To Be or Not to Be Gobbled
Digory didn’t know what to do next. How could he lead Gnasher to Enid’s castle? Yet if he refused, he would certainly be eaten up and that would be the end of it. At least I haven’t been gobbled up so far, and the dragon himself is leading me out of this awful place, he thought. Maybe once we’re in the woods I’ll get a chance to escape.
So he scrambled back into his armor, grabbed Burdock’s sword, and followed the Horrible Gnasher down the passage toward fresh air and the forest.
Gnasher was waiting at the tunnel entrance.
“CLIMB UP THEN, QUICKLY,” he said. “WHICH WAY TO BREAKFAST?”
Digory looked at the dragon’s gnarled, scaly body silhouetted in the moonlight. His back was studded with horny spikes and from his shoulders sprouted leathery wings the size of windmill sails.
“But I c-c-can’t,” stuttered Digory.
“OH, YES, YOU CAN,” roared Gnasher, and he snorted a lick of flame at poor Digory’s heels that made him jump like a firecracker and clamber up onto the dragon’s back.
Digory found a foothold on Gnasher’s wing and heaved himself across the dragon’s shoulders. He clung to the cold, lizardy neck for all he was worth.
Slowly, the dragon began to snake between the trees, with Digory rolling around on top, until he found a clearing. Then with a creak, Gnasher stretched out his huge wings and heaved them up high. As he brought them down again there was a deafening rush of air, and the dragon and his passenger lifted off the ground and rose sharply above the forest.
Digory’s stomach sank to his boots. Gnasher lurched to the left and swooped to the right, and Digory’s stomach jumped into his throat. But as the dragon steadied his flight, Digory settled into the rhythm of the rocking motion and the roar of the wind through his helmet.
When he found the courage to open his eyes, Digory was astonished at how beautiful the forest looked in the moonlight from a dragon’s point of view. One day I shall write a song about this, he told himself. Then he remembered there was very little chance he would ever strum a lute again …
Digory the Navigator
“WHICH WAY THEN?” gasped the dragon eagerly after they had circled the woods a few times to gain height.
Now, Digory had absolutely no idea which was the way to Enid’s castle—he had lost King Widget’s map a long time ago. But he did know that it was the last place he intended to lead a hungry dragon. If we fly long enough, Gnasher will surely need to land and rest, and then I’ll have my chance to escape, he thought to himself.
So he yelled, “Carry on in this direction to the edge of the woods. Then follow the stream through the valley, cross a forest, over a hilltop, wind along the river, and head toward the south.”
Gnasher seemed happy enough with these instructions, so Digory shut his eyes once more to consider his situation.
Here I am, clinging to the back of a dragon who is expecting to gobble up the only friend I have in the world—and probably eat me afterward, he thought. And I don’t know where I’m going, or what I shall do when I get there …
He wondered what his mother, Betsy, would do if she were in his place. In his mind’s eye he saw Betsy across the dragon’s back. With one hand she took a hammer from her apron pocket and hit the dragon hard upon the head, slaying it with one blow. Then as it fell from the sky, she whistled to an eagle passing overhead, leaped for its claws as it swooped low, and then dropped onto a haystack below, somersaulting off and landing with a thud on her feet, with nothing but a corn stalk behind her ear to show for it.
Gnasher’s roar brought him out of his daydream.
“AH! THAT MUST BE SWEET ENID.” And sure enough, there in an orchard below was Enid, out for an early morning walk.
Chapter Six
The Dragon Meets His Breakfast
Once more, Digory’s dreadful sense of direction had brought him to the one place in the whole world that he didn’t want to be! Thinking quickly, he dropped his sword to try to warn his friend that she was in mortal danger. But it spun down crookedly and fell among some trees unnoticed.
“Enid, watch out!” he shouted with all his might. “Run back to the castle and bolt the door.”
“FOOLISH BOY!” growled the Horrible Gnasher, and he dropped down, swooping in a low circle, and landed at Enid’s feet, tipping Digory off his back and into a muddy ditch.
Digory heaved himself out and clambered to Enid’s side. She was frozen to the spot. Her hands trembled, but her eyes were fiery.
“We’re not afraid of d-d-dragon’s here,” she said bravely. “Do you know who this knight is?”
Gnasher’s stomach rumbled like echoing thunder.
“YES, YES,” he growled impatiently. “I KNOW WHO HE IS, AND I KNOW WHO HE ISN’T, AND I’M IN NO MOOD FOR POLITE CONVERSATION. JUST REMOVE THAT JEWELRY, IF YOU PLEASE—I AM VERY, VERY HUNGRY!”
