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Pied Piper and the Dragon of Mount Pyron
“Someone might be counting on a promise with their life, and the maker might not even know.”
Thousands of years ago, when dragons still roamed this earth, humans were still so small in numbers that they only had two villages and a city. These villages and the city were situated in a very fertile green country that connected three big continents of the Earth; Europe, Asia, and Africa. There was a tall mountain in the middle of this country, called Mount Pyron. This mountain was surrounded on all sides by a very thick forest. A river, a desert, and a rocky plain separated the forest from the human city, and the two villages, each one of them arranged like one of the three sides of a triangle around the forest. In the forest and high atop the mountain, midst the mist lived a dragon.
Old legend said that once a Prince was playing with firecrackers when one of his crackers accidently fell into the bag of a Sage passing by, setting the Sage’s meagre belongings on fire. The enraged Sage turned the Prince into a dragon, and cursed him into roaming the forest and residing on the cold mountain, until one day when a righteous man would destroy his shell, and release the Prince from his dragon body once again. For generations the story was passed down by all the humans that lived in the country, and they would banish all those who committed any wrongs into the forest, where it was believed that the dragon would eat them. Nobody ever saw the dragon, and the dragon couldn’t venture out of the forest because of the Sage’s curse. The royal family however waited patiently for the return of their own, for generations.
Many years later in one of the two villages, was born a boy to a poor farmer. The boy was very gentle, and never did anything wrong. However, as he grew older, he fell in love with music and started playing a pipe. His pipe playing was so good, that it started affecting everyone in the village. At first people loved listening to him playing his pipe, but then as the boy grew older, and his music abilities improved, he started getting naughtier. He realized he could change the mood of people and animals with his music. He started playing pranks on everyone, like making their cows fall asleep when someone tried to milk them, or making someone’s bullocks run amok when they tried to put them to a cart. He made the dogs chase their owners up the trees, and their cats scratch their furniture, and so on. Soon everybody became fed up of his insolence, and started wondering if the boy was possessed by the devil.
One day when the boy started to play his pipe, huge clouds arrived above the country, and a violent storm started lashing the weak tiny homes of the poor villagers. The storm was so violent, it destroyed all their homes, drowned their cattle in flood, and the people only survived by clinging on to floating uprooted trees. Everybody thought that it was the boy’s music that brought the storm and caused destruction. Fed up, and afraid, they decided to exile the boy to the forest. The boy cried and pleaded with everyone that it wasn’t his fault, but no one listened. His parents were broken and distraught, but couldn’t stop the villagers from banishing him. The villagers chased him away with bricks and stones until he had no choice but to run into the forest.
Scared of the irate villagers, the boy ran deep into the forest, and before he could realize, he was lost. He was lost, scared, thirsty, and hungry, but none of that mattered. All he was thinking at that point in time was his mother and his father.
“Oh father! Oh mother! Please forgive me,” he spoke as he cried, “But I swear this wasn’t my doing.” He started to sob inconsolably. “I am sorry I played all those pranks,” he kept on saying, “But I swear I didn’t cause the storm.” His sorrow soon overtook his feelings of fear and despair. He cried his heart out. Sad as he was, he pulled out his pipe, and started doing the only thing he had known to do, the only thing that gave him comfort; he started playing his pipe. His melody however was that of a sorry heart, so overflowing with sadness that the trees around him started to fall silent. The wind stopped and the birds stopped chirping. Everything around him became desolate and despondent.
“Who dare ruin my wilderness,” a thunderous voice boomed out of the distant trees, and a ferocious fiery beast emerged from behind. The boy’s pipe had awakened the dragon from his midday siesta, and he too was hungry, having not had any flesh to feast upon for days.
The entire atmosphere suddenly changed as the birds gave out shrill cries and started flying away in every direction. The trees began shaking, raising a ferocious wind. The dragon rose up in the sky, and its’ eyes fell on the fear frozen boy.
