Paradigm the
Dragon
and
John T. Clark
Copyright, 2001 John T. Clark
Chapter 1:
The Storm
Chapter 2:
A Journey
Chapter 3:
Under the Sea
Chapter 4:
Turtle Talk
Chapter 5:
To Home and Back Again
Chapter 6:
The Song of the Elephants
Chapter 7:
Dreams and Journeys
Chapter 8:
Oracle
Chapter 9:
The Dream Wizard
Chapter 10:
The Rescue
Chapter 11: Danny
Chapter 12: The Great Council
Chapter 13: Destiny Dragon
Chapter 14: Black Wind
Chapter 15:
The Dream is the Thing
Chapter 16:
A Dragon’s Knight
Chapter 17:
Mr. Fear
Paradigm the Dragon turned an ear to his cave exit and listened, straining to detect any change in the commotion outside. His stomach growled and he froze, his heart pounding in his chest. His hunger was terrible, he felt hollow and his stomach growled again. He grimaced and clasped his hands over his yellow belly to muffle the sound. Have to be careful… Then he slid a finely scaled green hand to the rough stone wall, and leaned to the edge of the cave mouth. He doubted there would be a story today, with the agitated murmuring outside. Another of one of those island meetings, perhaps. Yet this was different. Something was wrong.
Island meetings were rarely interesting – usually called to settle territorial disputes between monkeys and parrots, or to define the burrowing rights of hedgehogs in monitor lizard grounds, or some other such business. Storytime on the other hand, was delightful - when he wasn’t so terribly hungry. He looked over at a book lying on the lumpy mattress of his carved wooden bed. It was old, like all his books, with pages yellowed and bent from many readings. The tales he heard every few days from outside were fresh, new and interesting.
He didn’t know who or what told the stories; a creature with many heads, or at least many voices - laughing, chattering, squawking voices that loomed above his cave entrance. It was many years ago when the storyteller first came, and Paradigm remembered cowering under his bed with his eyes shut tight, shaking right down to the tip of his tail. His belly was so round it would lift the bed right off the floor. But after about a year of cowering, he had begun to listen to the storyteller and its bizarre tales of the world outside.
Above his cave, the commotion was reaching a feverous pitch, completely drowning out the whispering, roaring, squawking, howling and soft padding of feet that were the usual sounds of the island. Terrible sounds. He shook his head. I’ll never leave my cave, never. It was vowed he made often - almost daily. He backed away from the looming entrance. Why would he ever leave here? He had everything he needed… everything. His stomach growled again, loud this time, and he dove to the hard cave floor, burying his face under green, scaly arms and coving his head with his shimmering, blue wings.
He lay there holding his breath for a moment, his limbs frozen and his tail poking straight out behind him like a petrified snake. His stomach was sure to cause terrible trouble soon, if he didn’t find a way to get more gumba berries.
He cautiously poked a bright, round eye out from under a wing to peer at the cave entrance. The green bush hanging over the cave mouth was undisturbed. Looking at the bush certainly did not help his hunger, for it was there that the gumba berries he ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner grew. Used to grow. The branches were all but stripped clean. It was the price for having the stories come every day. He was sure it was the other creatures, coming to hear the stories, who ate them.
Paradigm shrugged and got to his feet. They were as close to friends as he could ever remember having, as far back as he could remember, which was not very far. He would hit a wall of fog in his mind when he tried thinking back, so he didn’t know how long he had been living in his little cave, nor did he remember how he came to arrive there. He could remember that a long time ago he had a mother and a father who used to care for him, feed him berries and honey and sing him songs until he drifted to sleep, but the memories were faded. He had been alone for a very long time.
His stomach growled again, quietly this time, and the slightest bit of frustration heated his temples. His supply of food was dwindling, yet the thought of leaving the safety of his dark cave in search of food set his knees to shaking and his heart to pounding. “I can’t go out there… I won’t.”
* * *
Maui looked around at the huge gathering of island creatures. It was the largest island meeting in his memory, but it was also the most urgent, and rumors had a way of spreading. He saw the jaguars, monkeys, and hedgehogs mingling with the dozens of tropical birds, rodents, and reptiles. Even the insects were represented, buzzing and hopping about nervously. There would be no eating of one another here, for the island truce held sway whenever a meeting was called, though they did eye each other nervously even while chattering incessantly. The honking, beeping, cawing, squawking, chattering, cheetering, chittering, buzzing and bellowing was deafening in his ears.
Maui remembered when none the island creatures, himself included, would set foot near this place. They all were quite sure that dragons were terrible monsters who breathed fire and ate everything in sight. Now look at them, not so much a glancing at the cave down there.
Maui thought of the first time he came to the dragon’s cave, many years ago – when he was a young parrot, full of bravado in the face of danger, especially when he let the girls know what he was up to. He was warned to stay away, for there were rumors, unconfirmed, of a monster living in the cave… a dragon.
