy.”
So, the baby dragon was adopted by the boy Douglas and his mother, and became part of their family household. Before very long both boy and baby dragon became inseparable. Everywhere the boy Douglas went, the dragon followed, like a shadow that wouldn’t be shaken off. Each time the boy’s mother called for her son, ‘Douglas’, the boy came running, but so did the dragon after him. Call for ‘Douglas,’ and both boy and dragon always arrived together. So, in the end, when the time came to name the dragon, there was no choice in the matter; there being only one name that the creature would answer to, the same as the boy. So it was decided to name the dragon ‘Douglas’ also.
So, we now have a boy called ‘Douglas’ and a dragon called ‘Douglas’ who thinks that the boy is its mother and follows him everywhere! When the dragon was given the same human name as the boy Douglas, villagers gradually began referring to the dragon as ‘he, his or him’ instead of ‘it’, whenever they didn’t use his name. This welcome change made Douglas the Dragon feel more human and truly accepted as one of the Marfield villagers.
For the first year of his life, Douglas the Dragon lived happily with the boy and his mother. He was accepted into their home and was treated as one of the family. Everything Douglas the Boy did, Douglas the Dragon did too. Everywhere the boy went, Douglas the Dragon followed. The dragon followed the boy to bed; a development that the boy’s mother didn’t entirely embrace with enthusiasm! The dragon followed the boy to breakfast and to school. It sat at the next desk to the boy at school and in time, the dragon even learned to read, write and speak the human language. The dragon joined in the games in the Village Square with the boy Douglas and the other village children. It learned to skip, jump and sing their songs. It followed the boy Douglas everywhere; even to the loo! Sharing in the full life of Douglas the Boy and all the other village children, and being part of their adventures, soon made Douglas the Dragon a great friend to every child in Marfield. All the village adults came to accept the dragon as a harmless and loving creature in their midst. Douglas the Dragon truly felt loved.
“Are you sure he’s a dragon?” the Mayor of Marfield asked Granny McNally; the oldest and wisest person in the village. “He seems to be too gentle and loving to be a dragon, Granny McNally.”
“Ah, yes, Mr Mayor. I’m sure” Granny McNally replied. “I once saw one as a child, when they were more common. It’s a dragon; you mark my words.”
The Mayor accepted this pronouncement of Granny McNally as though it was Gospel. He knew that there was very little that she didn’t know that was worth knowing. The McNally family were the oldest and largest family in Marfield, and there had never been a time since Harold the Second had ruled England in the eleventh century when Marfield did not have a McNally family on their church register or a McNally gravestone in the village cemetery. There was always an old village resident called ‘Granny McNally’ and a married woman called ‘Mother McNally,’ and a young girl called ‘Frances McNally!’ Indeed; Marfield considered the McNally family as representing ‘continuity’ between past and present. As one Granny McNally died, her place would be taken by a Mother McNally, waiting in the wings to take her place in the line of family succession; while being born would be a girl called Frances McNally, the newest apprentice in the McNally ‘assembly line.’
As Douglas the Dragon grew older, he grew taller and stronger. Often, he would allow the village children to ride on his back. Everyone in Marfield grew to love Douglas the Dragon, and Douglas in turn grew to love everyone and everything. He had become a much-loved dragon.
As far as the dragon was concerned, Douglas the Boy was his real mother. It had been Douglas the Boy upon whom his eyes had first looked. He had been the one to love him and care for him over the past years. Douglas the Dragon never learned the truth about his real birth mother or the tragedy that had led to her death on the day of his birth.
During the second year of Douglas the Dragon’s life, and at the height of the adopted dragon’s happiness, tragedy struck Marfield Village. The angry volcano that had been sleeping for hundreds of years deep inside ‘The Angry Hill’ suddenly woke up and blew its head off!
The volcano erupted and flooded nearby Marfield in a sea of red-hot lava. As the lava made its way down the hillside and through the village, it destroyed everything in its path. It burnt the crops in the fields, destroyed all the houses and shops and killed every person and creature whose path it crossed. When the volcanic outburst had ended, the heart of Marfield Village was left ruptured. Many villagers had died and almost every family was left to mourn a loved one. Among those killed were the boy Douglas and his mother.