“Oh father! Help me,” the boy cried as the dragon flew straight towards him. The boy made a dash, head over his heels, and straight through the trees. The dragon blew out a large ball of fire from its mouth and nostrils, charring everything that stood between it and the boy. The boy however ran, dodging through the trees, ducking for cover, his pipe held tightly in his hands. “Please don’t kill me,” he pleaded to the dragon as he ran. The dragon however was hungry, and didn’t care.
The two waded through the forest in a chase that didn’t stop until the boy, who was panting for breath now and could barely run anymore, came across a cave, and rushed straight inside. The dragon was too big to enter the cave, but it also knew the boy couldn’t go anywhere else now.
“How long are you going to hide in there you little piece of meat,” the dragon exclaimed in a menacing voice, “Come, I’ll make it quick and painless. I’ll eat you up like a snack. C’mon, come outside. I haven’t eaten in a month.” And the dragon burst out into a rapturous laughter.
“What am I going to do,” the boy was hysterical, shaking with fear, well aware there was nowhere for him to go, and the dragon had all the time to catch him. He sneaked a peak outside the entrance of the cave and saw the dragon easing himself onto the ground, and resting his big monstrous body. The boy looked at his pipe, and for the first time in his life, he felt angry at it, “You little piece of wood, you are the reason for all my troubles. You are the cause of my death.” Angrily, he raised his hand to try and smash the pipe on the rock in front of him, but paused at the very last minute.
“Wait! Maybe this can help me out this time. If it can make cows fall asleep, then maybe it can make a dragon fall asleep too. After all, a dragon is just an animal,” he thought to himself. Encouraged by the thought he started playing his pipe again, only this time he started playing a soothing tune, a tune that could put elephants to sleep. And it started to work. He noticed the dragon yawn outside the cave. So he continued playing it, until the dragon started snoring. It was night by that time, and the full moon came up to light up the forest. With the biggest, mightiest, and the only dangerous beast of the forest deep in sleep, the boy finally snuck out of the cave, and tip-toed away into the woods.
He made his way to a stream, where he had some water, and then grabbed a couple of fruits that had fallen off the trees, and had his meal. He then saw a couple of rabbits staring at him. The rabbits came up to him, and he gave them some fruit to munch on too.
“Hey little fellows, what are you doing here?” the boy said as he petted the two rabbits, “Don’t you know there is a treacherous beast that roams these woods? Why don’t you two go home and hide?” At this point he started wondering, where the weak animals of the forest took shelter from the dragon. “There must be a safe place to live in here,” he thought to himself. So when he let the rabbits go, he decided to follow them. The rabbits lead him to another cave in the forest, the one which had many entrances, but none too big for the dragon to get inside, and its’ moon lit inside spacious enough to hide all the small animals of the forest, and still leave enough space for an entire human village to have a comfortable life. Unfortunately however, he was the only human inside that cave. However, he knew from that moment, that this was going to be his home for the foreseeable future.
Years went on by, and the little boy became a man. Every day he would boldly go out into the forest to gather fruit, vegetables, wood, and water. The dragon was always there, following him, trying its’ best to snack on him, yet every time he would simply play his pipe, and lull the beast into sleep. Even the other animals began to roam freely in the forest as long as the young man, The Pied Piper, was out there. Over the years the Pied Piper saw many men and women get cast out either by the city or one of the two villages every month or two, and the dragon would grab them and feast on their flesh. All that was left of those people was the tools and stuff they ever brought with them. While the Piper was never able to save any of them, as by the time he would realize someone had been cast out, all that was generally left of them was their bones, but he managed to gather all their tools and stuff, and built a small decent house for himself inside the cave. The animals that were initially scared of the lights that he would light up inside the cave, too had become fond of him, and would gather around him every evening, to listen to his pipe. He was content, but lonely!
