Now living at the foot of Snaefell
Mountain, in what we now call Laxey were a family of fairies. All the
fairies were had beautiful names like Moon or Sugar Bee or Sunny Days.
But the Fairy Queen had the most beautiful name of all. Her name was
Ariel.
The fairies were very happy. They spent their days playing word games
with their pixie friend Kumquat; chitter-chattering away about nothing
substantial, whilst eating their favourite Fire Mushroom biscuits. In
fact they were very lucky because their life was almost idyllic.
Almost, because of one inconvenient annoyance.
Living on top of the Mountain was a flame breathing dragon named
Steven. When he had been only a young dragon, Steven was a very
mischievous and naughty youngster. He wouldn't listen to his teachers,
and now he was all grown up, Steven couldn't read and write very well,
his spelling was atrocious and he had never mastered the USE OF CAPITAL
LETTERS or exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!!!
Steven was a very disagreeable dragon and he was always getting into
arguments with the other creatures of the Island.
One time he had quarreled so badly with his fellow dragons, that he was
banished from their homes in the cliffs that surrounded what is now
Douglas Bay.
Steven may not have paid much attention to his lessons on writing or to
his teachers at the Dragon Charm School, but there had been on subject
at which Steven took an interest -Biology.
In fact so great was his interest in this subject he briefly went to
Dragonbridge University to study Biology, but he quarreled with his
lecturers and was thrown out for not being able to spell.
But Steven had learnt two things from his studies, and that was if the
fire in his belly went out he would die, and to keep his belly fire
burning he had to stoke it with Fire Mushrooms.
---
Steven the lonely dragon had a
problem, he needed fire mushrooms to fuel the fire in his belly and
keep himself alive. But, because he had quarrelled with the Dragon
King, Ans, and had been banished from the tribe. And Ans didn't bare
grudges lightly, he refused Steven access to his stash of Fire
Mushrooms.
So Steven looked around the Island and found that the only Mushrooms
that Ans did not control were the ones that Ariel and her fairy friends
used to make biscuits.
Now Steven was not as unreasonable as he first appeared, and he decided
to write a letter to Ariel asking for a share of the Mushrooms. Here is
what the letter said...
"Deer Oriel
My name are Steven. I is a dragon and I lives at Snafel Mountin.
Ans is very bad dragon indeed. And he hates me and all the
dragons hate me and wont let me eat there Fire Mushyrooms.
If I dont eat Mushyrooms I die. give me some of yours and i WILL
NOT DIE AND I WILL HELP YOU - i can lift things that are heave and I
CAN PROTECT YOU FORM BAD FINGS!!!!!!!!
Yours sincly
Steven the Draggon."
---
When Ariel read Steven's letter, she
let out a little sing-song tinkling laugh and said "Oh dear sweet
Kumquat and his lighthearted word game associated japes, I do so enjoy
his humour." And she wrote the following letter in reply.
Dear "Steven"
How very nice to get your amusing letter, I am sorry that I cannot let
you have any of our Fire Mushrooms because we need them all to cook our
biscuits on.
You are, of course, always welcome to drop in for a game of Scrabble
and a Biscuit or two.
Yours affectionately
When Steven received Ariel's letter he was incandescent with rage. He
spat fire and set a small gorse bush on fire.
He took an enormous run-up and took to the air and swooped down on the
fairy village. And began to bellow, "WHY DO YOU HATE ME!!!!! CAN'T YOU
SEE I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU!!!!!!"
He then let out an gigantic ear-spitting roar, which sent the tea cups
that Sugar Bee had laid out for the fairies' elevenses treat rattling
in their saucers. Steven, was obviously unable to control himself and
he let out another roar, which this time released a jet of flame, so
hot that poor Moon's delicate glittery wings were singed, and the poor
thing was sent falling through the air and landing on a cowslip.
Now Ariel was made of sterner stuff
than her sparkley beauty suggested. And she knew some powerful magic.
Steven had to be stopped, he had to
be banished from the Fairy Domain forever, but how was Ariel to do
that? Her magic was powerful, but not powerful enough to banish a
dragon.
Luckily, Ariel was full of guile and
cunning and she realised that the fire mushrooms were the reason that
Steven was terrorising her community, so she consulted the Fairy's Book
of Spells, whipped out her magic wand and turned all the Fire Mushrooms
into Cushags.
And that is why every garden,
hedgerow, and meadow now boasts the distinctive white flower of the
Cushag but you can search the Island from the Point to the Sound and
you'll never spot a Fire Mushroom, or a Dragon.
The End