Elmer and the Dragon

by Ruth Stiles Gannett

  "That's a relief," said Flute. "I almost didn't talk to you because the rest of the canaries were afraid. I'll just tell them everything's all right," and Flute trilled loudly in every direction. Soon canaries were chirping all over the island, and the pine trees rustled with fluttering wings.

  "Let's go eat," said the dragon, who was bored and still hungry and thirsty. So Flute flew down and rode on Elmer's shoulder as they walked through the pines.

  "Tell me, Flute, do people live on this island?" asked Elmer.

  "No. Just canaries."

  "That's what I thought. Well, how have you been getting along without my mother? She's never stopped worrying about you."

  "Quite well, thank you," said Flute, "but I'm beginning to suffer from the island disease."

  "What's that?"

  "I know it sounds silly, but the whole island is sick with curiosity, and old King Can is actually dying of it."

  "Who's King Can?" asked the dragon, becoming somewhat interested.

  "He's the king of the canaries. He's really King Can XI. His ancestors, King and Queen Can I, were the first canaries to live on the island. They came with a party of settlers. But the settlers sailed away after a month or two, and they left King Can and his wife behind."

  "Now I understand about the ladder and the bucket and pine trees and the apple orchard," said Elmer.

  "Yes," said Flute, "they are the work of the settlers. But to continue: Migrating birds often stop by here and King Can, being lonesome, told them to ask escaped canaries to live on his island. But even after many canaries had come, he was never well or happy. And when the other birds asked 'Why not?' King Can would answer, 'I'm dying of curiosity.' Pretty soon, the other canaries grew curious to know why he was so curious, but he told the reason only to his eldest son. And so they all grew sick with curiosity. Finally, when King Can I was a very old canary, he did die of curiosity and his eldest son became King Can II."

  "Skunk cabbage! I smell skunk cabbage," interrupted the dragon right in the middle of the story, because by this time they had come out onto the meadow.

  "It's right over there in the swamp," said Elmer, and the dragon lumbered off to eat and to drink cold water.

  "King Can II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, and X all died of curiosity as very old canaries, and now King Can XI is sick with it. And the rest of us are sick, too. I tell you, it's an awful thing," continued Flute.

  "I suppose so," said Elmer. "I wonder what they could have been so curious about."

  "See, there you go getting curious! What a great day it will be when this island gets over the plague of curiosity!"

  "Maybe I could help King Can XI," suggested Elmer. "If he weren't curious anymore, then nobody else would be curious to know why he's curious, and everybody would get well."

  "That's right," said Flute. "Let's go see the King. He lives in the biggest tree in the forest."

  Elmer yelled to the dragon that he'd be back soon, but all he could hear was loud munching and drinking noises in the bushes.

  Chapter Six

  KING CAN XI

  Flute perched on Elmer's shoulder and together they went to the biggest tree in the forest. Flute flew up into the branches and Elmer heard him chirp, "Good morning, Queen Can. An old friend of mine has just arrived on the island, and I'd like to intro duce him to the King."

  "Is that your friend down there?" asked the sleek tiny Queen suspiciously.

  "Yes. He let me out of my cage back in Never- green City."

  "The King isn't feeling well, you know."

  "I know, that's why I want to introduce my friend. I think he can help the King, perhaps."

  "Well, I'll go see if he's receiving visitors. You wait here."

  Soon the Queen flew back all flustered. "The King will be down right away. I was really surprised. He's never before been so eager to see anyone!"

  Elmer felt flattered, and quickly tucked in his shirt and straightened his cap.

  Suddenly the King flew out of the branches and landed at Elmer's feet. Elmer was disappointed. The King looked just like a canary, only bigger and fluffier than the others.

  "This is my dear friend Elmer Elevator," said Flute.

  "Hello. Won't you sit down?" said King Can XI. "Thank you," said Elmer, squatting down on the pine needles.

  "It's a great honor to have you on our island," said the King.

  "It's a great honor to be here," said Elmer.

  "The Queen said that Flute said that you might be able to help me. Is that right?" asked the King.