One day, as fate would have it, a beautiful young girl was cast out of the city as the people there thought she was a witch. She however was an innocent girl of reason and logic, who tried to find out the real scientific reason behind every phenomenon she witnessed. Hapless as she was, as much as the Pied Piper himself a few years earlier, she came to rest under a tree, sobbing.
“Who dares to cry in my woods?” roared the ferocious dragon as it smelt fresh food.
Luckily for the girl, the Pied Piper was out there collecting wood that day. He witnessed the dragon rise up in the air, and then he heard the desperate cries of a young woman. He instantly ran in the direction the cries of help were coming from. Barely had he gone a few hundred yards, the scared girl ran straight into him, with the beast tailing her.
“Quick! Stay behind me,” exclaimed the Pied Piper as he immediately pulled out his pipe, and started playing a soulful melody that calmed the beast into a slumber beyond fight. As the mighty dragon fell asleep to the ground with a loud thud, the Piper grabbed the girl by her hand and whispered, “Do not make a sound.” The two then tip-toed their way out of trouble, and straight back to the new home to two humans now.
“Who are you and what are you doing here, my saviour?” the enamoured girl asked, already taken by the handsome persona of the man that just saved her, and also taken by the beauty of his music.
The Pied Piper then told her his complete story thus far. The girl in turn told him her story, of how her scientific experiments led to her parents ditching her, and her city kicking her. The two realized they had more in common than merely an atrocity of fate; they were both deserted by their protectors and peers, for being different, and being good at being different. Needless to say, the two fell in love, and the entire forest married them, except of course the dragon, who wasn’t invited!
Years trickled on, and a little boy was born to what were once a little boy and little girl themselves. Happiness blossomed, and there was spring inside a dark cave. It was hard to say who loved the little child more, his parents, or the animals that dwelled with them. As the little boy started to grow older, he became inquisitive. His father’s musical tutorship, and tutorship of the ways and skills for life, and his mother’s mathematical and scientific tutorship, and tutorship of values and principles, weren’t enough anymore. He was naughty and adventurous. He wanted more! He wanted to know about the world outside the cave.
“You must never go outside until you are old and skilled enough,” his mother cautioned him repeatedly, “There is a mean dragon that dwells in this forest; who feeds on people’s flesh.”
“But how do you know there is one,” the boy asked, “I never see him around.”
The boy was however never satisfied, for he had never seen the beast. His father had become so good at keeping his mortal enemy as far away as possible from his little piece of heaven that even the animals living in the cave had started to wonder if there ever was any dragon outside. Such was his dedication to the protection of his ward, and his wife completely understood and supported him. They’ll never let their child down like their parents, was their mantra.
Nature however always takes its’ own course. A child is bound to grow up, and be inquisitive about everything around them. A child is bound to have a desire to explore the world around them, even against the sound advice of their parents. That’s how every human being is designed by default. So one day, the curiosity got the better of the boy, and when his father was away into the woods collecting food, the boy sneaked out of his mother’s watchful eyes, and straight out of the cave. When the poor mother realized her child was missing, she nearly collapsed and fainted. She however gathered herself and her wits up, and made a frantic dash into the forest, in search of her piece of heart.
“There you are,” an exasperated but relieved mother exclaimed as she finally caught her naughty little ward admiring flowers in their natural habitat, “How many times have I told you not to leave the cave?” She grabbed the boy to give him a big slap, but pulled him hard to her bosom instead. “Don’t you ever do that again,” the sobbing mother exclaimed.
“But mom, I am alright,” the innocent naughty kid replied, “And I don’t see any dragon.”
A faint crushing of the leaves however caught the mother’s attention, as she looked up from her embrace, and turned around in the direction of the sound.
Many hundred yards away, the Pied Piper carefully explored the forest gathering fresh fruit and vegetables. His keen senses were always scanning his surroundings, lest his nemesis were to catch him unaware. Today however he was surprised that the dragon hadn’t made his daily dash at him. “Where is the beast hiding? Is it sick today?” he wondered as he started his slow and stealthy march back towards the cave. A couple of loud shrieks however tore through the blissful quiet of the forest, and the voices sounded familiar.
