Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History The last dragonThe Project Gutenberg eBook of The last dragon This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: The last dragon Author: Dan Totheroh Illustrator: Eleanor Osborn Eadie Release date: June 29, 2025 [eBook #76411] Language: English Original publication: New York: George H. Doran Company, 1927 Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76411 Credits: Susan E., David E. Brown, Sue Clark, Rod Crawford, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST DRAGON *** THE LAST DRAGON DAN TOTHEROH _THE LAST DRAGON_ _By_ _DAN TOTHEROH_ _Author of "DAVID HOTFOOT"_ _Illustrated by_ _ELEANOR OSBORN EADIE_ [Illustration] _NEW YORK_ _GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY_ COPYRIGHT, 1927, By GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY [Illustration] THE LAST DRAGON -- A -- PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO KAY WHO FIRST SAW THE LAST DRAGON CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I THE MEADOW AND THE WOODLOT 13 II PETER ENTERS THE WOODLOT 23 III MR. DRAGON MEETS THE CHILDREN 30 IV GRANDMA MEETS THE DRAGON 44 V GOODBYE, DRAGON 57 VI THE DRAGON TAPS ON THE WINDOW 64 VII GOING BACKWARDS 74 VIII CRUBBY 85 IX THE ENCHANTED SILVER TOES 97 X ALLAN THE ARMORER 110 XI ON THE KING'S GREAT HIGHWAY 116 XII PETER GOES TO THE FAIR AND WHAT HE FINDS THERE 126 XIII THE PRINCESS WITH TOES OF SILVER 137 XIV PETER AND MIG, THE MAGICIAN 151 XV ON TOWARD GIGGLETOWN 159 XVI DALLAHAN 164 XVII ONCE MORE ON THE KING'S GREAT HIGHWAY 168 XVIII BACK AGAIN 179 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE "ON WITH YE FIGHT!" 25 "LOOK AT THEM RUNNING FROM ME" 33 GRANDMA 45 PETER WAS STANDING ON THE DRAGON'S NECK 78 SILVER TOES ESCAPES FROM THE OLD WITCH 106 GRANDMA AND THE CHILDREN COME TO BE MEASURED FOR SUITS OF MAIL 111 BEPPO BALANCES PETER'S SWORD ON HIS CHIN 130 "YES, YOU HAVE ME ALWAYS, DEAR DRAGON!" 183 THE LAST DRAGON THE LAST DRAGON CHAPTER I THE MEADOW AND THE WOODLOT The meadow and the adjoining woodlot were just right for valiant knights and fair ladies that springy Saturday afternoon. The meadow, soft and green and open, was right for the pavilion where the jousting match could take place,--the big beech tree at the far, sun-rising end made such a delightful canopy over the king's judgment throne--and then after the bout, and the victorious knight was sent forth to do battle with the dragon, there was no more mysterious lurking place for a coily, fire-breathing beast than the shadowy woodlot with its thick thimble berry thicket; its black cave under the drippy spring-shelf, and its close-grown oaks and maples. Indeed, there was always something terrifying to the children about the woodlot, even when the sun pierced through its wall of branches and leaves. The thimble berry thicket had never been completely explored, and as for the oozy cave--well, Johnathan had ventured in as far as the first bend once, holding a bit of lighted candle, but the candle had been blown out, and he had rushed back to wide-eyed Peter and Janet Jane who had stayed outside, peering in at the cave's black mouth. Johnathan, when he could get his breath, vowed he saw something strange around the bend, just before the candle flickered out, but Johnathan had a vivid imagination (it was he who made-up all the plays and all the games that took place in the meadow and spilled over into the woodlot on Saturdays) and whether he really did see something strange around the bend or had just imagined it, Peter and Janet Jane could not be sure. Their mother said he had just imagined it, of course! "What nonsense, Johnathan! You're too old to imagine such things! No wonder you were so poor in arithmetic this month!" Johnathan really didn't see the connection. But that wasn't _all_ about the woodlot! Peter, just six, said he had heard a lion roaring in the thimble berry thicket one stilly evening when he had gone back to find his lost cap in the meadow, but then Peter had a generous share of imagination too. "Lions are only in Africa or in a circus," Janet Jane had said with feminine authority, but Peter replied in his well-known lisp and with his head cocked, that there was no _good_ reason why a lion couldn't be found in a thimble berry thicket just as well as a badger or a chipmunk, and no amount of argument could convince him otherwise. Suppose lions _didn't_ eat thimble berries? Couldn't one have been in the thicket for some other reason, or couldn't one have been there for no reason at all? Why should there always be a reason for things? Peter liked to go places for no reason. Maybe lions did too! Janet Jane pretended to be skeptical about the possibility of unknown and terrifying things lurking in the woodlot, until one morning early, having gone alone to the meadow to find mushroom buttons, she had seen a pixie stick his head out and grin broadly at her, wriggling his pointed ears like a rabbit at the same time. As Janet Jane stared at him, another pixie, wearing a pink sunbonnet, although he looked very much like a boy-pixie, otherwise, bobbed up over the first pixie's shoulder and wriggled his long nose at her, just like a rabbit too. Then Janet Jane, who stood rooted to the spot with astonishment, declared that the two pixies began to sing, one in tenor and one in bass. Strangely enough, she remembered the words of the song. It went: Butter and eggs, butter and eggs, Mushroom buttons and spider legs. Mix them up and bake them brown, And you'll have a dish that will tempt the town. Now, this sounded suspicious to Johnathan because Janet Jane was just learning to cook, and she was always singing receipts, and some of her proposed dishes were queer indeed. Therefore, it was strange that the two pixies she saw that early morning should sing receipts too, but Janet Jane said, "Not at all!" They were doing it just to poke fun at her. Pixies always poked fun, anyhow. They were like brownies in that respect, and not at all like fairies who are too well brought up to poke fun. They sang the song through twice with a different tune each time, and after that Janet Jane managed to say, "Shooo!" at the pixies, and they had vanished into the woodlot. Stooping to pick up her spilled mushroom basket, Janet Jane heard the rude fellows laughing at her--Oh, high, shrill laughter like a tree-squirrel's bark. So you see, since Janet Jane was sure she had seen the pixies, and since Peter was sure he had heard the lion, and Johnathan was sure of somet |