Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there existed a magnificent place known as Dragon Valley. This valley was adorned with flowering meadows, glistening lakes, and majestic mountains. However, its most awe-inspiring feature was the dragons who made it their home. Every single dragon had a unique color and power, making them all special in their own way.
Among the dragons was a particularly rare one with gleaming emerald scales. His name was Flame, and he had the unique ability to control fire. But unlike what one would expect from a dragon named Flame, he didn’t want to be fierce or terrifying. In fact, he had a heart full of love and kindness.
Flame’s parents observed this quality in him but worried that he wouldn’t learn how to protect himself from the dangers outside their cave. “He needs to learn to be fierce,” his father said. “His fire will scare off intruders and keep him safe.”
But Flame had little interest in scaring anyone. While he enjoyed flying high above the valley, breathing fire into the sky to entertain children down below, and playing hide-and-seek with his dragon friends, he longed to connect with other creatures outside his valley. “Who could be afraid of me?” he often wondered.
One day, while flying, Flame spotted a small, fluffy animal wandering alone in the grass. From afar, he could tell it was lost, almost as if it were looking for its mother. Curious, he swooped down and discovered it was a puppy. Its big, sad eyes gazed up at him, and Flame felt a pang in his heart.
With the softest of breaths, he blew gently on the puppy, “Don’t worry, little one. I’ll help you find your way home.” But when the puppy turned to run home, it spotted his long body and opened jaws, filled with sharp teeth, and yelped in fright. It ran off into the woods, leaving Flame even more despondent.
“I should never have come down here.” Flame sighed and turned back toward home. His parents were just returning from a visit with some neighboring dragons. They noticed how downcast he appeared and asked what was wrong.
“It’s so sad,” he explained. “I want to show the other animals how gentle I am, but they all run away from me. I don’t want to be fierce. I feel as if I’m just not cut out to be a dragon.”
“You must learn to accept your special gifts, Flame,” said his father gently. “No matter how hard you may try, you will always be a dragon. And dragons are just by nature known as being fierce. That’s how it has always been, and that’s how it will always be.”
“But it doesn’t have to be that way,” countered Flame. “A dragon can be kind if he chooses to be so.”
“That’s an interesting thought,” replied his father. “But I’m not sure it’s practical, and definitely not wise. You have to be fierce, brave, and strong to survive in this world.”
Flame considered their words, but his heart still ached. He wanted to make new friends. The following days passed uneventfully, and Flame remained forlorn over the little puppy lost in the forest.
Then one sunny afternoon, he was surprised by the sudden appearance of nine little creatures in the valley. He had never seen anything like them before. They had long, bushy tails like those of a squirrel and sharp teeth, but their bodies were surprisingly round and flatter than he would have imagined.
The new creatures seemed curious but suspicious of Flame. They cautiously approached him and sniffed him from various angles. Flame lay flat on his belly near the ground to appear less intimidating. The little animals chattered amongst themselves, then decided it was safe to come nearer.
Introducing themselves, they said, “We are called ‘The Badger Tribe.’ We live right next to your valley in a series of underground tunnels. We’re on a journey visiting our neighboring tribes, and today we decided we’d come over and see Dragon Valley.”
Flame felt excited. Perhaps they could become friends. “Please let me be your guide while you’re in my valley,” he offered.
“Oh, thank you! That would be nice!” they replied. “But… um… would you mind… if we formed a party we could all go in together, you know, just to be safe?”
Flame’s heart sank again. If only these new animals knew how gentle he really was. “I assure you,” he said, trying to comfort them, “it would be much safer to have me alone as your guide than to face a fierce gang of badgers. I’ve no doubt they’d run off in fright at the mere sight of you!”
“The mere sight of you terrifies us!” they said, although it was obvious that his words were hurting his feelings. “But why should our word not count as much as yours? Perhaps you are fierce and scary. You have our answer, anyway, and the responsibility is yours.”
With that they began to depart. Flame sighed and called after them, “Please don’t go! Let me show you around while you remain here!”
Still they did not change their minds. “Very well, then!” they called cheerily back over their shoulders. “Don’t say we didn’t invite you!”
It was true that he wouldn’t have any badger friends now. However, the sight of the badger family brought an unexpected thought to his mind: What if he invited the little lost puppy to come up and see Dragon Valley? Maybe now the little creature would be far less frightened seeing just one dragon—or believing if he ran away he’d have time to chase it before it could get too far away. But he had waited for so long—would the little dog even remember the way to the valley anymore? And what if the girl who owned him was still looking?
Flame decided to clear everything out of his heart and give it one final try for friendship before returning to his cave for good. He breathed one last fiery breath into the sky, then flew down toward where he had met the little puppy a few days before.
It took him longer than he’d expected to arrive there. He was just rounding the last copse of trees when he heard such a familiar yapping. He knew that voice! Just then, a familiar little wet nose came over the top of his foot. The puppy must have waited there for him day after day since the time they’d parted. Flame licked the friendly puppy’s ear with the gentlest of his fiery breath, and the puppy leaped back, instantly terrified, but Flame just laughed.
It didn’t take much time for friendship to blossom between the two. Flame took the puppy back to Dragon Valley, and when they arrived, its owner was out looking for it, trying to coax it home with nothing but ice cream. The little puppy scampered up, barking with joy, and happily ran home.
Flame found the kind-hearted dog so interesting that he decided he’d like to show his other new friends through Dragon Valley, after all. So he flew after them.
“And did you see any badgers on your way here?” inquired one of the tribe.
“Oh, yes!” Flame answered cheerily. “And I found a new friend, too—a little lost dog who faithfully waited for me each day since the time we parted.”
“Well, well, I suppose you had to go looking somewhere,” they murmured, half to themselves.
Now that Flame’s heart was quite full, they soon put all the matters right again. The moral of the story: Never judge a book by its cover; kindness and a gentle spirit define true strength.