The dangerous beast soared from behind the trees in the distance, laughing out loud, with its two prizes in its two claws; the mother, and her child.
“No!” a loud shriek escaped the Piper’s lips as he dropped everything he was carrying, and made a mad dash behind the beast that was flying away fast towards its’ mountain top abode, “Not my wife and my son! Let them go!”
The dragon however was way fast in the open sky, and made quick work of its flight back to its residence for a fresh feast of human flesh.
“I am sorry mother,” the little boy cried out to his mother, “I will never do this again. Please save me for this demon.”
“Please don’t eat us,” the poor mother in turn pleaded with her heartless captor.
The dragon however was getting ready to wet its appetite, when it finally heard a faint sound of a pipe. It looked down towards the bottom of the mountain, and there it saw the desperate Pied Piper trying his best to play a melody that would lull the beast into a blissful sleep, and enable him to rescue his wife and child.
The dragon let out a mean little laugh and roared from his sky high home, “Your music cannot reach me here, and before you can climb any higher, I would have had my dinner. Look at you puny little human, making a desperate attempt against the rising tide of time.” And the dragon burst out laughing hard and mean.
“Please spare my wife and child,” the Pied Piper, having realized his predicament, pleaded, “Eat me instead! Isn’t that what you have wanted for all these years?”
The dragon stopped midway of dropping the Piper’s son down his throat, while Piper’s hapless wife fought desperately under the Dragon’s other claw. The dragon turned around and looked down at the piper again.
“Please, let my family go, and have me instead,” the Piper having caught the dragon’s attention pleaded, “Look, I’ll even drop my pipe right here on the ground, and come to you myself. Please let my wife and child live.”
“And why would I let go of a meal that I already have,” the crooked dragon however enquired.
“Please, I beg of you,” the Piper however continued, “And even if you have to eat someone, eat me first. I can’t see my wife and my child die in front of me. Please grant me this one wish as my dying wish, and eat me first!”
The dragon paused for a second, and though to itself, “I guess I can do that for him, and get better fed in the process.” It then turned to the Pied Piper and exclaimed, “Very well then! Drop your pipe at the bottom of the mountain, and climb up! I will eat you first then!”
The Pied Piper, tears rolling down his cheeks, kissed his pipe and laid it on the ground, and started climbing up. Once atop the mountain, in the dragon’s lair, the Piper exclaimed, “Here I am! Please eat me now, but let me kiss my wife and my child for one last time.”
The dragon knew there was nowhere for the Pied Piper and his family to run, so he granted him his last wish. “Very well then,” it exclaimed, “But make your goodbyes quick, for I have been hungry for over three months now.”
The Pied Piper and his wife and son got together in a tight embrace. “I am so sorry my love, I couldn’t save you,” the Piper exclaimed, “Please forgive me.”
The wife and the child too cried their hearts out, each one apologising more profusely than the other, each one wishing to die first, but the Pied Piper prevailed on them both. He finally got up from their embrace, and having resigned to his fate walked up to the dragon, and laid down near its feet, “Here now, you can have me O mighty dragon.”
A quick rush of blood flew up the dragon’s brains, as its’ eyes lit up, and its heart started pounding. There he was, the prey it had been hunting for years, finally lying at its feet, and begging to be killed and eaten forthwith. It had finally won the battle of the hunter and the prey, and all it needed now was to raise its claw, and sever the Piper’s head from his body, and eat him up. The Pied Piper on his part lay completely still with his eyes shut, a calm acceptance of fate having taken over him. Patiently he awaited that final blow, which somehow didn’t come. Finally he opened his eyes and saw a dumbfounded dragon sitting there like a statute, its claw up in the air ready to strike a blow, but eyes focussed somewhere far away. In that moment anybody lying there where the Piper lay, might have mistaken the dragon for a rusty iron statute under the dying light of the Sun.