He was Maui the great hero then, venturing into the jaws of death to retrieve the island’s sweetest gumba berries. What a suck I was – anything for attention. Anything for a story. With the greatest of stealth, as quiet as an owl, he crept up on the gumba berry bush growing above the mouth of the cave. He remembered the pounding of his heart as each step brought him closer to violent death. He was ready to spring into the air, certain a horrid beast with gnashing fangs and fiery breath would launch from the darkness below and swallow him whole in one terrible bite. Yet he reached the forbidden fruit and only silence had emerged from the yawning cave. Then he snatched one berry off of the bush, and flew as if his feathers were on fire, back home with the prize.
A hero’s reception had awaited him when he returned, and he was the toast of the jungle. It was then he caught the eye of Olivia – beautiful Olivia. Anything for you Olivia… Maui sighed as sorrow pinched his heart. Anything for you…
Many, many years passed since his first great adventure, and long ago Maui began making regular stops at the bush above the cave to fill his stomach with gumba berries, for they were the best on the island. It did not take long for the parrot to be sure a dragon really did live in the cave, for there were usually handfuls of berries missing from the lowest branches of the bush, and very large footprints just outside the entrance. What kind of monster eats berries for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
Maui was also sure, when he told stories – which he tended to do even when he was alone –whatever was in the cave was listening. So he made his stories especially interesting and exciting, waxing as dramatic as a parrot could while simultaneously eating beak-fulls of berries.
He loved to tell stories, a habit he inherited from his grandbird, and his mother in turn. It seemed a natural thing, especially when there was an attentive audience. He was ever on the scout for new story material, so he often kept company with sea birds who had flown across the vast ocean surrounding their island, for the birds brought with them strange tales from distant lands.
When other creatures from the island got word of Maui's story telling they began to gather by the cave, for a good story was not something to be missed if one could help it. Gradually the gumba berry bush became a daily gathering place for howling monkeys, squawking parrots, chattering birds of all kinds, marmosets, hedgehogs, mice, bats, anteaters, and even the local jaguar cubs dropped in now and then; all came to hear a good story. It seemed they quite forgot about the dragon, hiding away in the lonely darkness.
Maui smiled in spite of himself, they would certainly remember the dragon today. "Hu-hummmmrrrumph!!" He cleared his throat, and instantly, the chatter quieted as the island creatures gave their attention.
Maui gazed around the small clearing, his sharp eyes arresting the nervous audience until not a murmur could be heard. "My sources have informed me,” he said, “that a Great Storm has turned our direction, and will strike our island by nightfall."
At this, the creatures burst into whirl of noise; the monkeys howled, the birds cheetered and chirped, the jaguar screamed, the mice and marmosets chittered, the bats whirled and spun, even the crickets were chirping wildly.
"Quiet! Quiet! Quiet please!" Maui squawked. “The Great Storm can make terrible damage, terrible, terrible.” The chatter subsided to a low murmur. If the creatures were nervous before, they bordered on panic now. He had to give them hope before they scattered in all directions. “We must be prepared. We must find shelter, or we shall be blown away with the wind. Blown away!"
"How can we all find shelter in such a short time?" The jaguar growled. "There are too many creatures on this side of the island to fit into the little caves and dens we know of." The other creatures buzzed and hummed in agitated agreement.
"Were dooooooomed!" a skinny, white striped monkey said.
"We're not 'doooooooomed'." Maui said with an almost perfect imitation of the monkey’s voice. Some of the other monkeys tittered in laughter. They never take anything seriously.
Maui held them with firm gaze until the clearing was once again silent. "I happen to know there is one cave that is large enough for all the creatures to shelter in."
"And where is that?" the tiny mama marmoset squeaked.
Maui paused and cleared his throat again. "Why, right here my friends, where the friendly dragon lives, of course."
Before the creatures could even burst into their furious, frightened protest - for indeed they were not about to set foot, paw or wing in any dark dragon's den - a roaring, wail erupted from the mouth of the cave. The creatures of the island, hearing this unearthly sound, fled in all directions, shouting about the dragon finally coming out to eat them.
Maui just stood shaking his head, and watched the pandemonium erupt around him. He should have expected as much, these creatures had spent nowhere near as much time around the dragon cave as himself, and only he knew the dragon was probably listening. What did surprise him was the way the dragon responded. He expected perhaps indignation, or a bit of peeved anger, but not a howl of terror. The more he learned of the dragon, the less he believed he really knew about dragons.
But there was a task before Maui, and like it or not, he needed to move ahead. He flew around to the dark cave entrance and landed on the ground beneath the hanging leaves of the gumba berry bush.
