Bez Berry

Sir Walter had been troubled night and day

Searching for a Dragon he could slay

So he could go back to his home and boast

That he had not been turned to Dragon toast

But slain a beast with one blow of his sword

No more would that fierce Dragon walk abroad

 

He climbed the mountain peaks and valleys green

But nowhere was a Dragon to be seen

His horse was tired, his armour scraped and squeaked

His food was low, his water flagon leaked

In short, he looked a miserable sight

A sad, bereft, discomforted old knight

 

He pitched his camp beside a river deep

And laid his blanket down so he could sleep

He fed his horse then tied it to a tree,

Put water in a pot to brew some tea

The fire crackled sparks into the air

He looked across the flames at his old mare

 

'Ten years we have been riding on this quest

I think it may be time to take a rest

And head back home and give it up for good'

The horse looked back as if it understood

The night grew darker, stars shone in the sky

The noise of rushing water was close by

 

The river flowing fast was at its peak.

The rain had been incessant through the week

At last the clouds had gone which made it cold

Sir Walter's bones were feeling tired and old

They clicked and creaked as he lay down to rest.

The moon was shining coldly in the west.

 

He tossed and turned to find a softer spot

But wriggle as he might he just could not

Settle to a comfortable position.

He was in a sorrowful condition

His body suffered much from pains and aches

His muscles throbbed from twinges, cramps and shakes

 

Try as he might he could not get to sleep

He took some wine and drank the flagon deep

Eventually his eyes closed and he slept

His faithful old horse there beside him kept

A vigil for the night, tied to the tree

And all seemed peaceful, quiet as could be

 

The fire smouldered, spluttered then it died

Deep in the ancient wood an owl cried

Was it a cry of terror or of fear

As something in the woods was drawing near?

And to the river slowly on it came

It wasn't rabbit, deer or other game

 

Larger by far it moved across the ground

Its scaly feet made such a crunching sound

That all the birds and creatures in the wood

Appeared to be quite frozen where they stood.

Each petrified with fear.  Their frightened eyes

Stared helplessly into the darkened skies

 

Into the clearing crashed the creature where

It spied the sleeping knight recumbent there

The horse pulled on its rope and shook his head

She knew that soon her master would be dead

She neighed, she whinnied, snorted, kicked and shied

Sir Walter then rolled over realised

What mortal danger both of them were in

He saw the dragon’s smoking, wicked grin

He knew the creature’s motives were not nice

So donned his precious armour in a trice

His mail, his brigandine and gorget too

His gauntlets and his helm slightly askew

Were donned with speed. He barely took a breath

He needed to be ready to face death

 

He rubbed his face and there before his eyes

A dragon of a most enormous size

It shimmered in the moonlight of the glade

The beams of light upon its scales played

Like fireflies dancing on its leathern wings

They seemed as diamonds from the crowns of kings

 

Its head was burnished bronze and in the dark

Each eye a golden slit. Both seemed to spark

Like tiny fires of yellow, glowing hot

No pupils could be seen but that is not

To say the dragon found it hard to see

It seemed it could see to infinity

 

Pointed gills fell back across its face

Large bony structures held them in their place

And at a moment's notice they could flare

Outwards to enhance its gorgon's stare.

Its mouth was upturned in a cruel smile

Its lips dripped with saliva and with bile

 

Small crooked teeth were hidden by its lips

Its tongue appeared divided into strips

Of fleshy pink. Its chin was cracked with age

And seemed to tremble in portentous rage

Above its eyes, a giant oval scale

Its fearsome look would make its victims quail

 

Its rear legs, trunks of muscle, solid, strong

Contrasted with its forelegs that weren't long

But wiry and with claws like sharpened steel

Could slice a man and he'd not even feel

The wound inflicted, such would be the blow

Death would be faster than the blood could flow

 

Now Walter looked distraught to say the least

He'd end his days as a tinned Dragon feast

His armour could not save him.  Not a chance.

His sword quite useless and also his lance

They'd not scratch the surface of its skin

The beast so big and strong.  Him? Weak and thin

 

Sir Walter knew he was about to die

But then the monstrous dragon gave a sigh

He gave the knight a most unusual look

His large brow furrowed and his scales shook

Then with a troubled shaking of his tail

He sat down slowly then began to wail

 

His sobs came long and loud and truth to say

Both knight and horse looked on in some dismay

The two had thought that they were surely doomed

And by the dragon were to be consumed

However these sobs went on for some time

To interrupt they felt be a crime

 

At last the reptile crumpled to the ground

And lay there and it didn't make a sound

So gingerly the knight moved to the head

Of the slumped dragon.  This is what he said

'What ails thee fiery beast?  What does this mean?

Why is it that you create such a scene?

 

The dragon moved its right eye, then the left

With its demeanour low and quite bereft

It sighed a smouldering sigh and then replied,

'I'll tell you sir, why I have blubbed and cried

I hope you'll understand why I am sad

The thing is that I am not really bad

 

I've had to live a life of persecution

From knights like you, who, seeking retribution

For some crime that I have not committed

In a court of law I'd be acquitted.

I look back on my life and all I see

Are men like you determined to slay me'

 

I'm not a Lindworm that kills in a trice

Or Y Ddraig Goch, or mighty Cockatrice

Or Hydra who can just regenerate

A sliced off head with two.  Let me restate

I'm a creature born to be pursued

By knights like you.  I think it's rather rude

 

The dragon's voice was trembling as he spoke

He stuttered out his words and then would choke

Upon the very sounds he tried to make

He walked towards the river for to slake

His raging thirst and there some peace to find

Sir Walter felt that he'd been undermined

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He'd spent his youth in looking for this beast

He thought that it would, at the very least

Start a fight or offer some resistance

Not cry and walk off into the distance

To say he was quite flummoxed would be true

He looked at it, not knowing what to do

​

The dragon then walked back to Walter's camp

His tired eyes with tears were rather damp

Each looked bemused, the horse looked puzzled too

The knight did not know what he was to do

A strange conundrum on a truly epic scale

He felt his quest was destined now to fail

 

The dragon shrugged his shoulders, gave a sigh

And spoke then to the knight, 'I don't know why

It's come to this. Chased through storm and blizzard,

I'm just a lonely, persecuted lizard

I’m hounded through the baking summer sun

Through rain and sleet.  Existence is no fun

 

So, I surrender. Kill me here and now

And let this moment be my final bow'

He lay upon the mossy, verdant turf

'Kill me errant Knight or lowly serf

So slay me and may my death do you good

They'll be no blame let that be understood'

 

Walter felt deflated by this speech

The dragon had a lesson here to teach

The knight knew that his quest was at an end

He felt his hunting urge he must suspend

And so he walked up to the cheerless beast

And told him his hunting days had ceased

 

He then took off his armour, every greave

Both besagews, the vambrace on each sleeve

Both cowters and his plackart he removed

The horse looked on as though she disapproved

Reduced to tights and doublet stood he there

His elbows, arms and ankles were all bare

 

'I stand before you, dragon, as a man

Unarmed, defenceless, vulnerable.  I can

No longer justify my thoughtless quest

I'll return home.  I think it's for the best'

The dragon smiled and with a wicked smirk

Roared and raged and then went quite berserk

 

He scorched the knight with flames and fried him there

And sank his razor teeth, without a care

Into the frizzled man and ate him whole

His rage and anger was beyond control

All done without a moment of remorse.

He then turned his attention to the horse.