Steven George & the Dragon
Copyright© 2020 by Wayzgoose
Here Stn George met his Dragon
IN THE EARLY LIGHT of the morning, Steven George rose from the arms of his lover and faced the mountain. The wind had sprung up in the night and tugged at his hat. He took it from his head. A sheepskin, duck feathers, a snakeskin, a chicken bone, and two talismans. It was ridiculous. What could he have been thinking to make such fantastical stories about this hat?
Something else had changed as well. Steven George no longer wished to slay a dragon. Still, the path lay directly before him, up the side of the smoking mountain. Neither the donkey nor the gypsy stirred as Steven started up the path. He carried nothing with him but his hat. The path wound as it rose from the desert floor and soon, Steven George was looking out across a marshy land where in the distance there ran a ribbon of water. On the far side of the water lay a village where people lived peaceful, happy lives because they were free of the fear of the dragon. Steven looked out across the distance and realized that he no longer wished to return to his home.
“I have found what I came to find!” he shouted across the valley. “I have taken the dragon to my heart and you are safe. There is no more need for a dragonslayer.” Then he flung the hat away from him into the morning breeze.
The winds caught the hat and it ascended. High on the mountain he could see it silhouetted against the glow of fire. Higher still it soared until it was only a speck and then nothing at all. He returned down the mountain path to Selah where she lay and she welcomed him back into her arms.
“Here is where I belong,” said Steven. “And whether to a mountain, or to a desert, to an ocean or to a city, I will walk the endless road with you, my love.”
She smoothed his hair.
“Where is your hat?”