"Helloooooooo in there," Maui squawked, "Helloooooooo, hello, hello Mr. Dragon, Sir." He hopped and flew a little further into the entrance, but no answer came, so he stood for a moment while his eyes adjusted to the dim light, "May I come in for a visit?" He didn’t wait for an answer, just tucked his wings in, and tiptoed inside.
The walls and ceiling were rough, uneven black volcanic rock streaked with gray limestone and cracked by protruding roots, but the floor was fairly level, and to Maui’s amazement, was nearly hidden by colorful patterned rugs.
When his eyes took in the rest, his beak fell open; to his right was a tall wooden dresser with a square mirror on top. There were several ornately carved wooden shelves and chests, the shelves lined with shells, coconuts, shiny stones and even a few feathers. My feathers! On the opposite wall was a magnificent writing desk, all but bare, with a fancy high-backed chair tucked up to it. On the same side of the room, yet all the way in the back and flanked by two wooden bedstands was a large, carved bed covered in colorful blankets. Maui gave a start when he realized the bed was actually suspended off the floor and shaking as if alive. From underneath the bed two large shining eyes peeked eye out of the shadows to consider him.
“Hello, Mr. Dragon, Sir." Maui bowed with a sweep of his wings. "I am Maui the parrot, at your service, my service is yours."
He heard the dragon draw a raspy breath and the bed wobbled up a few inches higher. "H-h-hello, I’m…I'm... Y-you're so…small."
Small? He could see the dragon was terrified, the terror must have been clouding his brain, yet the bed stopped shaking. Small is good. "Why, thank you, you're so… big."
The dragon let out his breath and the bed wobbled lower. "Are-are you the one who t-tells all the s-stories?"
Maui fluffed his neck feathers and waved a colorful wing above his head. "Why yes, I am the teller of tales far and wide, near and far, here and there, there and near. I tell the stories of the wide world, and I tell 'em just like I hear 'em from the most reputable of sources, reputable, reputable." He tilted his head toward the dragon. "Will you come into the light and talk for a moment, sir, Mr. Dragon? Eh...what was your name again?"
" M-my name?”
“Yes, you have a name?” The dragon paused for a moment as if considering what Maui asked. Had no one ever asked his name before?
“I… uh… P-Paradigm, my name’s Paradigm." The dragon jerked and bounced his way out from under the bed, knocking over both bedstands in the process. Then he stood and took a few hesitant steps toward Maui. "What…uh… do you want to talk about, Mr. Maui?"
But Maui suddenly found himself speechless – quite an accomplishment for a parrot - as he beheld the dragon for the first time. He knew tales of dragons and how they could be wonderful friends or terrible enemies, with magical powers and many miraculous gifts. He was told they were brave and cunning and can bend nature to their will. He even suspected there was more than one dragon on this island, though this was unconfirmed. Yes, he heard much about dragons over the years, but this was the first one he had ever seen, and what a sight he was.
Paradigm, who towered over the bird, was as brilliantly colored as Maui himself, with bright green skin, as finely scaled as a snake's skin. His leathery wings, which folded and flapped silently as he moved, were deep blue like the ocean, and they shimmered and reflected rainbow colors when they caught the dim light. His belly and throat were canary yellow, scaled like a snake's, and right in the center of Paradigm's narrow, yellow chest was the faint, faded red impression of a heart shape about as large as a coconut. Snaking behind him was a long, tapering green tail ending in a distinct, purple tip in the shape of a large arrowhead.
Then Paradigm's head came into the light, and Maui could not suppress a smile. He had a wide oval face, with a long, flat nose and thick, black, caterpillar eyebrows wiggling over two large, round, watery, bright eyes that shone with their own inner light. With a thin, forked, red tongue hanging from one side of his mouth, and one long white tooth protruding from the other side, Paradigm looked anything but dangerous and ferocious.
From the sides of his green head hung two long, slender, floppy ears, which rose up to listen as Maui finally began to speak. "As you might have heard, Mr. Paradigm, sir, a Great Storm is approaching our island and the creatures in the forest are in great danger." Paradigm lifted an eyebrow. "Many creatures live in shallow dens or in the tops of trees, and they will surely perish if they are caught in this storm, so I, uh…we… would like to... would you be so kinds as to share your lovely, lovely cave with us until the storm has passed?"
Paradigm’s eyes widened and he began to tremble. "M-many creatures…in h-here? W-with me!? Oh I don't think-"
"Mr. Paradigm…" Maui’s gaze was intent and held the dragon’s eyes with a commanding sternness. Do I have the right dragon? The thought was ludicrous; this had to be the dragon they were talking about, it was to only dragon he knew of. "Mr. Paradigm, please consider the well being of so many others who will appreciate your kind help."