“What happened,” the Piper asked, “Why have you stopped?”
“Why are you doing this?” a perplexed dragon asked, “I don’t understand! For years you have run away from me, hid from me, and escaped from me. Yet today as you lay here, you are begging me to kill you. Why?”
“Because I love my family,” the Piper replied, “So please, don’t make it any more agonising for me, and do what you have to do quickly, for it hurts every moment I breath and contemplate the cruel fate that awaits my beloved and my piece of heart. Please kill me now! You have won!”
“But why don’t I feel like I have won,” the dragon roared ferociously, “Why don’t I feel like killing you right now?” And the dragon bent over and brought his fiery nostrils close to the Piper’s face.
“Look,” the Piper pleaded, “I don’t know what is going through your mind right now. All I know is that my family is about to die, and the only way for me to live my life peacefully is to die before them. I cannot help you, or help how you feel. All that is in my hands is to lay my life in your claws, and hope that either you will find mercy to let my wife and child go, or that I won’t know what you did with them. So please do what you must do.”
The dragon again stood upright and raised its claw, but once again it couldn’t bring itself to strike the Piper. “This is strange, this isn’t right,” the dragon muttered as he withdrew its claw, “I cannot win like this. This doesn’t feel like a win.”
Encouraged by the visible change of dragon’s heart, Piper made a request, “If you don’t want to kill me then please let me and my family go.”
“No!” the dragon emphatically retorted, “You have repeatedly insulted me, and challenged my authority in my dominion. I cannot let you just go.”
“Then please tell me what can I do for you, that would spare my wife and my child’s lives,” the Pied Piper asked with his folded hands.
The dragon thought for a few moments, and then came up with an answer, “Fine, you want to see your wife and child alive, then you must buy their lives from me; five gold coins for each life, and you have three days to get me those coins. If you fail to get me my payment before that time, your wife and kid will perish! Does that sound fair? For that sounds fair to me, and I feel like I will be earning their meat.”
“But I don’t have any Gold coins,” a hapless Pied Piper exclaimed, “How will I get ten?”
“That is your problem to deal with,” the dragon retorted, “Now go away before I lose my cool and kill your wife and child right now. Just go!”
The Pied Piper realized he had no choice left, but still had a chance to save his wife and kid after all. So he bade farewell to the two of them, and promised them he would be back with the Gold coins in three days somehow, and save them.
Determined to find a way, on the first day he crossed the dessert and returned to his village, to seek help from his parents and other villagers.
“Go away! You only brought misery to our village when you were here. And now you have brought misery to your own family. Just go! We can’t help you,” said the villagers.
“But it was never my fault,” the Pied Piper pleaded, “Please, believe me, and save my child and my wife. I promise I will never ask you for anything else.”
His pleas however fell on deaf ears. There were villagers who were superstitious, and there were villagers who didn’t care for a family they had never known, to part ways with their meagre life savings. His parents were just poor, barely surviving their old age without a young earning hand to support them.
“Don’t worry father,” the Pied Piper said, “Let me first save my family, and then I will come to save you.”
“But you have already saved us,” his father replied, “We were so broken without you, our lives had become a penance for us; a punishment for letting our only child to be hounded out to the mercy of nature.”
Tears rolling down his cheeks, but with no time to waist, the Piper promised his parents that he will return, and took their leave. By the next sunrise, the Piper had already crossed back over to the forest, through it, and across the rocky plains, to the doors of the city.
“Go back you criminal,” shouted the Chief Minister of the City at the city’s door, “Go back to the forest for only there can you live. If your own village has cast you away to the forest, then we won’t shelter a criminal either, or provide you with anything.”
“But I am no criminal, and I have never committed any crime,” the Pied Piper pleaded and begged, “I just need your help to save my wife and my child. My wife is the daughter of this city, and for what it is worth, my child is as innocent as any human could ever be.”
