Rain Dragon

Long ago, in the distant lands, there was a Rain Dragon. Wherever the Rain Dragon flew, storms followed. His roar was the sound of thunder, and the claps of his wings created lightning.

Every time the Rain Dragon would fly by the perilous mountain ranges where lived a peace loving people in their wooden warmly lit huts, they would cheer. Children would say, "look mother! It's the Rain Dragon!"

All would run out, smell the powerful breeze that the dragon emitted, and humbly thank him as they saw him fly off into the distance - into the sea.

At night, stories would be told. A mother told her son a story that night.

"Once upon a time, in the Land of Dwelve, there was prosperity. Trees hugged their homes, grass cushioned their paths, and berries sparkled welcomingly almost as if to say 'come and eat me!'. Dwelve was founded upon forests and hills, where no tree was too close, and no hill was too tall. Lakes and rivers were abundant, and the view was gorgeous wherever ones eyes wandered.

'Peace,' said a Dwelvish man. 'Aye peace is the name by which we thrive, much like the pumpkins, potatoes and bee hives. Peace is the means by which we live, the stories the tell, the gifts we give. All that sun that shines oh so bright, all the birds that dance in their flight, all the merries and berries and cherries, so as to say, who doth dare say nay to the fairies? Oh yes! The fairies, how could I forget? For it is the fairies that give what we get. A song I shall sing about their beauty, a beauty so fruity that I-

'Dad,' said the daughter.

'Huh?'

'You're singing about the tooty fruity booty fairies again, aren't you?'

'Nay! Nay I say! I was just singing about our sun, that is all.'

But before the father could finish convincing his daughter, a dark and sinister air filled his lungs. He looked down at the ground. The grass had wilted, and the sky was dark brown much like the bare twigs that were stripped off their leaves.

'What in Angel's sake is going on?'

'I'm scared, dad!'

'Come inside!'

Dwelve... was finished. Berries no longer grew. The sun never shone again, and there was barely an ounce of green left. The lakes and rivers all but dried up, and no longer did the Dwelven people sing and dance anymore. They only sat and waited...

Do they abandon their home? Do they pray to god knows what to come and rescue them? And, who was it that caused all of this?

What the Dwelven villagers did not know, was that there was a nasty, ugly, ferocious and despicable magical fairy that plotted this for oh so long. She believed, that if there was too much joy in one place, then there wouldn't be enough of it in other places. So she simply took it away with a single powerful spell. The spell was so powerful, she needed rest for years. She retreated to a pure black tree - a tree that was her home.

The other fairies wished they could help. They looked at the villagers with somber eyes, but were simply powerless to stop a spell so strong.

'What about the Rain Dragon?' said the daughter.

'Oh deary, the Rain Dragon is just a myth.'

'But...'

'The last sighting of him was over five hundred years ago, we're not even sure if he existed in the first place. Sure there were songs and tales of him, but there are songs and tales of Santa too, but you didn't get any presents down your chimney did you?'

'Oh come on dad...'

The grandfather walked in angrily.

'Rain Dragon Rain Shmagon. Some dumb kid must have thought of the story and everyone went along with it. Nothing but a huge pile of bogus,' he kicked the chair before going out.

The daughter frowned.

Another dreadful year passed.

Truly, where was the Rain Dragon? Why wouldn't he fly by? Just once...

The dark and wicked fairy emerged from her slumber. She yawned, and wilted the plants around her beyond their original wiltage.

The other fairies detested her. They demanded she undo her wrongs with another spell. They demanded she bring life back into Dwelve.

The dark fairy flew over to Dwelve, just as they instructed. Everyone's eyes were wide. The Dwelven people came out, wondering why the fairies were all out.

'I am the dark fairy,' she said. 'And I was the one that stripped Dwelve of its sunshine and joy. And I wanted to say... That I would do it all over again!! AHAHAHA, you shoulda seen your faces! Oooooh nooo, daddy, what will we do without the sun? Why isn't the grass green? It was priceless!' the dark fairy mocked them all.

The other fairies were in awe, and the villagers were furious. They wanted to attack her so bad. Oh so bad! But fairies were far too powerful, they simply couldn't...

And then... A loud, earth trembling, heart shaking, explosive sound of thunder rang through the sky. At that moment, a single bolt of lightning shot the dark fairy dead.

Everyone looked up! The sky was no longer dark orange, it was deep grey with beautiful blue tints.

'Up there!' the daughter pointed. There was a silhouette in the clouds. A silhouette, in the shape of a long and gorgeous dragon.

It started raining. It rained on their faces, it rained on the trees, the ground and the plants. Their faces smiled, the trees rose, and the ground came to life. The rivers and lakes filled up, and the fresh smell of the sea embodied the lands.

And not only that. For the first time, the dragon descended to greet the people of Dwelve. It was his apology for being so late.

Everyone bowed, including the fairies. The grumpy grandfather was trembling, but what did that matter?

A week later, the father went outside. He danced on the green grass beneath him and ate sparkling red berries as he sang, 'Oh the mighty almighty Rain Dragon above, thank you for bringing us back all this love! Oh the mighty almighty Rain Dragon in the sky, thank you so much for simply flying by!'

The End," said the mother atop the mountain who told this story to her son.

"But mother, why didn't the dragon come for so long?"

"The dragon didn't want to be taken for granted at first," she replied. "The people had to be prepared for the worst, but the worst could be avoided if one was careful. All it takes is a little bit of attention from everyone, doesn't it?" she smiled to her son and wished him good night.

"But mother, is Santa really not real?"

"Of course he is," she replied.

"But then why don't I ever get any presents?"

"Because we don't have a chimney," she blew the candle and walked out.