Building Blocks

               The wizard was a great toy-maker. One of his favorite hobbies was making toys for the local children. The toys were primarily made of wood and paint, and the workmanship was phenomenal. Often, he and his wife would work on them together, especially when it came to designing new toys or painting.

                One day, the project consisted of a large set of building blocks. He had been working on it for most of the week and was nearly done. Sitting at his workbench, he suddenly noticed a white egg sitting in the windowbox outside. Seeing that it was likely to rain soon, he brought the egg inside, set it in a safe place on his workbench, and promptly forgot about it.  A couple of hours later, having finally completed the set, he left the workroom to go do a few other jobs around the house.

                Later that night, everyone was gathered around the fire and enjoying being in from the rain. The wizard and his son were reading and occasionally joining in on the various conversations going on in the room. The wizard’s wife was painting and supervising Arianne, who was fingerpainting. There was nearly as much paint on the little dragon as there was on the paper. Dominic and Tuor were playing chess, and Springer and Sandy were watching. Eustace and Neville were wrestling, practicing breathing fire, and chasing one another around the room. 

                Eventually, a little red nose peeked its way out of the workroom. Intrigued by the noise and warmth, a small, brightly colored dragon shyly crept his way into the room.

                “Well, hello there,” said the wizard.

                “Hi,” said the little dragon shyly, as all the others in the room turned to look at him.

                “Hi!” “Where did you come from?” “Did you just hatch?!” exclaimed a chorus of voices.

                All the little dragons flew over and Eustace introduced them all to the newcomer, and they all told him a little bit about themselves and how long they’d each been there. Having made their introductions, they asked where he had hatched, and how long it had been.

                “Well, it was just back there, in that room. I didn’t know where I was, or anything about anything; I’m sure you remember what that’s like.” They all nodded, and he continued. “There were all these bright pieces of wood all around, and I felt a little shy about going and looking for anyone right away, so I decided to try stacking them and building something, especially since it was so nice to be able to move after being in that egg. Now, I’m just really tired and hungry, so I thought I should go looking and see if there was anything to eat and anywhere to sleep.”

                “There’s certainly somewhere for you to sleep, and I’ll go get you something to eat right now,” said the wizard’s wife. She got up and brought back some goats’ milk and cheese. “And I’m sure these guys will be plenty willing to teach you how to hunt tomorrow.”

                “Absolutely!” said Tuor. “You’ll love it, and there’s lots of good food around this time of year.”

                Neville, meanwhile, had been trying to get a look through the doorway and see what the new dragon had built. Finally catching a glimpse of it, and being intrigued, he went further into the room, and then called: “Hey guys, you gotta come see this!”

                They all came, looked, and were absolutely astounded. There, on the workbench, was an entire castle built of blocks. There were intricate arches, turrets, and all manner of fancy architecture. Soon, everyone was flying around, climbing, looking inside, and marveling at the good work. It was soon time for sleep, though, and the next set of adventures was left for tomorrow.