  "Yes," said Elmer. "I thought perhaps I could help you to find out whatever you're so curious to know, and then all the other birds wouldn't be curious to know why you're curious, and everybody would get well."

  "Hmm," said the King. "Did you have some special plan?"

  "You'd have to help by telling me what's bothering you," said Elmer.

  "That's what I was afraid of! Why, this has been a family secret ever since my great-great-great-great- great-great-great-great-grandfather was a young canary. No, I couldn't possibly tell you!" snorted King Can XI.

  "Then I can't help you after all," said Elmer, getting up. "I'm sorry I bothered Your Majesty about it. Good-bye."

  Elmer and Flute sadly started back through the pines.

  "Ah, just a moment," called the King. "Maybe we could work out something. I'm awfully tired of being curious. Yes, by gosh, I believe I will tell you. But don't you dare tell anyone else!"

  "I promise," said Elmer.

  "Flute, go up and chatter with the Queen. Your friend and I wish to be alone."

  The King whispered to Elmer, "You can't imagine how hard it is for me to tell you our family secret."

  "I'm sure it's extremely difficult," said Elmer helpfully.

  "Well, the secret is—the secret is—the secret is— oh, I can't tell you now. Could you come back at sundown? I just can't say it in the bright sunlight."

  "I understand," said Elmer, "and I'll be glad to come back later." He called to Flute, who had been trying hard not to yawn in front of the Queen, and together they went to find the dragon.

  "Well, did you see the King?" asked the dragon, who was resting comfortably beside the pool, his stomach bulging with skunk cabbages and ostrich ferns.

  "Yes, but now I'm really curious. I'm to go back at sundown and then he's going to tell me the secret. It's a very old family secret."

  "I just can't stand it! I can't stand it!" said Flute. "Oh, I'll be so glad to be rid of the curiosity plague."

  "I'll do my best," said Elmer, taking a long drink of water and settling down beside the dragon to eat eight tangerines.

  Elmer and the dragon fell fast asleep while Flute went all over the island spreading the news and waiting for sundown.

  Chapter Seven

  THE SECRET

  "Wake up! Wake up! It's time to see the King!" chirped Flute as the red sun settled over the meadow. Elmer opened his eyes and forgot for a moment where he was. Then he jumped up and put on his knapsack. "I want to come, too," yawned the dragon. "You weren't invited," said Flute. "Neither were you, Flute, come to think of it," said Elmer.

  "Let's all go and see what happens," suggested the dragon. So off they went to see the King. He was waiting for them at the foot of the very tall tree, nervously hopping from one foot to the other, pecking at imaginary mosquitoes.

  "What's that?" he asked, pointing to the dragon.

  "That's my good friend the baby dragon. I rescued him two days ago and now he's taking me home."

  "I don't like him," said the King, feeling small and helpless.

  "Oh, yes you do!" said Flute.

  "Quiet, Flute! I guess I know what I like and what I don't!"

  The dragon drooped his head and began to back away.

  "Oh, well," said the King, "come on back. If I'm going to tell the secret to anyone, it'll never be a secret anymore, and I suppose you might as well know, too. I do wish it weren't such an old secret."

  Flute, t
he dragon, and Elmer waited quietly while the King looked at the ground, then up at the tree, and then down at the ground.

  "Treasure!" he whispered so suddenly that they all jumped into the air. "At least I think it's treasure, but I can't find out without your help."

  "Where?" asked Elmer.

  "It's —it's —it's not very far from here," said the King. Elmer, Flute, and the dragon looked every- which-way to see where the treasure could be.

  "Oh gosh, I guess I'll have to tell you where, too," said poor old King Can XI. "It's buried—it's buried right under this tree—in a big iron chest."

  "What sort of treasure?" asked Elmer.

  "That's what I'm dying of curiosity to know," said the King.

  "So that's it!" sighed Flute.

  "And you're sure this is the right tree?" asked Elmer.

  "Absolutely! You see, it's much bigger than the others, and that's because it was the only one here when the settlers came. They planted the other pines and the apple orchard so they'd have wood and food when they returned. But they never came back, and their chest is still buried right here."

