The Baby Who Made a Dragon Smile

Down in the cellar under John the blacksmith's house, there was a dragon.

The dragon had been there a very long time. He was rather old and rather rusty. One of his wings didn't work properly.

John found out about the dragon on a Tuesday.

"Oh," said John.

"Oh," said the dragon.

They looked at each other.

"I won't eat you," said the dragon, "if you fix my wing."

"All right," said John, because what else do you say to a dragon?

So John got his tools and fixed the dragon's wing. It made a lot of clanking noises, and took all afternoon.

But John had a baby. The baby was called Rosie.

Rosie heard all the clanking noises. Rosie crawled to the top of the cellar steps. Rosie looked down.

The dragon looked up.

Rosie pointed at the dragon. "Da!" she said, which was what she said about everything.

The dragon stared. Nobody had ever pointed at him and said "Da!" before.

Rosie laughed her big round baby laugh — hahahahaha — the kind that wobbles her whole body.

And the dragon did something he had never done before.

He smiled.

It was not a very good smile. Dragons do not have much practice. But it was definitely a smile.

"Da!" said Rosie.

"Hmm," said the dragon. But not in a cross way. In a rather pleased way.

After that, Rosie visited the dragon every day. She laughed at him. He smiled at her. They were the best of friends.

And the dragon was never grumpy again.

Not once.

Well — almost never.