I Am A Dragon - hear me roar

In the beginning the men ruled the villages across the land. They carried their swords and were proud. The fields grew great with food and they were always victorious in the hunt. Their walls were filled with the trophies that showed they were true men. They drank their ales and slapped each other on the back praising themselves for how big and strong they were. And the dragons watched.

The men traveled from town to town. They spoke of great things and made loud declarations. They wrote strong letters and papers which they shared with each other. They patted themselves on the back and praised themselves with how brave they were. And the dragons watched.

The men disagreed with men from another land. They argued loudly. They threw things and destroyed property. The men from the other land were mad. The argument got worse and worse. The men fought. The men killed. And the dragons watched.

The men from the land of dragons won the fight. They were very proud of what they had done. They wrote more big papers about their land. They told all the other men across the land about how wonderful everything was. And the dragons watched.

The men got in a fight among themselves. This was not the men from the other land far away. This was a fight with their neighbors. This was a fight with their brothers. A man had invented a magic box that remembered all the things that happened so they could look and remember what they had done. In the end the men shook hands and agreed to stop fighting. They agreed to keep the land together. And the dragons watched.

The men wanted their land to be more than farms and towns. They dreamed of great cities. They expanded their land further and further. They could go from one ocean to another without leaving their land. They were very proud. They slapped each other on the back. And the dragons watched.

But the dragons had begun to do more than merely watch. They had begun to stir. They had begun to speak to each other. They had begun to growl some. The men had seen and heard but did not think much of it. They tossed a bone towards the dragons every now and then thinking it would quiet them. The men didn’t fear the dragons for unlike dragons of myth, these dragons seemed small and weak and the men though their brains were too small to be of much trouble. But the dragons knew better.

The dragons talked to each other. They learned to do everything the men had done. And the men were not threatened because they were merely dragons.

As the men continued to build, the dragons continued to talk. Their growls became louder. They began to step out of the shadows and demand what the men had. In the beginning the men laughed at the dragons for asking such things. The dragons did not laugh. The dragons planned.

More dragons came out of the shadows asking for what the men had. When the men said no, the dragons demanded they have what the men had. For the first time, the men became afraid of the dragons. There were so many of them and they did not seem as small and weak as they once did. So the men fought back.

They captured some of the dragons and placed them in chains and locked them up. The dragons roared out over the walls of their cages so other dragons could hear. They refused to eat and made the men angry. But the other dragons saw and heard and they began to roar too.

Finally, the roar of the dragons became too much for the men to bear. Some men realized that the dragons were not as mindless or weak as they once thought they were. These men realized the dragons were not going to destroy the land if the men let them have what they had. The wise men agreed to allow the dragons to be a part of the land and say what happened. The man in charge of the land agreed.

Now the men and dragons live together in the land. Both men and dragons get to do the same things and talk, argue and roar about what they want. The men know the dragons are not weak or stupid.

I remember this tale and tell other dragons. I am a dragon and my roar will not be silenced. It is my land too, and I have a say thanks to the dragons that came before me.