the dragon’s hill wearing smiley faces and singing happy songs.....he’ll......he’ll....he’ll turn us all into McNally Burgers with his fiery breath. He’ll murder us!”
“I hear what you’re saying Frances and I respect the doubts you’re expressing”, said Wizard Yaffe. “Before I discovered ‘The Power of Love’, I would have thought precisely as you think. But that was then and this is now. That was when I didn’t know what I now know. It’s a funny old world, Frances, but you never know what you don’t know until you don’t know it; and then you know it! It’s perfectly natural for you to be frightened by confronting your dragon.”
“Frightened?” queried Frances McNally angrily. She would have instinctively hit back in physical aggression had it been a child to have called her fearlessness into question and not a wizard who might possess the power to turn her into a frog if he happened to take a disliking to her. “I not frightened, Wizzy. I’m just not crazy!” she concluded.
“Now, look here children,” Wizard Yaffe continued, ”if you are prepared to put your trust in ‘The Power of Love’ and to do exactly what I say, I promise you on everything that is sacred to me, that you will turn your angry dragon into a friendly dragon.”
“We’ll need to pow-wow about that first, Wizzy,” Frances McNally replied. “What you’re asking us to do is to put our necks on the line. We’ll need to talk first. Come on, gang. Come over here and let’s discuss what Wizzy is asking.”
After 15 minutes of talking in the corner, Frances and the rest of the children returned." We’ve given the matter some thought, Wizzy, and we have decided to do as you ask!”
“Good girl, Frances. Well done children. What changed your minds, if you don’t mind me asking?” Wizard Yaffe asked.
“We decided to take you at your word, Wizzy, and to trust in ‘The Power of Love’. Besides, I’m afraid it was heads you win and tails we lose. The way we see it, Wizzy, is that it’s just a matter of time before the house comes crashing down around our heads! None of us are likely to ever leave school. If the dragon doesn’t gobble us up next week, he’ll probably get us the week after! But, if you’re right and the ‘Power of Love’ is enough to make him change his angry ways, then it’s a ‘win-win’ all round. I’m with you, Wizzy!”
“And I'm with you, Frances," another child said.
"Me too!" added Fred Larkin Junior.
“We’re all with you, Wizard Yaffe!” echoed the remainder of the children.
"Now, listen carefully children. Being frightened is nothing to be ashamed of. There’d be something wrong with you if you held no fear. The trick is to recognise your fear level; confront it and control it! If you follow my instructions precisely, no harm will come to any of you. Show the dragon any doubt or hesitation in your strength of purpose though and all will be lost. “
"Let's do it! Let's do it now, comrades!" Frances McNally urged, "before we lose our nerve!"
The army of children marched to the bottom of the steep hill and began to climb it, each one of them smiling and singing happy songs they did so.
"Remember what I said, children!" Wizard Yaffe yelled after them. "Whatever the Dragon does, however angry he becomes, do not falter in step, smile or song. Expose him to the power of your love and his anger will evaporate before your very eyes. By the way, his name is Douglas and he used to live in this village 50 years ago."
Upon hearing the sound of intruders on his hillside, the ferocious dragon ran out of his castle and stood at the top of the hill, looking down on the army of children marching up it.
"I'll teach you impudent bunch to trespass on my hill!" Douglas bellowed in dragon anger. "I'll frazzle the lot of you… you stupid humans! I’ll murder every last one of you!"
The marching children kept on marching up the hill as they tried to ignore the presence of the angry dragon. When the children carried on marching towards him without any sign of hesitation, Douglas the Dragon became enraged. He allowed his anger to rise up and he spat out three huge fireballs towards the army of it marching children; determined to blow them to smithereens. "Take that!" he snorted. "And that! And that!"
The three fireballs were hurled down towards the children, threatening to engulf them in a fiery furnace of hate upon impact. Despite being fearful for their continued safety they held hands tighter.
"Hold rank, everybody! Hold rank!" ordered Frances McNally, who was positioned in the centre of the front line alongside Fred Larkin Junior. "Put your trust in the Wizzy's wisdom and your faith in ‘The Power of Love!’ Keep smiling, keep singing and keep marching! Will soon be there."