Enid stood straight and tall and shook her hedgehog hair defiantly.
“No, I will not,” she said, stamping her foot like a huffy princess.
Digory watched Enid’s bravery shine out of her like the rays of the sun. He knew at once what he must do. Hoping to give his friend a chance to escape, Sir Digory the True Knight stood forward.
“Eat me first, Dragon,” he insisted. “I know you intend to gobble us both, and the princess will taste much sweeter after me.” It was the only way left to save her.
“Oh, Digory, no!” cried Enid desperately. But the Horrible Gnasher Toast’em Firebreath had heard enough. Never had he come across such a fuss and bother over breakfast. With a grunt of irritation, he opened his jaws and swallowed Digory in one mouthful. And then, before she had time to faint, he ate Enid, too.
Chapter Seven
Digory Finds Himself in a Slimy, Dark Place
Digory slid down the dragon’s throat and found himself in a slimy, dark, foul-smelling place, ankle deep in warm slops that bubbled and hissed. Before he had time to work out what had happened, something knocked him over and fell on top of him in the slime.
“Help!” screamed Enid.
“Gbblluuurbulleugh!” spluttered Digory. The two friends tried to sit up in the stinking slosh and immediately realized what had happened.
“We must be dead!” exclaimed Digory.
“No, we’re alive!” laughed Enid.
Then they both paused…
“WE’RE IN THE DRAGON’S STOMACH!” they shrieked and clutched each other in the dark.
However, before you could say “digestive juices,” Digory and Enid were deafened by a belly-shaking roar. The Horrible Gnasher Toast’em Firebreath coughed his breakfast out onto the grass and with a loud bang turned into a horse’s feedbag!
Chapter Eight
What??!
When Digory and Enid had checked that all their arms and legs were ungobbled, they looked around for the dragon. But all they could see, lying before them in a patch of weeds, was a large feedbag stuffed with fresh hay and, to their astonishment, Barley the carthorse shuffling suspiciously around it.
Under a tree nearby, Digory spotted Burdock’s sword.
“What happened?” asked Enid weakly.
What happened indeed? Digory and Enid were to ask themselves that question a thousand times in their long, happy lives. But unfortunately the only creature who knew the answer was Barley—and she never heard the question. And even if she had heard the question, Barley could never have told them that she’d been ambling through the orchard, taking the very-long-and-hungry route back to Batty-by-Noodle, daydreaming of feedbags of delicious hay, when a sword had fallen out of the sky and landed on her head.
As she recovered and stumbled back to her feet, she was amazed to see an enormous dragon eat her master right there before her eyes. Picking up the sword in her teeth, Barley had charged valiantly at the Horrible Gnasher Toast’em Firebreath—too late to stop him from swallowing the Princess as well but sudden enough to catch him off guard and strike him in the tail—whereupon there was a lo
ud bang and the dragon coughed up Digory and Enid and turned into a feedbag of the sweetest-smelling hay Barley had ever dreamed of.
Well, that is exactly what happened indeed, but Barley could never tell the tale, and as it was not an easy story to guess, no one ever learned the truth.
Digory and Enid were completely bamboozled by their escape and the disappearance of the Horrible Gnasher. But they didn’t spend any time looking for him. They were just content to be reunited and unchewed.
“You were the bravest knight in the kingdom,” beamed Enid.
“No, you were the bravest,” insisted Digory.
“No, you were the bravest…”
“No, you were the bravest …”
And so they argued happily all the way back to King Widget’s castle.
Chapter Nine
The King Remembers
Digory and Enid found King Widget hunting for something under the benches in the banquet hall. The King was very pleased to see Digory again, although he’d quite forgotten why he’d sent him off in the first place.
“Welcome back, Diggers!” he said, hugging him like a son. “Been on a vacation, eh? Do anything interesting?”
Digory smiled to himself.
“I certainly wasn’t bored, Your Highness,” he said.
Enid reached up to whisper in her father’s ear.
“Oddsbodikins! In a dragon’s belly, eh?” the King exclaimed. “Seems a funny place to spend your vacation if you don’t mind me saying, my boy,” he chuckled. “You young knights are full of imagination. Anyway, glad you’re back. I’ve got a little … you know … do this, do that sort of thing …” and he pulled a long list of “Jobs to Do on Friday” from an inside pocket of his cloak. “Shouldn’t take you long, eh. Now, has anyone seen my purple doo-dahs, or are they green … um … one-goes-up-and-one-goes-down …” And he shuffled off scratching his head.