“Any daughter of this city living in that forest must be as criminal as you, for only then we would have discarded her,” the Chief Minister replied, “And the child of criminals is as good as a criminal for us. Now go away before I ask the guards to shoot you down with their arrows and spears.”
With no hope or choice left, the Pied Piper turned around and made haste across the rocky plains, back through the forest, and by next sunrise, he had crossed the river to reach the last human settlement, the second village.
“Be as that may be, that you be no criminal,” the elder of the village exclaimed after hearing the Pied Piper’s tale of woes in the village centre, “But why should we help someone who means nothing to us, and who has done nothing for this village?”
“But surely enough sire,” the Piper humbly replied, “There must be something I can do for this village that may earn me this generous community’s good graces.”
The village elder nodded in contemplation, and turned towards his peers in the village council. They all huddled together, whispering and discussing something. Finally the elder turned around and exclaimed, “Perhaps you can do something for us, and if you do it, we may help you.”
“Please just say the words,” the Pied Piper replied, “And I would do my best to help this village in any way possible. All I ask for in return are Ten Gold coins to buy my wife and child’s lives from the dragon.”
“If that is your wish then listen carefully young man,” the elder started to explain the task Pied Piper was to accomplish, “This village has been ravaged by the plague of rats. Every year the rats eat up almost all our food grains, leaving us barely enough to survive but with nothing to sell. They bring disease that kills our people and kids alike every year. If you can help rid this village of this menace, then and only then we will pay you the Ten Gold coins that you need. Do you agree?”
For a moment the Piper felt relieved. It felt like this was the moment he had been living for all his life playing a pipe. He knew his prayers had been answered, and he immediately agreed, “Listen O wise one, I agree to your terms, and I will help rid this village of each and every rat by noon today. Please gather my money and I shall be back to claim my labour by late afternoon.”
As the Pied Piper took their leave, everybody started chatting amongst themselves. “Can he really do that? Is he lying?” everyone was left wondering. The Piper however made it to the other end of the village by mid morning. He paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and then pulled out his pipe. He then started playing a joyous tune which was sweat like sugar. His music started to fill the air, and people and animals alike were mesmerised by it. Everyone stopped what they were doing, and stood by their doors and windows to listen to his music. No one noticed the fat mice running through their feet, and out into the streets, straight towards the Piper.
The Pied Piper finally started walking, going through each and every street of the village, as a sea of rats started building up behind him. By the time he made to the leading edge of the village, and towards the river, all the rats in the village had made their way into the procession behind him. Slowly and surely the Piper made his way towards the river, but as he entered the river, some concerning thoughts started rearing their heads in his mind, “What am I doing? Am I going to kill all these innocent creatures for doing what anyone is born to do; eat their fair share of food? Can I justify their deaths to save the lives of my own wife and child?”
For someone who had never hurt an innocent creature knowingly, these thoughts were too much to bear. His heart started palpitating, and as his tension rose, his music became energetic. This energised the rats too, who all started bopping and hopping wildly as they followed the Piper through the river and across into the forest. Finally when the Piper had walked deep into the forest, he broke his tune and turned around. To his surprise, all the rats had safely crossed the river by bouncing on top of the water, and made it to the forest. The rats were all safe, and now that the energy given by the Piper’s music wasn’t there anymore, none of them had the ability to cross the river and return to the village. Not only had the Piper fulfilled his task, but he didn’t have to kill any innocent being to save his own family. He was elated!
Happy and proud, he quietly crossed back to the other side, and as promised, by noon he was there in the village centre again, this time to seek his well earned reward.
“You fraudster; you tricked us,” however the village elder’s response took him by complete surprise, “These rats were all trained by you. You must have brought them here in the first place, to ruin our lives, so that when you get rid of them, you can mint money from us.”
“That is not true sire,” a shell shocked Piper replied, “I had nothing to do with the problems of this village, and all my work has been done honestly. I swear on the lives of my wife and my son.”
