Far away from here there is a fairytale land. It’s all white, covered with snow. Everywhere the eye can see, a snowy white blanket is glistening. Winter dragons live in this land. They are huge. They fly quietly, watching everything around them. They help people and fairytale creatures who live there to stay warm. Their most frequent task is making fires. Fire is the only thing in this fairytale winter land that can bring warmth, which is why it’s so important for the dragons to help with this. They simply need to blow a little bit of their fiery breath at a piece of wood and fire appears.
But there is a small dragon called Derring-Do flying among the dragons, and he thinks everything is for fun. When a big dragon ignites a fire for someone, Derring-Do the dragon rushes over and blows the fire out. And then quickly disappears. While at it, he can barely contain his laughter.
All the dragons, his parents included, told him many times that it was dangerous. That he wasn’t allowed to do this, that something could happen. But Derring-Do was stubborn and kept on disobeying. Until the day came when even Derring-Do the dragon became afraid that things might not end well.
It was a beautiful evening. The sky was full of stars and the entire winter landscape glittered in the moonlight. Just then, dwarf Frank was coming back home after a long journey. He lived in a small fairytale cottage and went to work in the caves every day. That night, Frank was quite tired and chilled to the bone already. He told himself that he would find shelter by the cliffs for a while and start a fire.
He stacked up several sticks of wood and called out: “Dragons, my dear dragons, please start a fire for me!” Immediately, a dragon flew over, blew its fiery breath onto the sticks, and a fire appeared, giving out warmth. But Frank barely had any time to enjoy it when Derring-Do the dragon appeared in order to put the fire out.
The dwarf called the dragons again. Right away, a big one flew over and the fire resumed burning. This time, Derring-Do didn’t come back, so the dwarf started to doze off in the pleasant warmth and crackling of the flames. He was so exhausted that he fell asleep. Just then, Derring-Do the dragon appeared and put out the fire. But it didn’t wake the dwarf up. He had fallen into a deep doze.
After some time, dwarf Frank started to freeze, but still he didn’t wake up. Just in time, a big dragon flew past, looking around the landscape. He spotted the small dwarf lying in the snow, his beard covered in frost, fast asleep. He didn’t hesitate for a second and headed straight for him. With his fiery breath, he quickly reignited the fire and pushed dwarf Frank as close to it as possible. The tiny man started thawing and waking up. The dragon waited with Frank a little longer to make sure that he was alright, and then went to find Derring-Do the dragon. It was clear that it had been him who put the fire out.
When he found him, he described everything to him. He explained how dangerous the things he was doing were. After all, the dwarf might have frozen to death. Derring-Do was sad that the dragon was angry with him. But when he imagined that dwarf Frank might have frozen to death because of him, he felt even sorrier. He didn’t want to bring harm to anyone.
From then on, everything is the way it should be in the fairytale land. The huge dragons fly above the entire countryside, watching over all the citizens of the realm. And Derring-Do the dragon? He doesn’t put out fires anymore. On the contrary: he practices how to start them as fast as he can. When he grows up, he wants to be as strong and important as the big dragon.