Following the disaster, the villagers were left in a state of shock as they mourned the loss of their friends and family, their homes and their belongings. Douglas also felt sorrowful and lonely, and he couldn't stop himself from crying. The only mother he had ever known in his life had died in the volcanic eruption, and no words of reassurance from sympathetic villagers seemed to ease the hurt and pain of his loss. The pit of his stomach was filled with an aching emptiness. His eyes were red from crying and heavy with lack of sleep. For a time, Douglas dwelt in the depths of despair and depression. He didn't seem to care if he lived or died.
A short while after the volcanic eruption, the villagers were assembled in the Village Square where their Mayor addressed them. Having witnessed the destruction of their village, and being their First Citizen, the Mayor felt it to be his responsibility to encourage the villagers to put their mourning behind them and to rebuild their lives the best way they could. To assist him in this matter, he called upon the wisdom of their most respected neighbour to address the sad villagers:
“Gather round, good people of Marfield; gather round,” the Mayor said as he officially opened the meeting.”We presently live in the saddest of times we have yet experienced. We have all lost a loved one and I know that some of you have even lost your entire family in the volcanic eruption. Not content with killing our loved ones, the volcano’s anger boiled their bodies and bones; leaving us only with a scraping of their ashes for remains. So, in memory of our dead, a large urn monument will be erected in the Village Square where their sacred ashes will remain for all time. And upon this urn, all their names shall be inscribed. This monument will become a focal point for our prayers, quiet reflections, our tears and our memories. They shall not be forgotten! Now, please give ear to our wisest and most senior citizen, Granny McNally, who wishes to say a few words to you.”
Granny McNally slowly ascended the platform stage that had been erected and after unfurling her shawl revealing her silver grey head of hair, she addressed the villagers:
“Our hearts are heavy with grief for our dead and our feelings of loss veil the extent of our pain. Even our mental images of their tragic deaths mangle our minds and press our thoughts of confusion into feelings of uncertainty for our future. Today, our skies seem filled with doom and gloom, but believe me, good neighbours, when I tell you that the sun shall shine through again!”
“I have walked this earth for over 90 years. I’ve seen all of you born and have witnessed more deaths than I care to remember. At the risk of sounding arrogant, I’ve forgotten more than you have still to learn, and yet; despite my old age and worldly wisdom, I know so little about the life to be found beneath this green sod or what makes ‘The Angry Hill’ explode in rage and commit such carnage.”
“But this I know with every breath of my being and tell you most truly. I know that sadness suffered in silence grows into bitterness and sours the very soul of humanity. I know that grief denied is grief extended and that bereavement borne alone is a cross too heavy to bear. I urge you all; do not hide away your sadness and grief from your families, neighbours and friends. Share your thoughts, fears, anger and other sad feelings with them; for a burden shared is a weight lessened. Let it out. Let others see your sadness. Let others help you to carry your loss!”
“Do not conceal your pain. There is no shame in sadness, no weakness in wanting, no cowardice in crying and no comfort to be found in silent rage. There is no point in struggling to cope alone when others will help you willingly, and be glad to have done so. This is a time for you to share with family and friends; a time for all of us to rally round and to do the best we can. This is not a time to isolate oneself from the lives of others, but a time to take part in all around us.”
“Do all of this, good people, and I promise you that light will shine through your darkest hour. Follow the security that is to be found in the substance of your future; do not dwell upon the shadow of your past. Put your past behind you and a brighter present and ‘morrow shall surely follow. However sad you feel today, in time, your feelings shall change for the better. Remember; the birds shall still sing their song, the sun will still shine brightly, the wind will still blow, the grass will continue to grow lush and green, and the flowers of the meadows will still bloom in all their beauty.”
“Consider this, good people, should you feel battered and beaten down. Even mighty oaks bend and bow to the force of nature. Yet, even when they are battered and blown by the earth’s tempestuous storms; even then, experience encourages their trunks to grow ever stronger and their roots ever deeper. Are we no less? So, please give heed to the ramblings of an old woman. Do as I advise, and however hard it proves to be, I promise you that peace and reconciliation will enter your lives once more.”
Granny McNally’s speech to the assembled villagers had the desired effect. Within a matter of months, farms were restocked, the fields were prepared for new crops to be sown and bridges, houses, shops, school and church had been rebuilt. Everyone helped, even Douglas the Dragon, who allowed the villagers to use the strength of his body to haul huge loads of sand, stone and cement for rebuilding and his height as scaffolding for the workers to climb on. The villagers soon relearned that working together as a community made each feel to be part of a much greater whole.
