The+Legend+of+St.+George+and+the+Dragon

=The Legend of Saint George and the Dragon=

by Hope F.
The King of the city of Selene had a daughter, the Princess Josephine. She was a beautiful, sweet little girl, with bright eyes and an innocent mind. Her Father, the King, loved her more than anything in the world The King thought he had never seen anything as beautiful as Josephine at 14 years of age. He told one of his friends: "I am the happiest man on earth! My country is at peace and my daughter is as beautiful as she is kind. There is nothing else in this world that I want." "A king as wonderful as you deserves only happiness." said his friend. That night, a watchman was about to head home from his night shift,as it was almost morning. He smelled a faint, but terribly disgusting, smell coming from the other side of the wall. With trembling hands, the watchman scaled the wall, and saw a huge beast, a dragon, crawling away from the city walls towards the marshes beyond. It was hideous, with leathery black wings and scales as strong and smooth as a coat of armor. It looked like a combination of a beast and a bird. But the worst of all,a deadly black smoke poured from its nostrils, the gas that smelled terrible.The watchman fled in terror. The poor, terrified watchman hurried to the King to report the awful winged beast, the dragon! The King, without even trying to appear brave, became as terrified as the watchman. He did not fear for his own safety, but for his wonderful daughter, the Princess Josephine, and the people of his city. He ordered that not one person could exit the city walls. Many people sat on the walls of the great city of Selene to see the awful dragon. They watched the dragon wake and crawl towards the city in the twilight, its eyes shining like red flames. All the people ran in terror at this sight, they didn't know why a creature as awful as this would come to them. The dragon settled down at the city's gates for a long night. One of the bravest knights of the King's castle decided something must be done about the dragon at the gates of the city. He came to the dragon and demanded to know why it was at the city of Selene. The dragon told him, with the raspy voice of a demon: “I will only leave your city in peace if I am fed a meal of two sheep a day, or your city shall be destroyed!” The King ordered that two sheep should be put aside for the dragon's meal, to save his beloved city. The dragon would crawl out to the gates of the city, grab his two sheep, and crawl into the marshes to enjoy his dinner. The dragon came every day to get his dinner, until the city of Selene began to run out of sheep. The King was terrified for his people, his city. He decided that he should go see the dragon and try to settle the matter. He told the dragon to stop its black smoke, and called to the dragon in a trembling voice: "We have no sheep left for you, what else do you need to eat?" this time, the Dragon replied in the same hair-raising voice: "I need one child a day for my dinner, and I will not torment your city." It turned its head away from the anguished King and lumbered towards the marsh to sleep. The people of Selene were furious with their King, and the dragon, and any other scapegoat for their grief. There was nothing they could do, for the dragon had trapped them in the city with its awful fumes. The King no longer felt as happy as he had only a few months ago, now all he felt was sadness and anger. Everyday a child was given to the dragon for its meal. The dragon took them and swallowed them whole, WHOLE! And the children lived on inside the belly of the beast, but their families didn't know. The Princess Josephine cried every day for the sacrificed children, but her father never did. As long as his lovely daughter was safe, the only feeling he felt was fear for the safety of the Kingdom. The time came where the child to be sacrificed was Josephine, and the King became crazy with fear and sadness. "I'll give you my gold, my castle, myself, anything to keep Josephine from the dragon! Please!" But the people of Selene didn't listen. "We gave up our children, why is your child any different? We'll let you mourn her death for 8 days, and we will mourn with you, for we love her as much as you, but she must be given to the dragon! And so for 8 days everyone cried over the coming time where the Princess Josephine must leave, though she herself never did. "It would be silly to cry about your own death, and besides, I would gladly die for the people of Selene!" She spoke with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes that told you she was not going to simply lie down and let the dragon eat her when the time came. As the 8 days ended, Josephine was left outside the wall. Only a few minutes after Josephine was left for the dragon, the sound of horse's hooves hitting the ground rang through the air and a Knight in shining armor riding on a white horse stopped before Josephine. He seemed so happy and confident, he obviously didn't know about the dragon that was coming for its dinner. The Princess, who had been standing staring at Knight with a mixture of shock and a hint of sadness, spoke to him a strange, mournful yet agitated voice: "Sir, go on your way, the city of Selene is under the siege of a terrible dragon! I am to be his dinner, there is nothing to be done about that, but you can still save yourself GO!!" The Knight in shining armor wasn't used to leaving pretty girls like Josephine waiting for their death. "Stay here, I shall go rid your Kingdom of the dragon, hide yourself!" It seemed as though the Princess had other ideas. Are you kidding me?! Do you really think that I am going to sit and hide when I could help rid my kingdom of the beast that has inspired terror in every living soul inside those walls?! I'm coming with you; it's my duty to help my kingdom! WATCH OUT!!!!" Her timing couldn't have been any later, for the dragon had been sneaking up on the baffled knight, who had never met a Princess willing to go into battle. The monster moved with a shocking swiftness, well, shocking for a winged beast that pulled itself along with its wings. Moments after Josephine's call, the dragon had swung its talon straight towards the Knight. The Knight leaped away from where he had stood to avoid being pinned to the ground, while the Princess chuckled. "See, you do need me, there's no way you would win this without me." And so the battle of Saint George and the Dragon began. The fight was quite graphic, the deadly fumes that blew from the dragon's nostrils clouded the air with smoke, but 3 things glowed in the haze, the red eyes of the dragon, the white dress of the Princess, and the face of the Knight. His face seemed to glow brighter than the sun itself as he jabbed with his spear and sword. The Princess and the Knight grew tired as the smoke began to wear them down. As they hacked to no effect on the dragon's hard scales, the Princess noticed that the dragon was guarding a spot on its left wing. With a lot of pointing and gesturing, the Knight got the message. With all of his strength he had left, he leaped and stabbed a precise spot on the bottom of the dragon's left wing. He looked quite majestic, the Princess thought, he glowed with a beautiful radiance as he put his last effort to destroy the dragon. The moment the spear hit the spot, everything changed. It's quite confusing to go from dark light to bright light quickly. You can't see a thing at first. It was just as confusing with the dragon. The moment the spear touched the certain spot on its wing, all of the black smoke, the red eyes of the dragon, the awful stench in the air, it all disappeared. It became a beautiful clear day in the marshland outside the city of Selene. The most confusing thing of all was the children. Sitting on the ground in dazed groups were the children of Selene who had been sacrificed. There was no sign of the dragon that had swallowed them anywhere. A young little girl with a white bow in her hair shyly shuffled up to Princess Josephine, placed a black shield at her feet, and ran off. When the Princess picked it up, she saw it was not a shield at all, but a single scale from the dragon. It was enough evidence. She turned to the Knight. "We have our trophy, it might be a good idea to show my father what we have done today, don't you think?" She spoke with a sly smile, and he smiled back. "You have saved my city, my daughter, and brought back all of the lost children, if there is anything you desire, you can have it!" the King told the Knight at the large banquet that was thrown in his honor. "I don’t want anything expensive or fancy, I have one simple requirement. All I ask is that you believe in the God who gave me the strength to kill your dragon, and remember my name, George, and my story, how I killed the dragon." And with those words, he went on his way. THE END