The King of the Copper Mountains by Paul Biegel

Author:Paul Biegel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steerforth Press
Published: 2022-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Breng, the dragon, fell silent, and only now did King Mansolain and the animals notice the red weals on his necks.

‘Well now,’ said the king after a long silence. ‘Yours is the story of the last dragon in my kingdom. I’m glad to have heard it. You may live the rest of your life in the copper stables. The animals will show you there.’

Trembling, the hare took the lantern from the hook.

‘Will you come along too, Mee?’ he asked the rabbit-of-the-dunes, and took him by the paw. With his other paw, the rabbit-of-the-dunes took the sheep by her forefoot, the sheep took the squirrel, the squirrel took the wolf, the wolf took the lion and even the duck plucked up enough courage to go too. The beetle and the bumble-bees were the only ones who were not afraid, for what can a dragon do to such creatures as these? So, all in a string, they led the dragon to the copper stables where he would have plenty of room.

‘Sh-shall I get some straw?’ the hare asked obligingly.

‘On no account!’ the dragon rumbled. ‘It would only cause a fire if I sneezed.’

‘A pillow perhaps?’ squeaked Mee, who liked to be a brave little rabbit.

‘Three pillows!’ the dragon cried. ‘Of hard brick, if you please.’ And with that he began to rub his scaly necks against the posts, because they itched.

The lion fetched three big stones and then the animals said: ‘Good night, Mr Breng,’ and left the stable. Just as he was slipping out of the door the squirrel turned and saw the dragon blowing flames over his back to burn away the dust of the day so that he could go to sleep all nice and clean.

King Mansolain had gone to bed already: the animals now followed his example, each creeping into his own special little spot.

Even the hare slept well that night for it seemed as though the king’s heart was ticking more strongly all the time. He had almost forgotten the Wonder Doctor.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.