Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Church Debates

This is every church debate ever ...


Thanks, kids. You said it all!


Thursday, October 02, 2014

The Hidden Path - 12 - Saying Goodbye

“Oh, no” Susie said. “I totally forgot, I promised Mom I’d help her prepare for tonight’s special dinner.” She stood to leave.

Henry looked at her like she was forgetting something really obvious. “Susie, I don’t think we are going anywhere. We are prisoners.”

“Prisoners?” The dragon said, almost crying. “You came to see me!”

“Then we can leave?” Henry asked.

“Leave?” The dragon’s voice took a steely tone. “Why would you want to leave?”

Henry looked at Susie. “See,” he said. “Told you.”

Susie walked up to the dragon’s cheek and patted it. “I promise to come back, and when I do, I’ll bring the ruby I found on the path.”

Henry, understanding what Susie was doing, pulled the pouch off his neck. “You can have these back, too!” he dumped the five nuggets into his palm. “Here are the five gold nuggets I took yesterday.”

The dragon purred like a huge cat at seeing his gold again. “My hoard!” He said, “Please just drop them there.”

Henry dropped the nuggets. The dragon pulled his head away from the cave entrance. As the two children headed out of the cave, the dragon said, “Can I ask you one last favour?”

Susie and Henry stopped and looked at the dragon, waiting for his request.

“Show me your town,” the dragon said. “I would love to see all the happy people laughing and talking to each other.”

“How can we do that?” Henry said, “If we bring you down there, people will be terrified and try to kill you!”

“With the ruby,” the dragon said. “I can see all the ruby sees.”

“You can?" the children said together, completely surprised.

“Yes, that’s why I’m letting you go,” the dragon said. “Henry, I saw you share the ruby with your sister. And Susie, I saw you take the ruby to the jewellers to have a necklace made for your mother. You are the kind of friends I would love to have!”

Susie looked at Henry. “He’s telling the truth,” she said. “How else would he know those things happened?” Henry nodded his head.

“Please keep the ruby and ask your mother to wear it wherever she goes,” the dragon said. “Then I will know the stories of the many friends in my new village!”

“We will,” Henry said. 

“We promise,” Susie added.

The two children walked out of the dragon’s cave and on to the path. A gentle rain was starting to fall.

“I would also love a visit, now and then,” the old dragon said from behind them. “If you can spare the time.”
The Hidden Path
a fairytale by David Edgren

“We will definitely come back!” Henry said.

“We’re your friends, now,” Susie said. “We will be back as often as we can.”

“Thank you,” the dragon said. “I’ll be waiting here and watching all you show me. Bye, my friends.”


“Bye!” Henry and Susie said together.


---X-X-X---   THE END   ---X-X-X---

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

The Hidden Path - 11 - Fireballs

11. Fireballs

As the children passed into the cave, the dragon’s tail slid into position along the wall next to them, his head followed them into the cave. As he drew his head back inside, he used it to block the cave entrance. His huge bronze body, now in a huge C-shape, filled most of the cave. As the children passed the end of his tail the dragon flicked it behind them and laid his head on it. Now they were trapped inside a huge circle of dragon. 

“Have a seat,” The dragon rumbled. “Sit on my tail at whatever height suits you.”

Susie walked along the tail of the dragon until she reached a spot as high as a chair. She felt the dragon’s huge scales and sat in the middle of one. Henry sat next to her.

The dragon let out a huge sigh of relief. “Ahh, It feels so good to have some friends, again!” 

Henry looked at Susie and mouthed the word, “Friends?” Susie shrugged.

“I used to have a princess,” the dragon continued. “She was so beautiful! Her hair was like strings of gold and her eyes were as blue as sapphires. She was a sight to behold. She was proud and confident. And she was smart. Oh, the conversations we had! We had a couple of wonderful years together.” The dragon’s huge eye half closed as he got lost in his thoughts.

Susie looked over at Henry and raised her hands, as if to say, “What now?”

Henry said, “We are not royalty. We’re just village kids.”

“I know who you are,” The dragon said. “I’ve been watching you just like I watched the princess before she came to live with me.”

“What happened to the princess,” Susie said in a scared whisper.

The dragon breathed a rapid ragged breath and whimpered a tiny sob. Then he coughed trying to cover the sob. When he coughed, a fireball burst from his nose and flared against the wall in front of his face. His eye flew open and darted around the room until it found Henry and Susie. Seeing them, the dragon let out another sigh of relief.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to make fire. It just happens, these days,” the dragon said. “It was a knight. Shiniest armour I ever saw. He came raging in here like he owned the place. The sun was just setting outside the cave and his armour lit up like a thousands diamonds in the sun. I was blinded, just for a moment. But, that was long enough for him to grab the princess and run.” The dragon went quiet for a couple of seconds, then added, “She was my best friend, ever. She was mine, and he just took her.” The dragon’s eye glistened wetly until a massive tear fell to the ground. His huge eyelid, like a warriors shield, closed over his eye.

Susie grimaced at Henry, she’d obviously hit a sore spot in his story. “Are you lonely?” Susie asked the dragon.

The dragon remained quiet and unresponsive. 

Henry thought a change of topic might be good. “Why do you keep sneezing fireballs?”

The eye opened and focused on Henry. “I’m just getting old.” The dragon said. “In my warrior years, I would save up my fire and scare entire armies of men with huge bursts that covered an entire valley. Now, I just snort and sneeze fireballs without meaning to.”

“That must be embarrassing!”  Henry said.

“Yes, but it’s worse than embarrassing,” the dragon said. “I had a pet frog a few months back. He told me a joke that made me laugh and I fried him to a crisp.”
The Hidden Path
a fairytale by David Edgren

“Awww, that’s sad!” Susie said. “Is that why you never face us? You always look at us with just one eye.”

“Exactly,” the dragon said. “I keep my head above or to the side of whoever I’m with. I don’t want any more accidentally fried friends.”

“Thanks for that,” Henry said.

The Dragon laughed a small fireball. “You’re welcome, kid.”



Dave Edgren ~ Story: Teller, Author, Trainer ~

BOOK DAVE NOW! Dave Edgren is passionate about creating a values-based storytelling culture. In his engaging and often hilarious way,...