Digory looked at the list happily. Anything to be done at the castle would be a vacation after his last adventure.
As he glanced through the jobs, his eye caught the last one, which read:
It seemed that although the King could not remember the color of his doo-dahs, he had not forgotten his wish to make Digory a prince.
Digory, a Prince
And so, when all the jobs were done that Friday, Sir Digory cleaned himself up, polished his tin boots, and went to knock shyly on the door of the throne room. Enid opened the door and, to his surprise, gave him a big wink. Then she stepped aside. Behind her stood the King and Queen, smiling, in their best cloaks and crowns, and behind them the great chamber was packed with a jostling crowd of people holding their breath and about to burst. As Digory looked closer, he couldn’t believe his eyes …
“SURPRISE, SURPRISE!” shouted his mother, Betsy, scrubbed pink and clean as a newborn babe.
“BRAVO!” cried his father, who sat on the shoulders of Arthur, Tom, and Ethelburg.
“THREE CHEERS FOR THE PRINCE!” boomed King Paunch. “HIP, HIP, HOORAY!” And all the villagers of Batty-by-Noodle clapped and whooped and whistled.
Sure enough, they had traveled, every one, by horse, cart, and farm wagon to celebrate the crowning of young Digory the Dragon Slayer, and none of them was prouder than Betsy the blacksmith.
“Ooh, I’m all rusty red,” she beamed as she burst forward and hugged him tight. And Digory was so pleased to see her that a tear rolled down his cheek and sizzled on hers.
Time for a Happy Ending?
And so it was that an ordinary sort of boy with lanky legs, red hair, and a nose like a sausage turned out to be not so ordinary after all. He became Prince Digory of Widget Castle. But best of all, he became a true knight, and he found a true friend.
On Saturdays Digory did useful things for the King, and on Sunday afternoons Enid pretended to be a princess in peril, and Digory saved her.
One day while fooling around, Digory discovered that if he made a wish and then dropped Burdock’s sword, the wish would come true—as if the magic needed a bit of a nudge to warm up.
“Magic sword, eh?” muttered King Widget admiringly. “Very useful sort of thing for … um … for a … you know … a what-next-and-all-of-a-sudden!”
Digory didn’t know. With a sigh he took a guess. “Is it a game, Your Majesty?”
“No, no, no!” chuckled the King. He picked up the hem of his cloak and began to gallop around the courtyard on an imaginary horse, waving the sword wildly in the air. “You know, Diggers …,” he cried, “danger and daring … with lots of, um, danger …”
“You mean an adventure, Your Majesty?” suggested Digory.
“Exactly!” cried the King. “The usual sort of thing for a prince. Sure to come up now and then. Won’t be any trouble for a boy like you.”
“Oh dear!” groaned Digory. “I thought I was having a happy ending.”
But I don’t think it was quite time for that yet, do you?
A Note on the Author
ANGELA MCALLISTER is the author of The Little Blue Rabbit; Barkus, Sly and the Golden Egg; Take a Kiss to School; and Trust Me, Mom! She has written more than fifty books for young readers, several of which she has illustrated herself. She has two children and lives with her family on the edge of Cranborne Chase, England.
A Note on the Illustrator
Ian Beck is the author and illustrator of several books for young readers, including the picture book Winston the Book Wolf. He lives in London with his wife and children.
Text copyright © 2005 by Angela McAllister
Illustrations copyright © 2005 by Ian Beck
All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages
Originally published in the U.K. in August 2005 by Bloomsbury Publishing Pic
First published in the United States of America in June 2006
by Bloomsbury USA Children’s books
E-book edition published in July 2013
www.bloomsbury.com
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McAllister, Angela.
Digory the dragon slayer / Angela McAllister ; illustrated by Ian Beck.
p. cm.
Summary: Digory, a gentle boy who likes to spend time alone in the forest and
make up songs to sing, accidentally becomes a knight and reluctantly sets off
to rescue damsels in distress, slay dragons, and marry a princess.
[1. Knights and knighthood—Fiction. 2. Dragons—Fiction. 3. Friendship—
Fiction.] I. Beck, Ian, ill. II. Title
PZ7.M47825Dig 2006 [Fic]—dc22 2005057067
ISBN: 978-1-59990-999-8 (e-book)
Digory the Dragon Slayer Page 5