Sandpits and Somersaults

               Behind the wizard’s house, just at the beginning of the trees, next to a small stream, the wizard had dug a small sandpit several years ago. This was primarily for the amusement of his son and nieces and nephews, but dragons also like to play in sand. On this particular day, Neville and Tuor were planning to show Arianne and Dominic the woods and stream, and all four stopped to play in the sand. Neville was just trying to tackle Tuor out of the air and into the sand when they both were distracted by a bronze sheen, collided, and found themselves picking themselves up next to a shiny, bronze egg. Excited that they were finally the first to find an egg, the two promptly flew off back to the house, leaving the two others to sniff around and wonder at what an egg looks like from the outside.

                Back at the house, the two older dragons found the wizard’s son and whirred around his head, chirping, “We found an egg! We found an egg! We found an egg!” 

               “Okay, okay, you found an egg. Where is it?” the son finally asked, trying to brush them away from his head. 

               “It’s down in the sandpit! Come on, we’ll show you!” Neville and Tuor flew off, and the wizard’s son ran after. 

                Arriving at the sandpit, Arianne and Dominic were still inspecting the egg, which had just started to move. When the egg hatched, the young dragon promptly burrowed down into the sand, sprang back up through the sand, sniffed, sneezed himself backward, rolled over, jumped to his feet, shook himself and his wings, then looked up with bright eyes and a huge grin, as if to say, “That was FUN!” Never before had the wizard seen a dragon with such a love of sand. Some dragons liked to roll in it now and again, maybe to scratch some itches, but this dragon certainly had more of a love for sand than most. Of course, sand is one of those things that will work its way into anything and just never seems to completely leave. This little dragon nearly always had some little bits of sand stuck to himself, no matter where he went. Numerous names were tried for him, but the name of “Sandy” just, well…stuck.

The Domino Effect

The wizard, his family, and Arianne went to visit the wizard’s sister for a couple of days. At the same time, Neville, Eustace and Tuor were back at the wizard's house, after spending about a week exploring in the woods. There was also another dragon in the house, but it had not hatched yet. The wizard had found an egg the day before leaving, and he had decided it would be safe enough if left on the mantle. He figured it probably wouldn’t hatch before he came back, as the egg was still only a cloudy white color. Dragon eggs slowly take on characteristics of their environments, changing to an appropriate color shortly before hatching. 

The day after the humans left, it was another wet, rainy spring day. Having already spent most of the morning playing in the rain and mud, the three little dragons were back indoors, looking for some form of entertainment that involved staying dry and warm. The chess set provided some entertainment for a while, especially as these three dragons preferred a more lively form of chess, one that was more full-contact. After a game or two, however, they went back to the game shelf, looking for something new. Browsing about on the top shelf, Eustace knocked down a box full of little white rectangles with black dots on them. “What are those?” Neville asked.

“Oh! I’ve seen those before! I think they call them dominoes,” exclaimed Tuor.

“What are you supposed to do with them?”

“I don’t really know. I think there’s some sort of game you’re supposed to play where you connect them all up somehow, but it looks a lot more fun when you stand them all on end, line them up, and then knock them all down.”

“Huh?”

“Here, let me show you.”

Tuor proceeded to set up a line of dominoes. It was a very short line, considering that the pieces were nearly as large as him, but it was long enough to convey the idea. Having stood about four dominoes on end and lined them up, he pushed over the first one, and the others successively fell down. Seeing the potential in this, Neville and Eustace quickly helped Tuor set up another line of dominoes. Soon, they were experimenting with all sorts of different arrangements and seeing how they fell down. They were having so much fun that they decided to even see if they could get the unhatched dragon in on the fun. They carefully brought the egg down, gently set it in the middle of floor, and continued their game, seeing if they could safely incorporate the egg into any of the designs.

Finally, tired out after a hard day of playing, the little dragons decided it was time to sleep. Since they knew the humans wouldn’t be back until later the next morning, they figured clean-up could wait until morning. However, being so tired, all were still asleep when the wizard returned. He found his living room floor still displaying a very intricate domino construction, with a white and black speckled egg in the exact centre.