The words of Frances McNally and her unfailing courage inspired the other marching children; especially those children who were about to break rank and run back down the hill to safety. The children swallowed their fear as the three fireballs headed straight towards them. They maintained their stride and outward expressions of smile and song.
The fireballs came at them, but just before the moment of impact, the flames divided and swept around the flanks of the marching children. Once the children realise that the wrath of the dragon’s anger couldn't overcome the power of their love, they marched on in greater confidence, smiling ever wider and singing louder; getting closer to the dragon with every step they took.
The ferocious dragon was fuming with rage. Douglas took the deepest breath he could muster and determined to spit out every ounce of anger in his body towards the army of advancing children and blow them to smithereens! He was just about to spit out his volcano of fire when suddenly; he heard the song that they were singing as they marched towards him with smiley faces.
“I know that song” he told himself.” I’ve heard that song before! I.... I.....used..... to sing that song with the children in the Village Square, 50 years ago.”
The children drew closer, and when the dragon looked ever more closely upon their ranks, he started to recognise familiar faces he’d once known. “I know that boy in front” Douglas said in surprise.” That’s Fred Larkin Junior. I know him! And I know her, Sally Cox. And blow me down with a feather duster if that spotty faced girl out front, picking her nose and flicking bogies everywhere isn’t Frances McNally! She’s still got that dirty habit.”
As the children drew closer to the dragon, one-by-one they approached Douglas and gave him a pat of love. Frances McNally was the first to reach Douglas the Dragon. Patting him gently she sweetly said, “We love you, Douglas. We all love you and we want you to be our friend.”
As all the children patted Douglas lovingly, something strange and magical happened. The anger in the dragon’s body began to melt away; leaving the previously ferocious dragon looking like a soft pussy cat! Every ounce of anger in Douglas the Dragon had been exchanged with the expressed love of the children of Marfield towards him and he started to feel loved again.
“You look puzzled, Douglas?” Frances McNally asked the dragon. “Is something puzzling you?”
Douglas hadn’t talked to anyone for 50 years and it took him quite a while before he managed to sound his first human word again. Getting rid of all the anger in his body however, did manage to loosen his tongue once more. When he eventually spoke, he asked Frances McNally the question that had been puzzling him.
“I do.......n’t..... do.....n’t.........don’t understand” Douglas said.
“What don’t you understand, Douglas?” Frances McNally asked the puzzled dragon.
"I know that song you were singing as you climbed my hill. I used to sing it with you all 50 years ago," Douglas explained.” And I know that face, her face, his face and your face, Frances McNally, but.... none of you have changed. I’m four times as big, but you’re all the same size as the last time I saw you; the last time I played with you in the Village Square. You don’t look one day older! How can that possibly be?”
“It wasn’t me, Douglas,” Frances McNally replied. “I’ve never played with you. You’ve never seen me before.”
“But it was..... the same song...the very s
ame face. I’m not imagining it!” Douglas remarked, more puzzled than before.
At that point the cleverest girl present called Annie Smart approached the confused dragon and provided him with an explanation.” Genetics, Douglas. That’s all it is, genetics! It’s all down to peas in a pod and genetics. Think about it as the seed of life spread around the garden of mankind. Just as a plant will die, its seed will live on in identical image to that of its parents. Your eyes may tell you that you once knew us 50 years ago, Douglas, but you didn’t. You couldn’t have known us because we hadn’t been born then, and neither had most of our parents. Your eyes may tell you that you know us, but they don’t, Douglas. They deceive you. It was our parents and grandparents that you played with in the Village Square 50 years ago. It was they with whom you sang songs; it was they who turned you out of our village, not us. So you see, Douglas, the answer lies in genetics.”
“I’m beginning to see.... or I think I am,” Douglas said.
Annie Smart smilingly added, “And when one thinks about it, Douglas, all things remain in shadow if not substance. Even in the shadow of death itself, we leave behind things that will be taken up and adopted by our descendants. Our children will sometimes take on our name, our mannerisms, and our very looks!”
“Now I see, “Douglas replied to