When all that had been done, substitute families needed to be found for all those children whom the volcano had left orphaned. Every family who had room to accommodate an orphan child did so. Even the trouble maker, Fred Larkin Junior, who’d lost all his family in the volcanic eruption, was eventually found an adopted household with Mother McNally and her large family of 13 children. Young Frances McNally wasn’t at all pleased initially, as she and Fred Larkin Junior were always fighting each other and was sworn enemies!
When all the orphaned children had been found foster homes, a village child reminded everyone that Douglas the Dragon had also been orphaned.” What about poor Douglas?” the child asked. Being a much-loved creature, naturally all of the village children wanted to adopt Douglas the Dragon.” We’ll have Douglas” the children yelled.” He can live at our house!”
“I’m very sorry to disappoint you all,” the Mayor of Marfield told the children, “Douglas is a growing dragon and is getting too large to be housed in any of your humble dwellings. Besides, he can’t possibly live with all of you. Now, what shall we do?”
At that juncture, Granny McNally stepped forward and whispered in the Mayor’s ear and provided the perfect solution.
“Because we all love Douglas,” the Mayor of Marfield told them,” and because he has become the villager’s dragon, it is only fair that he remains accessible to all of us. So, as Granny McNally suggests, it will be most appropriate for Douglas the Dragon to live in the Village Square, alongside our sacred urn and monument. Marfield Village shall adopt Douglas because he is ‘our’ dragon and belongs to all of us.”
This proposal was whole-heartedly adopted with the approval of all the villagers; especially Douglas. He liked the idea of being the villagers’ dragon. Whenever Douglas and the other villagers felt a bit sad for the loss of their loved ones at night time in bed and couldn’t get to sleep; they found that by looking towards the urn and remembering the good things their loved ones did and the happy moments spent together, helped a little. In time, the villagers’ feelings of loss and emptiness lessened. The time for mourning passed and was eventually overtaken by the practicalities of life.
Soon everyone had a new home. Douglas loved living in the centre of the village and being the centre of attention. The centre was the best place to be. This is where it all happened. The Village Square was the hub of everything that went in, out of or through the village. It was the hustle and bustle of all activity. It buzzed with the busyness of life! Most important of all, however, Douglas was close to all the children who filled the square with their boisterous games, cheerful voices and happy songs. The village centre was also the place where the butcher and the baker had their shops. Being on hand, all day long, Douglas the Dragon was always around when the baker discarded some burnt bread and misshapen biscuits or the butcher threw out some overcooked pork pies or squashed sausages! For the next decade, Douglas lived in peace and harmony with his neighbours.
All continued to go well for many years, but as the dragon became a ‘teenager’, he naturally started to develop teenage ways. Everything about him became bigger, louder, smellier and more inconvenient than before! Douglas continued to grow larger and larger.
"Shift your big bottom, Douglas!" the villagers would say as they struggled to squeeze passed him into the Village Square.” You take up more room than a field full of hay stacks at threshing time!”
"Come on, Douglas! Move somewhere else please. The customers will never get inside my shop doorway if you keep blocking up its pathway and door entrance with your huge body!" the butcher or another of the shopkeepers would ask the dragon.
Even the children began to complain when Douglas began to get in the way of their games in the Village Square. "Move your head to the left, Douglas. Your shadow is blocking out the sunlight and we can't see what we're doing!" they would frequently complain.
"Come on, Douglas! Be fair and budge up a bit. There isn't enough room to swing a skipping rope with your big bottom filling the square!" another would comment.
"How do you expect us to play a good game of football, Douglas," others cried, "when your big bum fills the space of two football pitches?" the children would chide.
“If you must break wind and make smelly noises, Douglas” the greengrocer would say, “can you please move down a few streets and not drive my customers away!”
"Run for cover, everyone! Douglas is about to sneeze!" the cry would go up as soon as the children saw the dragon reach for a handkerchief made out of a single bed sheet.
"Who broke my windows?" one of the nearby home owners asked, after Douglas had let out the noisiest sneeze you've ever heard. "Was it you… the boy with the football? Or you… the girl with a catapult?"
"It wasn't us, Mister! Honest… it wasn't! Blame Douglas. He is the one to blame. He is the one who sneezed. It was his force ten sneeze that broke your window, Mister a boy replied.”
