The howling winds
appeared to mock
the maiden tied up to
a rock.
Brought by a silent,
horse drawn wagon
to serve as supper
for a dragon,
and from her cruel
and stony bed
these are the
plaintive words she said
“Will no one save me
from this fate
too dreadful far to
contemplate.
My Hero! Please don’t
hesitate
or else, I fear,
you’ll be too late.”
Thence came a pure
and gentle knight;
He rode up from the
Isle of Wight.
A handsome and
upstanding fellow
with posture bold and
manner mellow.
He’d brought his
lance and sharpened blade
to try to save the
hapless maid.
He said in tones so
loud and clear,
“My Lady, you need
have no fear,
so shed not one more
single tear.
Have courage damsel,
Henry’s here.”
The dragon, hearing
from his cave
those ringing words,
so fierce and brave;
Flew very quickly to
the spot
with flaming coat and
breath so hot;
Angry to hear this
idle boast,
ready to turn the
knight to toast.
The damsel screamed
in mortal fright
“Will no one save me
from this plight?
Where is my parfait,
gentle knight
to neutralise this
dragon’s bite?
Then Henry drew his
shining sword
with which he’d faced
the Golden Horde.
He’d slain a troll,
and killed a wizard;
he wasn’t frightened
by a lizard.
He stood before the
frightened girl
and gave his sword a
skilful twirl.
He cried, “Come
dragon, do your best !
Prepare to face your
final test;
This sword will sleep
within your breast,
before the sun sinks
in the west.“
The dragon glared a
baleful glare,
then rose to hover in
the air;
The breath he
breathed was fiery hot,
and suddenly, the
Knight was not.
Where he had stood,
so bold, so brash,
there rose a pile of
smouldering ash.
The dragon spread his
wings, and then
he took the maiden to
his den.
She vanished from the
sight of men,
and nevermore was
seen again.
The moral of this
story’s clear;
The thing that hurts
us most is FEAR !
For though it may
seem quite absurd
If she had never said
a word,
she might have stayed
there through the night;
Unheard, unnoticed,
out of sight,
Then with the coming of
the day
she might have found
a cunning way
the rope to cut or
knots to fray.
She might have even got away.
Thomas Vaughan Jones
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