Shortly thereafter, the small dragons began to wake up and uncurl themselves. Before they could begin to apologize for the mess they'd left, the egg also began to "wake up". It began to twitch and roll slightly. Soon, there was another, fully hatched dragon in the room, a white one, covered with tiny black dots. Accordingly, he promptly received the name of "Dominic". Unlike the other three boy dragons, he was more quiet, rather than boisterous, and he always liked math games.

Snapdragons

              One day, the wizard’s niece came over for a short visit (she only lived one meadow away). One of her favorite things was to help her aunt in the flower garden. Now, this was no ordinary flower garden. It was a wizard family’s flower garden. While it may not have been strictly magical, it was certainly more eclectic than most. There were great and fantastically shaped flowers, tiny and delicate flowers, simple and dainty ones, bright shoots of color, tall flowers, short flowers, fruit trees, and a monkey puzzle tree. There were also often many birds and butterflies, which made the garden even more alive, and added color even to the air. When there were baby dragons about, they added even more eccentricity to the garden. Their jewel-toned wings were like flying flowers, and their various games, pranks, and mishaps always made the garden more lively.
 

                On this particular day of interest, there were not many small dragons about. In fact, the only ones currently resident with the wizard were Neville, Eustace, and Tuor, and they were off somewhere for the day. That was when, under the snapdragons, the niece found a softly shiny, pink egg. She picked it up and began to carry it over to her aunt, when the egg began to move. She was so excited she nearly dropped the egg, but managed to hold still and gently cradle the egg in her hands as it continued to hatch. Soon, she was holding eggshell pieces and a tiny pink dragon, just beginning to uncurl herself and spread out her wet wings. The tiny dragon looked up and smiled. She and the niece were friends from then on. The dragon was named "Arianne".

The Dragons of Cwm Jones

                In a woodland cottage, in a land far away, there lived a wizard with his wife and son. They lived on the edge of a grassy meadow in a valley, bordered by many tall beech and maple trees.  A cat, a dog, a horse, a pony, and two goats also lived with the wizard. He and his family were a mostly normal lot, perhaps a little more eccentric than most, but good friends with those in the nearby village and neighboring areas. This was, however, in a time and place where magic was hardly exceptional. Granted, there is magic in our land too – we use it to make cars and aeroplanes,  phones and music work  - but there was a different kind of magic in that land. It was almost an assumption of everyday life that the world was magical, and some just had more skill and knowledge in working with it than others.

                This was also at a time and place where dragons were still numerous. Some, indeed, were fierce and cruel, but those lived far away, and the nearby ones were typically quite friendly. Still, grownup dragons tended to live in their own places, such as cozy caves or warm swamps, as they never did mix very well with human company. For one thing they were too big and required too much food (whereas baby dragons made for great insect control). For another they were far more magical and were not healthy for humans to be around for too long. Most humans were not used to being exposed to that level of magic, and it could be quite draining. Baby dragons, however, often did best being raised in human company. This was partially for the sake of shelter, as baby dragons are quite tiny, only about three inches long, but it was also for the sake of making the dragons more amiable and pleasant to be around when they grew older. Growing up with humans, dragons learned to understand humans and not to automatically fear or hate all creatures other than themselves. For these reasons, dragons developed a habit of laying eggs where they would be found and cared for by the right people. The wizard’s house was a common hatching ground. People said that he understood dragons better than any other human around, and he and his family were among the best friends of the dragons. Their home was often shelter to many tiny dragons.

                Once dragons were hatched, they often stayed with the wizard for at least a short time, and some chose to stay longer while others departed soon. Dragons are very long-lived and grow only slowly, so a dragon could remain for years and still be no larger than a hatchling. While in this small stage, some dragons chose to seek adventure and live by themselves in the wild world, some chose to remain with the wizard, and some chose to adopt other human families. 

                At this time, there were three young dragons resident with the wizard. They were frequently out and about exploring, but they still considered his home to be their home. Their names were Eustace, Neville, and Tuor. All were approximately the same age, having been hatched within only weeks of one another in the autumn of a year and a half ago This tale begins in the spring of the new year, when the snow was washed away, new grass was poking through the ground, there was still plenty of mud to play in, the flowers were beginning to bud and bloom, the air seemed freshly washed by the rain, and the world was re-entering the youth of spring.

Neville

Eustace

Tuor