Basil Rosemary and the Dragon

Once upon a time there was a small farming village that nothing exciting ever happened. People were born, grew up, married, had children, got old then died.  They had good years for crops and bad years for crops.  They paid their taxes to the king. 

 

Now in this village lived a brother and sister, Basil and Rosemary.  Basil was ten and he was only a year older than his sister Rosemary.  They liked to play together and often played chase and tag, mostly close to home.  But one day they wandered further out then they had ever done before.  Farther out than their mother or their father had ever allowed them to go.  They were far into the hills to the west of the village where only hunters went. 

 

They didn’t seem to notice. Basil was running fast from Rosemary and she was running fast to catch him.  He stopped, out of breath, on a ledge, and she stopped next to him panting. 

 

“Look at our house!”  He held out his fist with his thumb pointing down, “It looks so small, I could squish it with my thumb!”

Rosemary laughed at him.  What he said was so silly.  Just because it was far away didn’t mean it was small!

 

Basil ignored her laughter.  “Can’t catch me!” he cried and took off again.  Rosemary followed. 

 

Rosemary was catching up and Basil had an idea. He’d find a place to hide and she’d go right past him and wouldn’t catch him.  That’d be fun! He looked around and saw a cave up ahead.  He dashed into it but Rosemary was closer than he thought and she ran into the cave and smack into him. They both fell down and rolled quite a few feet into the cave, until they hit something big, warm and leathery. 

 

“OUCH!” came a roar.

 

They both got up and ran as fast as they could out of the cave and back to the village.  But when they got there, they found that the creature from the cave had beaten them home. 

 

A house on the edge of the village was flattened.  The villagers were gathered together and the elders were discussing what they could do.

 

One suggested sending a messenger to the king for help.  That was agreed by all to be a good plan and someone was sent right away.  They were discussing how long it would take for help to arrive when the wise woman interrupted. 

 

“I need to know who woke the dragon.” She looked at each person there. “I can protect the village if the person or persons who did this helps me” 

 

No one replied.  Basil and Rosemary were too scared they’d be punished, so they said nothing and nobody else knew who had done it.

 

They went to bed and thought about what the villagers would do to them if they found out. They thought about what their parents would do if they found out. They didn’t sleep very well.

 

The next day, they stayed at home for safety.  All the adults in the village were terrified and some wanted to leave out of fear.  The wise woman just went around from house to house calming them and asking for the person who did this to tell her.

 

The messenger came back that evening on a winged horse!  But he carried bad news.  The king had no knights or soldiers to send, but sent this flying horse instead for the horse breeder.  Everyone was very sad and disappointed, because what could a winged horse do against a dragon?  The wise woman only smiled and asked again after the person who did this.

 

The next day, after another night of worry and bad dreams, the two children told their mother they were going to the house next door then went two doors down to the wise woman’s house.  She was there waiting for them.

 

Stuttering, stammering and hesitating, Basil and Rosemary told the wise woman what had happened.  She didn’t get angry.  She didn’t yell at them.  She thanked them for telling the truth and told them she could protect the village if they helped. They didn’t want to, but since she could now tell their parents, they agreed.

 

The wise woman led them back to their house and told their mother that they were with her.  Their mother got a suspicious look on her face but wouldn’t challenge the wise woman. The wise woman then led the children to the south edge of the village where they saw that a stone pillar was there that wasn’t there before.

 

The wise woman explained she had put a pillar on each side of the village, to be ready when the person who did this told her.  She then instructed them to go into the woods and get wood and kindling for a big fire.  They had done this lots of times for their mother so with the wise woman watching, they soon had a good amount of wood. 

 

She had them put the wood and kindling on the pillar and she told them she’d light it with just the sun.  The children’s eyes widened for how do you get the sun to light your fire for you? 

 

But the wise women knew magic.  She took out a piece of glass and stood between the pillar and the sun.  She then chanted.

 

Oh Star above

Lord of light

Light my fire

Burn so bright

 

She kept chanting until the children saw a bright spot on the kindling that soon started smoking; then POOF it burst into flame. The wise woman nodded then told the children to build the fire up high so it would burn for hours.  And they did.

 

She next led the children to the horse breeder.  The wise woman asked him if she could borrow his flying horse.  He said yes, because everyone respected the wise woman, but he asked that she return it that evening.  She agreed and helped the children onto the horse.  She climbed up herself, and then they took off!

 

They flew eastward and the children enjoyed flying so much!  The horse dived under the clouds, and then rose up through them, zig zagging back and forth.  Basil and Rosemary had the time of their lives and forgot all about why they were up there.

 

Too soon, they landed and the children saw they were at the sea.  The wise woman led them to the shoreline, and handed a blue bottle to Rosemary. 

“Go fill the bottle with water, but it must have no sand.”  She instructed.

 

Rosemary, who was scared of the roaring noise the waves made, went just up to the edge of where the waves came in.  She tried to scoop up water, but timed it wrong, and got only wet sand.  The wise woman shook her head and told her to go out further.   Making a face, Rosemary dumped the sand out of the bottle then went out a little farther, where the water was deeper.

 

She had better luck this time, but still saw the bottle was half full of sand.  Getting frustrated and scared she started to cry.  The wise woman called out to her, soothingly, lovingly, “Just a little further child.  Take just four steps more then try again.”  Rosemary screwed her eyes tight then took the four steps out.  She was really scared now.  The waves were pushing on her legs, forward when the waves went out and backwards when the waves came in.  It was up to her knees now.  She kept her eyes shut and splashed the bottle down under the water.  When she brought it back up and opened her eyes, she saw it was full of seawater.  She wanted to jump up and down for joy!  She ran back as fast as the waves would let her and gave the full bottle back to the wise woman.

