On a high mountain, among slowly drifting clouds, in the light of a bright but cold sun, lived a dragon. He was very angry and dangerous. Hundreds of sharp, spear-like fangs, scales stronger than any steel armor, and hot merciless flames. No one in the world could defeat him. But many tried! Thousands of knights, skilled with swords, climbed the mountain to defeat the monster, but not a single one returned.
It wasn't always this way. When the dragon first hatched from his egg, he was a tiny chick, by dragon standards, of course. His teeth weren't so sharp, and he didn't know how to breathe fire at all.
The dragon lived in the attic of a blacksmith's shop in a village at the foot of the mountain. At night he would climb onto the roof and admire the starry sky, teaching himself to fly.
People didn't believe that a dragon had appeared in the village. Children made up stories about a terrible beast that kidnapped people and retold them to each other. Adults didn't believe in the dragon at all and laughed at such stories. Many rumors circulated in the village; some even claimed they saw the dragon on the blacksmith's roof. The voices of eyewitnesses mixed with legends, and soon it turned out that the dragon could transform into a human and was actually the local blacksmith.
The dragon himself was in no hurry to show himself to people. He listened to the town gossip and couldn't understand why people thought he was evil and scary. He hadn't done anything wrong. So he was bad from birth and couldn't change that?
But his greatest sorrow was that no one believed in him. He was so tired of watching the sky alone that one day he decided to stop hiding and fly not in darkness, but in the light of the sun.
Before his first daytime flight, the dragon was very nervous about how people would accept him. Perhaps they would take up weapons and start shooting arrows? Or would they be happy that a fairy tale creature lived in their village?
The dragon didn't account for one thing: everyone was so busy with their own concerns that they never looked at the sky. There was no room for miracles and fairy tales in the lives of the local residents.
Flying during the day for the first time, the dragon enjoyed the fresh warm wind and bright blue sky. Never before had the sun warmed him, never before had he seen the village and mountain so well.
Flying over the market, he caught an air current and spread his wings wide. He was no longer a tiny chick, and for a split second his wing blocked out the sun. Darkness fell over the city. People were frightened, but they still didn't look up.
At the market stood a young boy. He was helping his parents, who sold meat at a wooden counter. The boy had beautiful bright green eyes and red curly hair. His clothes were covered in dust. When darkness covered the village, he looked up and saw the flying dragon.
A dragon! There's a dragon in the sky! Mom, Dad, look! ― the boy exclaimed with admiration.
Your fairy tales again? ― his mother laughed in response.
Hurry and get the box with meat, ― his father urged him.
The darkness passed, the dragon flew away.
Please, look at the sky! ― he begged his parents.
Son, get to work. We all know that dragons don't exist, ― his mother answered.
The dragon was very hurt that people paid him no attention. At sunset he landed on a large clearing at the foot of the mountain. The sun was setting, and because of this a huge stone boulder became dark and frightening. "I will live here now," he sighed, deciding never to return to the blacksmith's shop.
The dragon felt anger building up inside him. He was ready for any reaction from people, but he couldn't imagine that they would simply not notice him! In his hurt, he knocked down several trees, scratched them with his claws, tore leaves.
The despair that clouded his mind receded. He built a shelter from the fallen trees for the night and fell asleep. That evening he didn't look at the stars and slept restlessly. He dreamed of big bright green eyes looking out of the darkness.
Every day the dragon flew over the village. He wanted to be noticed, to be believed in. But it was all useless: no one paid attention to the fact that darkness sometimes fell on the earth. Over time, people even gave this a name ― an eclipse. And they lived as if nothing unusual was happening.
The dragon grew angrier and angrier. His scales became darker and his teeth sharper. One night he couldn't sleep and asked himself: "Why?". But there was no answer. The stars hid behind black clouds. The clouds descended from the mountain, hung over the clearing and slowly drifted toward the village.
From hurt, anger and exhaustion, the dragon roared loudly. This roar echoed through the forest and, reflected from the mountain, reached the village. People woke up in fear. No one could understand what was happening. They had never heard such a sound before. And the dragon noticed that small sparks appeared near his mouth. He roared again, even louder and more terrifying, and a wave of fire swept across the clearing from his jaws.
So the dragon learned to use fire. That night the entire green clearing, full of thick grass and flowers, turned to ash.
And then the dragon figured out how to get people's attention. He would no longer fly over the city during the day: people don't look at the sky anyway. He would come at night and show his fire. Then they would definitely believe in him.
The very next night he hung like a huge black shadow over the village. The dragon roared, and people woke up. They came out of their houses, trying to understand where this sound came from again. The dragon, with all his might, sent a column of fire into the sky.
Finally, people noticed him. The flames reflected in their eyes, and everyone without exception looked at him with horror, as at a monster.
Someone shouted loudly: "A dragon!". This word echoed through the crowd. People scattered in panic, screaming, some grabbed weapons. The dragon looked at them and didn't understand why they were so afraid ― he hadn't burned a single building, just showed them fire in the night sky. He heard voices: "Monster! Killer!", and understood they were talking about him.
And then he flew away. He flew away forever. He couldn't return to the clearing. People saw where he was heading and would definitely come after him. He decided that from now on the top of a black cold impregnable mountain would be his home. And he also understood that he would never be able to fly in the light of the sun again.
Years passed. Years that the dragon spent in solitude. The echoes of the forests brought him legends made up by the villagers. They said he had burned dozens of houses, that he kidnapped people and ate everyone in his path. People even sent brave men to kill him, but none of them could climb the high mountain. And then everyone forgot about him. It was easier for people to believe that they had seen a fiery monster in their imagination than to accept the fact of his existence. And the dragon became just a fairy tale again, one that was told to children at night.
But one day something happened that the dragon couldn't have imagined. A traveler from the village climbed the mountain. He came at dawn on a summer day. His hands and legs were covered with scratches, he could barely move and, barely having climbed up, fell down exhausted.
The dragon wasn't frightened. He understood that he could easily overcome any knight, he wasn't afraid of the sharpest swords and arrows. But his guest had no weapons.
The dragon approached the small man and warmed him with his warm breath. The traveler opened his eyes and said in a weak voice: "I knew you existed!".
The dragon examined his guest with surprise. In his eyes he saw no malice or fear. His eyes... His green eyes seemed very familiar.
He snorted and helped the traveler to his feet. This was an adult man. His clothes were torn, and his thick curly red hair was streaked with gray.
You're not evil at all, like the others say, ― the man said, looking at his reflection in the dragon's large eyes.
The dragon growled kindly, but small sparks still fell from his jaws.
You know, I'm still not afraid of you. You probably don't remember me?
The dragon slowly nodded, which almost blew the traveler away with wind.
I saw you a long time ago, when I was little, but not at night, during the day. You flew over the market square.
The dragon understood where he recognized this naive gaze of bright green eyes from. He smiled, the way only dragons can smile.
Yes, I've changed a lot since then. Back then no one believed me, but I knew you existed! When I set out for the mountain, people called me a fool. They said you were a monster, but I understood that wasn't true. You won't eat me, will you? ― the traveler's voice became quieter.
The dragon approached him and snorted affectionately, warming him with his breath.
That's a good sign, ― the traveler said quietly and stroked the beast's rough scales. ― You won't be alone anymore, I'm not going anywhere.
From that day on, the dragon found a friend, and his new friend understood him without words. The fairy tale beast couldn't speak, but that didn't matter at all. What mattered was that two solitudes were ready for a miracle, and the miracle happened!
