Araf was a fearless prince. A true hero. As his father was the holder of the mighty sword given by the god, Odin, he was to recieve it soon. He had planned to slay the dragon, Alfaro, but his evil guard, Regin, was in greed for Alfaro’s treasure and had planned to kill the brave prince along with the deadly beast. Then he could have all the treasure to himself without anyone in his way… And they were off, towards the gloomy lair of the monstrous creature with a solid plan. Regin had suggested Araf to dig a deep pit beside the nearby river, where Alfaro came for his morning drink. The feeble man did as told. While he was nearly finished digging, an old gentleman had arrived and advised him to dig another pit alongside the other but making it shallower. When Araf turned for a second to think, he found the wise guy to have vanished.

Humbly, he believed that strange person to be Odin and followed his advice. He dug another pit next to the deep but made it shallower than the other.The following day, Araf placed himself in the deep pit with his powerful weapon pointing upwards. The last thing to be heard was the ground rumbling like there was an earthquake! The fire-breathing monster was here… Araf felt a stab of fear but had the courage to fight and kill the menace. He had to do it for his kingdom, for his father’s sake, he will do it! He settled down, ready to push it into the dragon’s body. As Alfaro loomed over the human, the tiny creature stabbed the sword right into the skin and through the scaly skin. The poisonous blood spurted out of the beast who was now crying with pain making him suffer a miserable death. Araf slid into the shallow pit as Odin said…

Surprised, Regin congratulated him and said that he would eat the dragon’s heart in his honour. So the innocent man cooked Regin the heart of Alfaro. Some of the blood crept onto Araf’s hand and without knowing, he licked his fingers. Suddenly, he could understand the language of birds. A bird told him that if he ate the heart himself, he would become the wisest of men and that is why Regin wanted to eat it. Without giving it a second thought, he chopped the dishonest guardian’s head off and ate the heart. Then he gained all the knowledge and was the wisest one in the world…!What a happy ending!

The end.

Written by Suhani-G 5H