“And we are supposed to believe a man whom his own village didn’t trust, or help,” the elder quipped back, “Who knows if your sob story about your wife and child is true or not? Who even knows if you have a wife and a child?”
“Please don’t say that,” the Pied Piper fell on his knees and begged them, “My only hope to save my wife and my child rests in your hands. Please believe me. I have honestly done my work, and I beg of you to give me my promised reward for my wife and son’s lives truly depend upon you keeping your promise, on your benevolence. Please, I beg of you.”
However all his pleadings fell on deaf ears, and when he persisted in his requests, the villagers mercilessly beat him up and threw his unconscious body outside the village.
Broken and bruised, by the time the Piper woke up it was already late afternoon. He realized that the last day of his endeavours was coming to an end, and that by the end of the day, the mean dragon would butcher his only child and his wife, and there was nothing he could do to stop that from happening. His heart broke down, and he cried and he wailed. But there was no one to listen to his cries, no one who cared. Heartbroken, he finally got up, and decided to go back to the dragon, and request it to kill him before his wife and child. As he walked away, he pulled out his pipe, and thinking about his wife and child, started playing a soulful melody so full of love, that it could have melt even hearts made of stone. His music started filling the atmosphere, and the kids that were playing outside in the streets, felt the pull of the soul stirring fatherly love in his melody so much, they all rushed out of the village, and in pursuit of the Pied Piper.
The Piper however, lost in his love for his child and his wife, and unaware of the innocent company he was building up behind him, crossed the river and marched deep into the forest. By night fall he had reached the foot of Mount Pyron, when he finally broke his melody.
“Why did you stop playing?” an innocent little child following him asked.
Shocked by the voice the Pied Piper turned around and saw the sea of kids that he had dragged out of the village. “Oh my God, what have I done,” exclaimed the Piper in horror and remorse, “Why did you kids follow me?”
“Do I hear the Piper?” meanwhile roared the dragon from atop his mountainous abode, “Have you brought the money I asked for?”
The moment the kids heard the dragon’s voice, they all got scared down to their bones and started shrieking. Their cries caught the immediate attention of the ferocious beast.
“What, you have brought me a village full of kids to save your wife and child,” exclaimed a surprised dragon, “What a happy surprise! This is even better than the ten gold coins.”
“No, no, you got it all wrong,” the Pied Piper shrieked out, “It was my mistake. Please, these kids are not for you! You can have me, my wife, and my child, but please let them go.”
“Don’t be a fool,” the dragon retorted as it spread out its’ wings to make a dive for his catch, “You have earned their lives and their freedom. Now let me have my food.”
As the dragon dove down the mountain the kids all shrieked in fear. “Quick, run back to your village,” cried the Pied Piper on top of his lungs, “I’ll try and stop the dragon here.”
As the kids ran away towards their village, and the dragon swooped down to catch them, the Piper pulled out his pipe and started playing a soothing tune. This time the dragon was close enough to get entrapped by this music, but the efforts of the last three days, and especially those of that day, had drained much of the energy of the poor Pied Piper. He managed to slow the dragon down, but he didn’t have the energy to put him to sleep. However he knew he was the only one that could save the kids of the village from the dragon’s grasp, and the only one who could buy his wife time to carry their own child to safety. So he kept playing.
The kids soon crossed the river and returned to the village side bank, where the entire village had gathered up in arms to hunt down the Pied Piper and rescue their children. When the distraught parents saw their kids return unharmed, they were all overjoyed. They all hugged their kids, and kissed them, and then hugged them some more. Finally the kids told them the whole story, about how the Pied Piper didn’t trick them into following them, and how he was fighting the dragon to help them escape, and how the Piper’s own wife and child were in danger. Now truly ashamed of their actions earlier, and eager to make amends, and help a good man save his family, the villagers decided to fight their fears and help the man fight the beast. While their wives and kids decided to wait for them by the river bank, the men crossed over the river with sickles and swords, to take on the mighty beast.
