In a faraway land, deep in the woods, there stood a wooden cottage. And inside it, a story happened which I will tell you about right now.
A boy named Alex lived in the cottage. He lived there with his parents. His father was a woodcutter and spent most of his time in the forest. Alex often went with his father to help. He knew the forest like the back of his hand. He liked carrying wood, checking whether the animals were well sheltered, and studying tracks in the snow.
Once, when Alex was in the forest with his father, he found something strange. An egg lay in the bushes. Alex pushed aside their branches, bent down, and tried to figure out whose egg it could be. It was too big for a bird’s egg. He had no idea to whom it belonged. Alex touched it and it was completely cold. No one had been warming it up for some time. “What if it’s abandoned and the animal inside will freeze?” Alex thought.
He couldn’t see any tracks around the egg. Everything was covered in snow and no one had been near the egg for a while. So, Alex decided to take the egg to the cottage and try to keep it warm. Maybe it wasn’t too late yet and the baby animal inside would survive.
The whole winter, Alex took care of the egg. Then one morning he could see that it was starting to crack. He sat beside it excitedly, looking at closely it from all sides. After a while, the egg cracked apart and a wing appeared. First one, then another. Then a head. Alex couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw what had just come out of the egg. A small dragon was sitting inside the broken shell. It was looking at Alex, turning its eyes.
“Who are you, friend?” Alex gazed at the little dragon. The dragon took a few steps and fell into the boy’s arms. From that moment, Alex and the dragon became inseparable friends.
Time went by and the dragon grew and grew. After some time, the cottage was too small for him and he started sleeping in the barn by the cottage. Alex and the dragon went to the forest together, helping his father carry wood, and in the evenings, they sat in the barn together, talking. They spent all of their time together. They protected each other and helped each other.
As time went by, Alex grew as well. Now he became a young man. He was now strong enough to fulfill one task. He was supposed to bring a rare plant to his mother and father from where it grew far away in a hidden cave. But he was supposed to go without the dragon. His parents didn’t have enough strength to get it themselves. But they needed it for their own health. And they trusted that Alex would manage it. But he was scared. The journey to fetch the plant was dangerous.
The night before he was supposed to set out, he confided in his dragon: “My friend, I’m scared. The journey to get the plant is long and difficult. And if I go without you, I’ll be scared.”
The dragon placed a paw on Alex’s back and said: “Alex, you can do this. Your parents and I trust you. And we will be waiting for you here. Don’t forget that whenever you go somewhere, you need to think of your goal and not what you are afraid of. Then you can achieve anything.”
Alex never forgot what the dragon told him. In the end, he did accomplish the journey. He traveled along a long and dangerous path and brought the plant to his parents. Thanks to his friend the dragon and his advice, he trusted that he could do anything.