However, it was the dreaded ‘health and safety’ issue that eventually forced the Mayor to act. Eventually, the day arrived when Douglas had grown so large that when he sat down in the Village Square, his big bottom filled it and made it impossible for anyone else to move about.
One by one, the villagers complained to the Mayor that Douglas’s presence was unsafe to put up with in the Village Square any longer and that his enormous size was now making their lives a misery.
"Something will have to be done!" Douglas heard one villager mumble behind his back.
"If something isn't done soon," another villager commented to the Mayor of Marfield, "it will be only a matter of time before there's a serious accident. Lord only knows, but the dragon could crush a child to death if it sat down without looking behind him!"
When Douglas the Dragon overheard this latter fear being expressed, he began to entertain the thought that he might have to move. He loved every child in the village, even the spotty- faced Frances McNally who was always picking her nose and flicking bogies at him. The thought of him ever hurting one of the children accidently frightened Douglas a great deal. So much so, that when the Mayor of Marfield next approached Douglas and asked him politely to move to the edge of the village to live, the dragon reluctantly agreed.
"You're just too big to live in Village Square any longer, Douglas," the Mayor explained. "We'd appreciate it if you would pack your bags and move to the edge of the village where there is plenty of space for you to park your big bum."
So, Douglas the Dragon went to live at the edge of the village, but quickly discovered that living on the edge of the village instead of at its centre wasn't the same. No longer did he get to eat the misshapen biscuits, burnt loaves and mince pies that he regularly received when he lived outside the bakery in the Village Square. No more did he receive those succulent pork pies that the baker considered to be overcooked, but which tasted perfect to Douglas. His meals now consisted of what people gave him as they passed in and out of the village. To a creature of Douglas’s growing size, the odd crisp or apple core wasn't the kind of dragon meal he’d become accustomed to! Occasionally, a waft of air would carry the smell of freshly baked bread and mince pies passed the nostrils of the dragon, but Douglas soon realised that ‘smelling’ delicious food wasn’t the same as ‘tasting’ it!
Initially, the children of the village would visit Douglas briefly after their school day had ended and share their news with him. But, these visits gradually got less and Douglas saw fewer people each day. He quickly started to get lonelier and to miss all the village gossip that kept him in touch with village life. He only had one neighbour who lived near him at the edge of the village, and because she worked all day, Douglas would only see her once at the start of each day to say ‘Good morning’ to, and at the end of the day when she came home from work to say, ‘Good night’ to.
Most of all, Douglas missed the noise, laughter and presence of the village children. He imagined them playing games merrily in the Village Square without him, but thinking about this merely made the dragon sadder and more depressed. He started to feel badly done to. He began to think that he’d been dumped on the edge of nowhere; left to scrimp and scrounge out the remainder of his days.
At first, it was as though the villagers had placed him out of sight and out of mind. They rarely paid him a visit and the only time that Douglas saw or spoke to one of the children or adults was if they passed in and out of the village. Then Douglas started to feel cheated and deceived. He’d been previously led to believe that he would always remain a part of the village, but it didn’t feel like that anymore. He was close enough to the village to hear the children laugh and play, but he could no longer join in their games. He was close enough to Marfield to still smell the food being cooked, but was now too far away to have any of it thrown to him anymore.
Douglas started to sulk and grumble. "It's not fair! It's just not fair! Just who do they think they are, turning me out of the Village Square? They don’t really love me! They don’t really care about me!”
Gradually, he became more irritable, depressed and rejected. When he thought about his ‘human mum’; the boy Douglas, he felt sadder. He didn't even have the comfort of looking at the urn of ashes in the Village Square during the night, when he didn’t sleep anymore.
"If only my mum was still alive," he thought angrily. "If only mum was still around, none of this would be happening to me! He wouldn't let it!"
As the weeks and months passed, Douglas started to become angrier and angrier with the villagers who’d move him out of the Village Square and, before long, he refused to talk with them anymore. He thought,” If that lot think they can dump me out here on the edge of the village and still expect me to be a part of their life, they have another think coming! Just who do they think I am? I’ll not talk to them again; ever! Hell will freeze over before I speak to any of them again!”
As the villagers passed in and out of the village, they each said, ‘Hello Douglas’ to the dragon, but Douglas remained determined not to reply. One day Granny McNally spoke to Douglas as she walked back into the village and instead of answering her civilly, the dragon simply snorted contempt at her with a haughty ‘Hu...h!’