  Everybody waited for the King to continue, but he didn't, so Elmer said, "Let's dig it up!"

  "Yes, let's!" echoed Flute.

  "All right," said the King. "My secret's all spoiled now, anyway. You'll find the shovel under that rock."

  "What shovel?" asked Elmer.

  "The settlers left a shovel over there. It's rusty by now, but it's probably better than nothing."

  Elmer went to get the shovel while the King danced around on the pine needles chirping, "I'm feeling better already." The Queen kept tittering and muttering to herself, "I never thought I'd live to see this day."

  "Now, where should I begin digging?" asked Elmer.

  "It's a rhyme," said the King. "It goes like this: Four shovel lengths from the trunk of the pine, Making the rock the guide for the line."

  Elmer carefully measured the distance and began to dig. The dragon did his best to help while Flute and the King and Queen sat watching the hole growing deeper. By now it was dark in the pine forest, but enough moonlight filtered through the branches of the tall trees so that they could just see what they were doing. They dug for six hours without ever hitting a root or a rock or anything like an iron chest.

  "Are you certain this is the right place?" asked Elmer, tired and discouraged.

  "I'm positive!" said the King. Just then the moon went under the clouds and Elmer's shovel hit something with a loud clang.

  "The chest!" they all shouted, but it was too dark to see. And they waited so long for the moon to come out that they all went to sleep still waiting.

  Chapter Eight

  TREASURE

  Flute woke up and trilled so loudly that he startled the King and the Queen and Elmer and the dragon wide awake. The other canaries had been up for an hour and were crowding around to see what was happening under the tree. Everybody peered into the big hole and gasped, "A real treasure chest, with a ring in the top! But how will we ever get it out?"

  The King looked at Elmer, and Elmer looked at the dragon. "Dragon, do you think you could put your tail through the ring and pull up the chest?"

  "I'll try," said the dragon, puffing up with importance as the swarms of canaries moved aside for him. He backed up to the hole, stuck his tail down and through the ring, and pulled.

  Nothing happened.

  "Couldn't you pull harder?" suggested the King.

  "That's exactly what I was going to try. Just let me catch my breath," said the dragon somewhat crossly. "After all, I'm not used to lifting heavy chests with my tail." He took a deep, deep breath and pulled very, very hard, and suddenly the chest moved. He grunted and strained and struggled and panted and slowly, slowly hoisted the chest up out of the hole.

  "Far enough!" yelled Elmer. "Now walk forward and set it down."

  Crash! The chest fell down on the pine needles and the dragon staggered off to sit down while the canaries shouted "Bravo!"

  "Quiet! Quiet!" yelled King Can XI. "I am now about to tell you the last part of the secret. The key to this chest—the key to this chest—well, anyway, this is the last part of the secret. My illustrious ancestor, King Can I, stole the key from the settlers, and the key to this chest is in my nest. Go get it, Flute. No, never mind. I'll go get it myself."

  The King flew up to his nest and down again with a big brass key in his beak. Elmer pried out the dirt in the keyhole with his jackknife and put in the key.

  Click! The lock turned. Elmer threw back the lid, and picked up a note lying on top of a piece of heavy canvas. "Can you read what it says?" asked the King.

  "Yes," said Elmer, feeling sick with excitement as he read the note aloud:

  "Rubbish!" interrupted the King. "Isn't there anything but cooking utensils?"

  "Let me finish the list," said Elmer. He continued reading:

  "Gold! I knew it! Just think of it, Queen. Six bags of gold!" trilled the King.

  "What will you do with them, King dear?" asked the Queen.

  "I won't do anything with them. I'll just have them and be rich."

  "Shall I unpack now?" asked Elmer, who was anxious to see the sterling silver harmonica.

  "By all means," ordered King Can XI, strutting back and forth in front of the twittering canaries.

  Elmer unpacked everything, and at last came to the sterling silver harmonica. He blew on it gently, and the sound was so sweet that all the canaries stopped chattering and listened. The King listened, too, with tears in his eyes. When Elmer had finished playing "The Bear Went Over the Mountain," the King flew up to a branch of the pine and said solemnly, "Elmer, on behalf of the Queen and myself, and all the other Feather Islanders, I want to thank you and your dragon friend for digging up this treasure and thereby ridding us of the plague of curiosity.

