Atondido Stories
The wizard, still mumbling from his book, handed Batcha a
bridle.
"Throw this around his neck!" he commanded.
Batcha took the bridle but was too terrified to act. The wizard
spoke again and Batcha made one uncertain step in the dragon's
direction. He lifted his arm to throw the bridle over the dragon's
head, when the dragon suddenly turned on him, swooped under
him, and before Batcha knew what was happening he found
himself on the dragon's back and he felt himself being lifted up,
up, up, above the tops of the forest trees, above the very moun-
tains themselves.
For a moment the sky was so dark that only the fire, spurting
from the dragon's eyes and mouth, lighted them on their way.
The dragon lashed this way and that in fury, he belched forth
great floods of boiling water, he hissed, he roared, until Batcha,
clinging to his back, was half dead with fright.
Then gradually his anger cooled. He ceased belching forth
boiling water, he stopped breathing fire, his hisses grew less ter-
rifying.
"Thank God!" Batcha gasped. "Perhaps now he'll sink to earth
and let me go."
But the dragon was not yet finished with punishing Batcha
for breaking his oath. He rose still higher until the mountains of
the earth looked like tiny ant-hills, still up until even these had
disappeared. On, on they went, whizzing through the stars of
heaven.
At last the dragon stopped flying and hung motionless in the
firmament. To Batcha this was even more terrifying than mov-
ing.
"What shall I do? What shall I do?" he wept in agony. "If I
jump down to earth I'll kill myself and I can't fly on up to
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