The elderly woman could sense the abundance of anger inside the dragon and before returning back into the village, she gave the dragon some friendly advice. “I realise that living on the edge of life, Douglas, isn’t as exciting and as satisfying as being constantly at the heart of it. Life is what we make it, Douglas. If you are fortunate enough to be the centre of attention, then enjoy your moment. But life is never a bed of roses all the time, Douglas. It comes to us wrapped in both pleasure and pain. Sometimes, we have to make do with less than we desire, and when that happens, we’d better learn to make the best of it if we want to survive. However unpleasant life appears, Douglas, never lose your manners and civility, for it is these two human traits that separate mankind and beast. Hold on to your manners and civility, Douglas, and you will never burn all your bridges between yourself and others. You have been blessed, Douglas, to learn the power of human speech. But if you stop talking to people civilly; soon you will lose your ‘humanity’ along with the ability to speak at all!"
“Yeh! Yeh! Yeh! Keep your talk to yourself, Granny!” Douglas thought it, but he wasn’t yet angry enough to say it to the most respected citizen in Marfield. After Granny McNally had left, Douglas started to get angrier. He felt that nobody loved him, cared about him or understood him anymore.
Douglas's decision to stop talking to the villagers didn't make him feel any better. In fact, once he’d stopped talking to those villagers who passed his way each day, he felt even lonelier and more depressed. Before very long, Granny McNally’s advice had started to come true. Having stopped talking to the humans who passed by, eventually resulted in the dragon no longer being able to talk at all. The only form of expression he now possessed was in the form of angry snorts that were borne from the burning embers of his fiery furnace!
"I'll teach them!" Douglas protested angrily one morning. “I’ll jolly well teach them to push me out of my happy home and ignore me!"
These sort of vengeful thoughts occupied Douglas’s angry mind all day long. The more he thought about ways of getting his own back, the angrier he became. Now, when a dragon becomes angry, his tummy gets hotter and hotter and he begins to start spitting up fire to help him cool down. Spitting up fire for an angry dragon is only natural, but unfortunately, when the dragon lives next door to a neighbour with a thatched roof, and accidently burns her house down, the neighbour naturally becomes angry also!
Douglas knew that burning down his neighbour’s home had been a little accident, but being unable to voice what precisely had happened, he realised that she may not be prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt when she saw the remains of the fire.
"Oh no, Douglas! Whatever have you done to my lovely home? I’ve lived in that house for 50 years. I was born in that house! My parents died there!" Douglas’s neighbour yelled angrily, when she returned from work to find her happy home and property in flames with the dragon watching on helplessly. "You will not get away with this, you… you nasty dragon! I'm going to report your arson to the Mayor! What do you have to say about that then?"
Douglas wanted to explain that the fire had been an accident caused by his angry breath, but the words wouldn't come out of his mouth. You see, it had been so long since Douglas had talked to anyone that he forgotten how to talk to humans. He’d truly lost the power of human speech!
Douglas‘s neighbour waited for an explanation, but when one didn't appear to be forthcoming, she stamped off to tell the Mayor. The Mayor returned to the scene of the fire and asked Douglas for an explanation as to why he'd burnt down his neighbour’s house. Douglas again tried to talk, but couldn't. He was able to think the words he wanted to say but he couldn’t seem to speak them. However hard he tried, he couldn't make them come out of his mouth. The only sound that Douglas could manage was to bubble like a gold fish out of water, gasping for air.
“Come on, Douglas, tell me this instance, and stop this angry silence. Come on, you stupid dragon, why did you burn down your neighbour’s house?” the Mayor commanded.
Frustrated and angry with his inability to speak, Douglas snorted loudly, and two angry balls of fire shot out of his nostrils towards the Mayor; setting the seat of his trousers aflame. The Mayor jumped up and down as he tried to put out the flames. Then, he began to roll about on the ground before deciding to jump into a nearby stream. When he returned soaking wet, he shook his fist at Douglas. He was fuming with rage.
"How dare you? How dare you treat your Mayor with such contempt, you....teenage hooligan! How dare you make me jump up and down in such an undignified manner? I’m your Mayor! That's it, you… you arsonist! That's it, Buster! You too large to live in the centre of the village and you're too dangerous to live on the edge of it! Pack your bags and clear out, you… you nasty dragon! Go on! Clear off! You're not welcome around here anymore! Clear off!"