  I now present you with that silver harmonica, which you play so beautifully, and three of the six bags of gold. And to this brave dragon I present the gold watch and chain. Elmer, fasten it around his neck."

  Elmer hooked the chain around the dragons neck, arranging the watch at his throat. "How's that?" asked Elmer.

  "I can't see it, but it feels just fine," said the proud baby dragon.

  The birds all clapped their wings and then the dragon, who really didn't care for speeches, remarked, "Looking at those pots and plates makes me hungry. Let's celebrate and eat something!"

  "Goodness!" said the Queen. "I don't believe we've ever had a celebration before. What shall we eat?"

  "Tangerines!" said Elmer. "I bet you've never tasted one."

  Elmer peeled twelve of the thirty-one tangerines he had left in his knapsack, and put one on each of the twelve pewter plates. Then he hurried off to pick a good mess of skunk cabbages and ostrich ferns for the dragon. When he came back everyone crowded around to feast. Elmer sat beside the dragon and ate nine tangerines all by himself. Then he played "Turkey in the Straw" on the sterling silver harmonica while the King did a jig on a pewter plate. Soon everybody joined in the dancing, and they danced themselves to sleep, all over the pine needles under the great tall tree.

  Chapter Nine

  FAREWELL

  "I think I ought to be getting home," said Elmer the next morning as he ate the last ten tangerines. "How do you feel, Dragon?"

  "Fine! Why, I could fly to the moon and back." "Good," said Elmer, "because I think today is my father's birthday." He looked at the plates and the pots and the cups and the silverware and the bags of seed spread all over the pine needles and asked, "King, what shall we do with your part of the treasure?"

  "Dear, dear," said the King. "Well, we can plant the seeds, but I guess we ought to put the rest back in the chest. But my gold! I must have my gold!"

  "I insist upon at least one silver spoon," cheeped the Queen.

  "Then I'll save out the seeds and a spoon and three pieces of gold," suggested Elmer, who was anxious to be off.

  "Better make it five pieces of gold," sai
d the King. "I really ought to give one to Flute."

  Elmer packed the chest and gave the key back to the King. "Shall we bury it again?" he asked.

  "I suppose so," said the King with tears in his eyes. "I hate to think of it way down there, but at least it will be safe from robbers. But never mind about putting back the dirt. We can do that ourselves."

  So the dragon carefully lowered the chest into the hole while Elmer put away the shovel. Then Elmer packed his knapsack with the three bags of gold and the sterling silver harmonica, carefully wrapping the harmonica in the burlap bag left over from the rescue.

  "Good-bye, everybody, and thanks for a wonderful visit," he shouted to all the canaries. "You can count on me. I'll never tell your secret to a soul."

  "Good-bye, Elmer, and thanks again," said the King, who was already busy giving orders to the other canaries about filling up the hole.

  Flute rode on Elmer's shoulder as he and the dragon walked back to the cliff. "Good-bye, Elmer. Please give my best to your mother. She really was awfully good to me, you know."

  "I will, Flute, and good-bye," said Elmer, wondering if he didn't have some little thing to give Flute. He looked once more in his knapsack and found that he still had three sticks of chewing gum and half a package of rubber bands. "I don't suppose you'd like to have these?" he asked.

  "I'd love them," said Flute. "I'll keep them with my gold piece, and I'll be even richer than the King because I'll keep my treasure where I can see it every day."

  Flute told Elmer and the dragon the best way to fly to Nevergreen City, and then Elmer hopped aboard, waving farewell to Flute and Feather Island.

  Chapter Ten

  ELMER FLIES HOME

  They flew and flew, the dragon trying hard not to look at, or think about, the wet, wet ocean. Elmer sat watching their shadow rippling over the waves beneath them, feeling washed by the cool morning breeze. The dragon was strong and well rested, being nicely stuffed with skunk cabbages and ostrich ferns, and they hadn't stopped once when he shouted towards evening, "I think I see land ahead!"