Dragon, Dragon
�
191
T
here was once a king whose kingdom was plagued by a
dragon. The king did not know which way to turn. The
king’s knights were all cowards who hid under their beds
whenever the dragon came in sight, so they were of no use
to the king at all. And the king’s wizard could not help
either because, being old, he had forgotten his magic spells.
Nor could the wizard look up the spells that had slipped his
mind, for he had unfortunately misplaced his wizard’s book
many years before. The king was at his wit’s end.
Every time there was a full moon the dragon came out of
his lair and ravaged the countryside. He frightened maid-
ens and stopped up chimneys and broke store windows
and set people’s clocks back and made dogs bark until no
one could hear himself think.
He tipped over fences and robbed graves and put frogs in
people’s drinking water and tore the last chapters out of
novels and changed house numbers around so that people
crawled into bed with their neighbors.
He stole spark plugs out of people’s cars and put fire-
crackers in people’s cigars and stole the clappers from all
the church bells and sprung every bear trap for miles
around so the bears could wander wherever they pleased.
And to top it all off, he changed around all the roads in
the kingdom so that people could not get anywhere except
by starting out in the wrong direction.
Vocabulary Builder
ravaged
(rav» ijd)
v.
violently destroyed;
ruined
Literary Analysis
Character Based on
his actions, what
words would you use
to describe the
dragon?
What is the problem
in the kingdom?
191
Support for Less Proficient Readers
To assist students’ comprehension, have them
read along with the audio CD version of the
story. Stop the recording frequently, and have
students discuss what has happened. Guide
the discussion by asking them questions about
characters, story events, and changes in
setting.
Strategy for Advanced Readers
A humorous element of this story is that
although dragons, kings, and wizards are
associated with medieval times, the dragon
wreaks havoc with modern things such as car
batteries. Invite students to write an
additional paragraph that addresses more
ways the dragon plagues the kingdom. Ask
them to describe ways that it interferes with
advanced technology, such as computers and
telecommunications.
Motivation
Prepare an Anticipation Guide
(General Resources, pp. 8–10) with
the following statements:
• Always follow your parents’ advice.
• Arranged marriages never work.
• You can always find a way to defeat
any opponent.
Give students a copy of the prepared
Anticipation Guide and have students
mark their responses in the Me col-
umn. Have students discuss the state-
ments in pairs or groups and mark
the Guides again in the Group
column.
Concept Connector
Students will return to the
Anticipation Guide after completing
the story.
Learning Modalities
Visual/Spatial Learners
Have students take notes about the
dragon in the story or make sketches
of it as they read. When they have
finished, ask students to either draw
or write a description of the dragon
based on what they have read
about it.
About the Selection
The kingdom in John Gardner’s story
“Dragon, Dragon” is plagued by a
dragon that outsmarts those sent to
kill it. The kingdom’s cobbler, who
thinks he is the least important per-
son in the land, is perhaps the
smartest. His two eldest sons fail to
slay the dragon because they refuse
to take their father’s advice. The
younger son. He takes his father’s
advice and slays the dragon.
Literary Analysis
Character
• Remind students that writers often
use a character’s actions to reveal
what the character is like.
• Read the bracketed passage
together. Ask the Literary Analysis
question.
Possible responses: The dragon
is mean, destructive, wicked, and
imaginative.
Reading Check
Answer: The kingdom is plagued by
a dragon.
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
Dragon, Dragon
John Gardner