Douglas was very sad as he left the village that night. He felt very lonely, unwanted, rejected and unloved. He walked until he came to the two hills, which stood side-by-side. The Hill of Fear seemed to stretch into the sky and he decided to climb to its top. The Hill of Anger at its side seemed quiet and the dragon knew that it wouldn’t wake up for many years yet. Douglas the Dragon plodded up The Hill of Fear, until eventually, he reached the top. Looking out from the top of the steep hill, he could see Marfield Village in the distance below.
"This will do for tonight," Douglas thought. "I’ll bed down here tonight and decide what to do tomorrow when I wake up."
The next day Douglas woke up feeling very grumpy and angry. He went to the edge of the hill and looked down at the village below. He could see the villagers. They were like small dots on the landscape, going about their daily business as they went to work. He imagined the children setting off for school and the shopkeepers opening their premises. He could faintly hear the hustle and bustle noise of village life below and he knew that he was no longer a part of it and would never be so again. This awareness made the anger surge up from deep inside and he roared it out aggressively at the villagers below.
"Ahg....h! Ahg....h! I'll teach you for running me out of town!" Douglas roared. "I’ll teach all of you..... Every last one of you. Well, here I am and here I’ll stay! Nobody will ever budge me again! Nobody! Ahg.........h! Ahg.........h!”
So Douglas the Dragon decided to stay on the top of The Hill of Fear. He also decided to build himself the ruin of a castle, using stone that he fetched from a quarry in the next valley. It took Douglas almost 2 years to build his castle on top of the steep hill, and when it was finished, he named it ‘Grumpy Castle.’
In time, the villagers of Marfield forgot about Douglas the Dragon, but he never forgot them. He never forgot that they had sent him away and had rejected him. For every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year, for the next 40 years, Douglas thought about what they've done to him and this made him angrier and angrier.
Every day would commence and end in the same way; with the dragon going to the edge of the hill and looking down on the village below and roaring out his anger that was eating him inside.” Ahg.....h! Ahg....h!”
For 40 years, the angry dragon spent all of his days and nights stood at the top of ‘The Hill of Anger’, looking down at the villagers below and stalking their every movement, getting angrier and angrier. If ever any villager left the village alone or entered it after dark, Douglas saw to it that they were never seen again!
One day Douglas the Dragon became so angry, that like the volcano before him, he blew his lid! He decided that enough was enough and that he had to get his own back on the villagers who’d turned him out of his happy home 40 years earlier.
"I'll teach them!" Douglas snorted angrily. "I'll teach every last one of them! I’ll kill them! I’ll murder them! Turning me out of my happy home, just because I grew too big and accidentally started a little fire! If they want to see a fire, I’ll show them what a real fire looks like! Agh....h!"
Douglas couldn’t stop the anger rising up inside of him, willing him to explode in rage. When the anger inside his tummy had reached boiling point, he snorted two fireballs out of his nostrils and began running down the hill towards the village. His eyes looked murderous and he was determined to do damage! The hillside began to tremble with the weight of the angry dragon as he made his way downwards, bellowing huge gusts of angry flames in all directions and destroying everything that crossed his path: burning to cinders, the crops in the fields, houses, shops, livestock, pets and people; anything or anyone which got in his way.
In the village down below, the sound of the dragon’s footsteps sounded like the coming of an earthquake. The villagers didn’t know what was happening as the earth around them shook violently and all the crockery and plates began to fall off their dressers and tables.
The closer Douglas the Dragon got the village, the angrier he became. Chimneys began to topple from their roofs and walls began to tumble as the dragon ran on, spitting out gusts of fire at everything he passed. Any poor villager who was unfortunate enough to be in his line of fire was engulfed in a puff of flame! As Douglas made his way back up The Hill of Fear, most of the village behind him had been reduced to ash and rubble.
"That will teach you to turn me out!" Douglas snorted in a puff of angry satisfaction as he gazed down the The Hill of Fear and saw the village in ruin and flames.” Now, that’s what I call ‘a real fire!’” he bellowed. ”That was no little accidental fire. I did that on purpose. That’s what I call ‘a real fire!’ Agh.......h! Agh.....h!”
Now, because dragons can live for hundreds of years and have a different time span to that of humans, Douglas didn't realise that the present villagers of Marfield were different people to those villagers who’d turn him out many years earlier. In fact, the adults there today were the children of those children with whom he had played many years before; but it was now so long ago that even they couldn’t remember the dragon.
