Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived hundreds and thousands of dragons. They showed signs of bravery, courage and strength. It was in their nature to breathe out fire and each of these dragons had mastered the task, except one measly dragon.

He was relatively smaller than the rest and was scared that his own breathe would kill him. He was teased and tormented by the other dragons, making him grow miserable.

One day the poor dragon was left completely broken-hearted and decided to leave his homeland to escape this torment. The young dragon flew miles and miles, and soon grew tired. He couldn’t fly anymore.

Beneath him was a forest and the dragon slowly made his descent. He began looking for a place as shelter, but all he could find was a dark cave. The dragon was afraid of the dark, however, he was too tired to fly any more and had to take shelter in the murky cave.

Suddenly, the opening of the cave closed and the poor dragon was petrified. The cave belonged to a wizard who had died and now the cave was spelled for eternity. All around were exquisite bottles with potions and spell books everywhere. The dragon tried with all his might to get out but it was no use. The cave was spelled shut. He had to find a way out.

He slowly gathered some courage and started making his way further into the cave. Out of nowhere, a beam of light caught his eye. The hole was too small for him to pass through, but he needed to get out. Clawing his way through wouldn’t work. Frustrated, he screamed and out came the most glorious flame he had seen.

Shades of red, yellow and blue filled the cave and the hole was no longer tiny. The cowardly dragon had not only managed to break free, but had gotten in touch with his true nature.

He made his way out of the cave through the hole and back to his homeland continuously breathing fire in delight. His friends were thrilled and extremely proud of him and happy that he had returned. The dragon had learnt that you should face your fears rather than avoid them.

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 4th, 2018