In the forest, the sluggish dragon was now also angry at the Piper for letting his fresh meal escape. The Piper meanwhile was now playing to keep his wife and son alive. The progressively tiring and weakening Piper kept on playing a rapidly weakening tune, as his wife carried their stunned silent child through the forest, dodging and avoiding the dragon’s gaze, making her way to the cave. Meanwhile, the villagers had finally made their way to where the Pied Piper was keeping the Dragon occupied. When the dragon noticed the angry mob, it spat out a large ball of fire that almost wiped the entire crowd off. It scared the villagers down to their bones, and some of them even started running back to the village. No one was left with the courage to face the mighty beast.
Finally one villager spoke out, “Piper, we are here to help you, but the best we can do is give you this sword to fight.” He then tossed a sword towards the Piper.
The Piper however knew that a blade won’t pierce the armour like body of the beast for he had seen many fighters perish fighting for their lives right in front of his eyes before. He however remembered how if he could play notes too high, the sound of his pipe could crack glass and brittle metals. He remembered how the dragon’s outer shell looked like a rusted sculpture under the dying sun just days earlier. He knew he had an answer, and he knew he had a chance.
Invigorated by the thought of a possible victory, the Pied Piper gathered all his strength, and hit the notes real high. His melody was so loud and piercing, everyone nearby had to cover their ears, lest they were to start bleeding. The Piper himself barely survived the ordeal, while the dragon cried in pain. It started throwing fireballs all around, wrecking havoc on the trees and ground. But the Piper kept dodging, and playing. The dragon’s shrieks started getting louder, and it seemed like his outer skin had started to develop cracks everywhere. The blood underneath the cracks started to burn, and it looked like the dragon was full of fire inside.
Finally when the dragon had almost tired itself of all the shrieking, almost run out of fireballs to throw, and was struggling to stay stable on its feet, the Piper stopped the pipe and picked up the sword. For a brief moment the dragon felt relieved at the end of the torturous tune, and let out a sigh of relief. And then it felt a searing pain race through its heart. It looked down and saw the Piper standing underneath, a sword in his hand that appeared to be resting deep inside its body.
“Sorry big fellow,” the Pied Piper replied, “I never wanted to kill anyone, but to kill you means saving a lot of others.”
A mortally wounded dragon stumbled backwards, and then crashed to the ground with a might thud. Bright light suddenly started emerging out of every crack in its outer shell, as the villagers too gathered around to take one final look at the beast. Then in a big flash the dragon’s body disappeared. In its’ place was left a bright young man, that appeared of royalty, firmly kneeled inside a bright flower radiating light.
“Welcome back young Prince,” a voice boomed from behind the crowd. It was the Sage who had originally cursed the Prince. He had just descended from the heavens to commemorate the return of the future King. “I hope you have learnt your lessons about the responsibility of the King to his wards, of the frailty of humanity, its principles and values,” the Sage continued as he stepped closer, and everybody stepped aside to let him walk through to the Prince.
“Yes my holy Sire, I indeed have,” the Prince replied as he got up on his feet, “And once again I seek your forgiveness for the trouble I caused you.”
“And I forgave you a long time back,” the Sage replied, “Now return to the City, and be the King humanity needs. Your family is waiting.”
The Sage then vanished into thin air, while everybody in the forest curtsied to their new King. Then after the King left for his city, the Piper thanked the villagers for their help, who in turn sought his forgiveness for their earlier insolence and betrayal. Meanwhile all the animals had walked out of the cave and were now free to roam around in the forest without fear. Piper’s wife and child too came out and embraced him. The villagers promised to pay him his earned due of Ten Gold coins the next day, and everybody returned to their homes.
A few days later the Pied Piper took his wife and child across the desert and back to his village, where he now returned as a dragon slaying legend with a big fortune of Ten Gold coins. His parents were delighted to have their son, their daughter in law, and their grandson in their lives. And thus started the blissful days of their lives remaining.
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