All the villagers were frightened of this ferocious beast that could burn down their houses and engulf them in one huge, fiery breath. Douglas the Dragon hadn’t finished with them though. He waited patiently until the villagers had re-sown the crops in their fields, restocked their farms, rebuilt their houses, shops and bridges, buried their dead and found foster homes for the orphans before he blew his top and burned them down again and again and again! For 10 long years, Douglas the Dragon made the villagers’ lives a misery and he became their ‘Angry Neighbour from Hell!’
As the years passed by, Douglas the Dragon continued to grow angrier and angrier and he began to hate human beings more and more. He watched them from his hilltop day and night. He stalked them and killed them at every opportunity. Most days, the angry dragon would keep the village under siege; preventing anyone going in or out of it. Douglas never gave the villagers a few moments peace. Fired by a deep pit of anger within him and driven by a never-ending thirst for revenge, he hounded them incessantly.
The villagers lived in constant fear of the next dragon attack, although they always knew when the dragon was about to come. Douglas the Dragon breathed so heavily that the fire from his mouth lit up the whole sky, and the earth all around trembled and shook violently. Houses would collapse around them as the prowling dragon advanced in rage towards the village centre. Douglas the ferocious dragon had a huge appetite, and although he didn't eat often, when he did, he could easily gobble up 100 houses and still have room for a second helping!
One day, a travelling wizard called Yaffe came to Marfield Village. Wizard Yaffe was a good wizard who was wise beyond his years. Wizard Yaffe had one prime purpose in life; to use his knowledge and the power of his magic helping others to find the peace and love that lives within all of us. He was wise, gentle and considerate and had become a philosopher and expert of human behaviour.
Whenever Wizard Yaffe used his magic, he always used it for the power of good, but he used it sparingly. With his book of magic spells and box of magic potions, Wizard Yaffe could perform many magical feats, but his greatest magic of all sprang from his belief in the ‘Power of Love.’
He had the wisdom to know that all people; young and old, large and small, male and female, black and white, Muslim and Christian, have the power within, to either hinder or help themselves in a way that no wizard could ever do.
The cornerstone of Wizard Yaffe’s philosophy and way of life was ‘The Power of Love.’ Wizard Yaffe believed that there was no greater human emotion capable of producing change, withstanding hardship, overcoming any obstacle or maintaining happiness than that of ‘love’. The wise wizard believed that the earth was created out of love, that it continues to spin on an axis of love, and that it is the love expressed by all humans, which keeps it spinning in harmony. To the wise wizard, love was the only thing powerful enough to make the world turn round!
Despite their troubles, the villagers of Marfield were kind and generous people and always welcomed strangers into their midst. Wizard Yaffe had arrived in Marfield Village tired and hungry, having walked many miles without sleep, food and water. His strange clothes quickly attracted the attention of a number of villagers who were curious to see this newcomer.
“Hello there” said Wizard Yaffe politely. “My name is Wizard Yaffe and I’m a stranger to these parts.”
"Sit down here in the shade, stranger, and I'll bring you some food and drink," the publican said to the wizard.
"That's extremely kind of you, sir," replied Wizard Yaffe, "but I think it's only fair to tell you that I have no money to pay for it. I never carry money, you see!"
"No matter," said the publican. "What we have, you’re only too welcome to share. Strangers are always made welcome in Marfield, Wizard Yaffe."
"Do you intend to stay in the village overnight, Wizard Yaffe?" another villager asked the wizard.
"I have walked rather a long way today and I'm tired," the wizard replied, "but I’d be ever so grateful if someone would let me sleep in their barn."
"Sleep in the barn!" cried the Mayor. "We wouldn't dream of offering a barn to a stranger in need of rest. No! You come home with me, Wizard Yaffe. You can willingly have my bed and I'll sleep in the barn for one night!"
“Thank you so much,” replied the wizard.” That’s so kind of you, Mr Mayor, but I couldn’t possibly let you put yourself out of your bed for a stranger and let you sleep on straw while I snuggle into feather. I couldn’t possibly!”
“Think nothing of it, Wizard Yaffe! Think not upon it a moment longer. I would consider it a kindness in itself were you to accept such a small gesture. Think not of it as me ‘losing a bed for the night,’ but instead of me ‘gaining a friend for life? What better way of turning stranger into friend?”
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