Dusk vs Pyroman

I was at a ‘reading’ the other day. A ‘reading’ is what they call a lecture in these parts. The lecture was about Vairostai mythology. One myth which I particularly enjoyed was the myth of the great fire dragon. Let me tell it here.

There is a great fire dragon called Pyroman. He lives in a cave high in the mountains. Now he sleeps, but once, long ago, before the time we started counting days, he was wide awake and roamed the lands. His wings are great and mighty and his shadow is black. His scales are dark green with spikes sharp as blades. When angered he breathes torches of white and orange flames from his mouth and nostrils.

In his active days Pyroman flew frequently over Vairostai, seeking prey to feed his immense body. For though he is slender his body is sized like a house. Mostly Pyroman fed on cattle and wild animals. On rare occasion he was known to go out and hunt naughty children. Thus many folk will still tell their children not to be naughty or else Pyro will come to eat them.

One day Pyroman was out hunting a particularly naughty girl. She was an orphan and liked to roam the markets, begging and stealing as she went. Her name was Dusk and nobody knew who had given it to her, though she was a slightly darker shade of olive than most. She was down by the harbour when the great black shadow of Pyroman appeared over her tiny skinny figure.

Little Dusk knew what was about to happen and ran. She ran faster and faster. Pyroman swooped down. Dusk turned sharp left. Huge teeth scraped the cobbles inches from her feet. Pyroman climbed and swooped again. Dusk darted to the right. Teeth scraped more stone. Pyroman climbed for a new swoop then halted up high. Dusk was out of sight. She had escaped into some low brush by the Sea Wall. Slowly Pyroman manoeuvred above the patch of green bushes, hoping to detect some movement. Dusk sat still. Frozen like she had never had to freeze before. Flapping wings moved ever closer. A deep shadow crept over her hiding place. Then a rush of wind - a high pitched scream - rustling bushes as Pyroman tried to scoop her up bushes and all.

Satisfied Pyroman climbed back into the sky. Circling the city while chomping on his catch. As Pyroman circled a strangest thing happened. The wings flapped chaotically, the dragon lost hight, then eventually the enormous bulk landed just metres away from the Sea Wall, on an open patch of land.

A tiny figure crawled out from under a rock next to the Sea Wall and approached the Dragon with utmost stealth. Dusk had managed to escape with just a graze on her leg. Lying in front of her was the sleeping mighty Pyroman, tiny puffs of smoke escaping from his nostrils. As it turned out, the dragon had eaten of a flora that caused a deep sleep. And thus was the plant named Duskcap.

Morron