 

“Good job Rosemary!” she said as she took the bottle.  “Now lets take this back to the village.”  They all climbed on the flying horse then took off back to the village. 

 

Soon after they took off, however, the clouds turned dark and lightening boomed.  The horse whinnied, and shivered.  The wise woman held onto the reigns tighter and told the children to hold on.  Then it started to rain, alot. 

 

Flying through the rain wasn’t anywhere near as much fun.  Basil and Rosemary got wetter and wetter.  Then they got colder and colder.  Rosemary started shivering.  Soon Basil started shivering.  The wise woman called back, “We’re almost there.”  And soon they were landing on the east side of the village. 

 

Like on the south side, they saw a stone pillar.  This one had a rounded top that fit the curve of the blue bottle filled with seawater.  The wise woman put the bottle on the top and chanted

 

Oh ocean blue

Lord of the sea

Protect us all

From what may be

 

Next, she led the horse and children through the village to the west edge.  The rain got less and less and quit by the time they reached the next pillar.  The horse noticed the rain had stopped and he spread out his wings then shook them, spraying water all over the wise woman and the children.  Basil was angry at having water shook all over him, but the wise woman just laughed. “You’re wet already, Basil.” she told him.  

 

The children looked at the third pillar.  It had an outline of a feather carved on top.  “Where are we going to get a feather?” Rosemary asked.  The wise woman replied, “Where do you see a feather?”  Basil pointed to the horse, “There!  He’s got lots of feathers.”

 

“Good job, Basil. But how do we get one?”

“I know!” said Rosemary.  And she went up to the horse, and gently rubbed his nose and asked as nicely as she could, “Can we have one of you feathers please?”

 

The horse gave a startled look and answered. “Yes. I’ve never been asked for one of my feathers before, ever!”  He held out a wing and the wise woman took one feather and placed it on the pillar while chanting again.

 

Breath of life

Lord of air

Send your wisdom

To those who care

 

Basil noticed the feather sank into the stone.  He blew on it and it didn’t move.  He reached out to touch it and the wise woman stopped him.  “Leave it alone,” she said.  “It needs to stay there.”  And he did.

 

Next, they returned the horse to the breeder.  They all thanked him and when Rosemary tried to tell him that the horse could talk, the wise woman stopped her.  After they had left, she explained, “If the horse doesn’t tell him, he doesn’t need to know.”

 

She then led them out of the village and into the hills where the children had played chase before.  “Where did you find this cave, children?”  She asked.

 

The children looked at each other.  They weren’t sure they could find it again.  Basil did remember how to get to the ledge where he looked down on the village so tiny, so they took her there.  At the ledge, Rosemary remembered which way Basil had run and soon they were near the cave. 

 

Now Basil wanted to cry.  He was so scared.  The wise woman held him and explained that people with courage still had fear, but were brave because they did what they had to do anyway.  She told him to only get close to the entrance and grab a small rock or even a pebble.  Rosemary backed away; glad she didn’t have to go get it. 

 

When the wise woman let him go, Basil walked slowly up to the cave.  When he got close, he got down and quietly crawled to the entrance.  When he got there, he saw a trickle of smoke coming out of the cave, and reaching out for a small rock he saw a flash of red from inside the cave.  He snatched the rock and got up then ran straight back to the village.  Making Rosemary and the wise woman run after him. 

 

He stopped when he got back to the pillar where they left the feather.  The others caught up with him there. The wise woman looked happy.  “Good job Basil!” she said.  “Give me the stone now.” He did and she led them to the north side of the village. 

 

There was the fourth pillar.  It had a small hole carved in the top.  The wise woman made sure the children were behind her this time when she placed the rock in the hole and chanted.

 

Rock of earth

Lord of ground

Into his cave

This dragon be bound!

 

 

As she finished one blue string of light went up and over their heads, another went to the left and another went to the right.  Rosemary followed the light to the right and found it went directly to the pillar with the feather.  That pillar had light strings going over her head and to the right so she followed it to the right again.  This one ended at the pillar where the fire was still burning.  It too had a light going up over her head and still one to the right.  She followed it again and this time came to the pillar with the water.  It was the same as the others.  She followed it still to the right and came back to where Basil and the wise woman were waiting. 

 

Basil looked at the lights.  “They’re pretty.  But their fading!” he said, sounding worried.

 

“They’re supposed to.” The wise woman answered. “That way everyone can come and go as they please, but the dragon will not return.”

 

The pillars were left where they were.  The fire was kept burning by the elders and a stopper put on the bottle so the seawater wouldn’t evaporate, but the village returned to a place where nothing exciting happened. People were born, grew up, married, had children, got old then died.  They had good years for crops and bad years for crops.  And they always paid their taxes to the king. 

 

THE END

Reviews

[musegirlsm]

This story was wonderful! I am happy that Yvonne sent it to me! I love fairy tales and this one was so sweet! I'm glad that Rosemary and Basil both looked past their fears and stepped up to fix the problem that they started!

Great write!

sandra

[BrightEyes]

an excellent story...but...got a soft spot for dragons myself...so ..let him go! lol. Just like children...never open their mouths when they should nor keep them shut when they need to . great job here.

laura

[Brette Medb]

This was amazing! I loved the way I got so immersed in the story and the wise woman who saved them all... The little children were adorable and so brave!

I wonder if they king actually knew how to stop the dragon which is why he only sent the winged horse. Great write!


Brette

[Dezaraye]

This is an awesome bedtime story! Thanks to Yvonne for sharing it with me. I love it.

[Yvonne Heidt]

*Clapping with delight!* I loved this story. Please tell me that you are taking the necessary steps to get this published. It was a pleasure to read.

I also loved how you closed the story with the beginning. Excellent job :)

Sending to my friends...