Once upon a time in the distant future, there was a bright little planet known as Blip Blop. Blip Blop was a rolly polly kind of place, with green trees that seemed to bounce and flowers that giggled in the breeze. The people of Blip Blop were very cheerful indeed, especially their kind little Princess Lila. She brought everyone together with her music, played on the most marvellous trumpet made of colourful space metals that twinkled with stars.
One sunny day, as she was blowing a bouncy tune on her trumpet, a dreadful thing happened! A loud roar came from the sky, shaking the cheerful trees and startling the giggling flowers. Children gasped and parents gathered to see what could be the matter.
Up in the clouds, they saw a huge dragon that seemed to be made of dark, swirling space. It cried, “Grrrr! I am the Space Dragon of Deepest Dark, and I want Tickety Boo!” But nobody knew what Tickety Boo could be.
Many brave knights tried to defeat the dragon with courage and sharp swords, but every time they tried to hit the dragon, it only roared, “Grrrr!”, waved its long tail, and sent them crashing down to the blue trees below. The king, who mostly stayed in his castle, rang the bell for dinner and announced that they were now going to have only boogity food!
That night, after the moon was well up, Princess Lila climbed into her little moon rocket with her dog Jasper and her little telescope Felix, who was as wise as wise could be. “Oh, my dear,” said Jasper, “What are we going to do? That dreadful dragon will eat us at a single crunch!”
“That’s just what I am afraid of,” said Princess Lila. “However did the creature come here? It’s most curious. We must go into its very mouth, for it is sure that Tickety Boo can be found nowhere else.”
“You must be quite sure,” said Felix. “Boogity food never agrees with dogs.”
“Climb on my back,” said Princess Lila, and off they flew towards the Space Dragon. As they came closer, they felt the strange dragon breathing in and out like a huge bellows, and it seemed to them that the breath came colder and colder. Just as they entered the dragon’s mouth, the Princess gave a loud toot on her trumpet—the sort of trumpet all the people of Blip Blop could hear at once. Then Jasper barked as loudly as ever he could.
“Do you think the Princess will find Tickety Boo?” they all asked.
“Tickety Boo!” cried the trumpet voice of Princess Lila, tooting once more. “Do you want Tickety-boo, Mr. Dragon? Here it is. Whoo-hoo! Whoo-hoo!”
Out of the dragon’s mouth came a most curious white cloud that settled gently downwards near the curious trees and the surprised people of Blip Blop. It was a snowstorm such as nobody ever saw before, for it was all made of bright yellow daisies and pale pink daffodils. But the biggest surprise was that they all began to play a tune; for it was clear that the roar of the dragon had been only its way of trying to ask for Tickety Boo—some bright and happy flowers. And as Princess Lila played the merry march the trees and people danced, and the giggling flowers clapped their leaves in time with the music. So the people of Blip Blop stopped being sad and said, “It was only trying to say ‘Boo!’ It wasn’t a star at all, but only a confused black cloud.” And they made the Space Dragon the best of blip blop dinners, and invited it to stay for ever with little Princess Lila and her people, and they sang a delightful song:
"Comet, comet, up you go,
Dear astronit, you fly! You know
Many wonderful things to tell,
But you could not beat the Space Dragon; so
Here we are altogether now
To sing you a joyful hello!"