Paradigm reached for a wooden chair back, his legs wobbling as if ready to give way. "They're so dangerous. What if…what if-"
"I'm begging you Paradigm, sir dragon." Maui was insistent and the dragon’s knees began to shimmy like noodles. "The other creatures of the island will be perfect guests, you'll hardly notice them at all!" And before Paradigm could say another word, Maui turned and flew out of the cave with a rattle of feathers.
* * *
Paradigm tried to sit on the chair but missed and crashed down on the floor. So he just sat on the rug and rocked back and forth, shaking and moaning until all the worrying caught up with him and he fell into a deep sleep.
When Paradigm finally awoke he had only a vague memory of the parrot incident. “It… it was just a dream.” He assured himself. “A bad dream… terrible in fact.” But as he rose to his feet, he heard a loud commotion at his cave entrance.
"Helloooooo!" Came a musical voice. "May we enter your nice cave?"
Paradigm felt the shock of reality jolt his limbs and he dove for the darkness at the rear of the cave where he lay frozen behind his bed.
"Not home then?" The voice said. "In we go! Maui said the dragon invited us all. Come on everyone."
With not a little trepidation, the creatures of the island filed into Paradigm's cave. The leader who called out was a white striped monkey. Behind him were a dozen other monkeys of many colors and sizes. Following the monkeys came hundreds of mice and rats, chirping marmosets, waddling anteaters, spiky hedgehogs, tottering tortoises and lanky lizards. There was a huge family of small pig-snouted creatures squealing and honking, and flying in behind them came hundreds and hundreds of birds; red, blue, green, yellow, white, black- all shades and patterns and sizes- chirping, squawking, chittering, whistling and singing. The creatures kept coming and coming; an endless tide of living things of all shapes, colors, sounds and sizes. Soon, there were so many creatures in the little cave there was no place left to sit or stand or fly. Even Paradigm became a roost for birds on his head and tail, monkeys clinging to his shoulders and a family of tiny marmosets swinging from his long, pointed ears.
Needless to say, he was close to passing right out from terror, and it is to his credit he did not, not at least until the family of jaguars managed to push into the crowded cave. With one terrifying jaguar scream, every bird took to flight, all the monkeys howled, the parrots squawked angrily, and Paradigm, like a falling tree, came crashing to the floor, nearly squashing a slow moving anteater family.
When Paradigm awoke this time, all he could hear was the howling of wind and thrashing of trees, "Oh…what a terrible dream I'm having." He managed to pry open a big eye, and in the near darkness he could see the shining eyes of thousands of creatures of every shape and size.
"He's awake," a monkey tittered "he's awake."
Paradigm began to sit up. This bad dream just wouldn’t go away.
"Careful, Mr. Paradigm," a familiar voice said, "you have friends all around you who prefer not to be squashed." Paradigm heard wings flapping, and felt wind and feathers as Maui the parrot landed on his shoulder.
"This is… they’re all…it’s not…" Paradigm moaned shaking his head, he wasn’t dreaming "I-I just don't know…"
"Mr. Paradigm, just relax and breathe for a moment." Maui said. "Yes, breath is life, breathe, breathe, breathe. That's it!" Maui pointed toward the cave mouth with a wingtip. "Outside is a terrible Great Storm. Anyone left out there would surely not survive, not survive at all. These Creatures owe their lives to you, Mr. Paradigm, and to your warm generosity."
"Their… lives?” Paradigm looked around at all the blinking eyes. “They-they do?“
"Why yes, they do, and as a token of our gratitude, token, token, token," he parroted, "we managed to round up some of these." Paradigm looked to where Maui was pointing, and though it was dark, his dragon eyes could easily see the batch of gumba berries in a pile near his feet. He began to drool, and their sweet aroma was making him dizzy. “So many…” He looked at the other creatures around him, and none were paying even the slightest attention to the berries. How could they not?
His hunger broke the last bit of hesitation he was holding onto, and he began to devour the delicious, juicy berries one by one until they were gone. He had checked often to seen if any of the others cared to join him, but they all appeared to be distracted by something. Paradigm bumped his chest and burped, drawing a sidelong glance from Mamma Marmoset and giggles from the younger monkeys. Then he wiped purple juice off of his grinning face with the back of his hand and stretched.
He would have utterly relaxed and drifted to sleep, but lightning flashed with a crack of thunder and rain began to pour with a rattling din, drowning out the low conversations buzzing through the cave. The storm intensified as the hours crept by, and the wind soon became deafening, trees could be heard cracking and breaking, even the sound of the thundering surf grew louder and louder. Paradigm trembled, he was sure the waves were rising all the way up to the cave, and when the creatures huddled even closer together, he huddled with them. Then lightning crashed, splintering the air and blasting white light into their eyes. The jaguar's fangs flashed in the lightning and Paradigm’s heart skipped a beat. This was followed by more lightning and thunder so violent the earth was shaking and bits of the ceiling crumbled down onto the creatures' heads. Rain and water blew into the entrance prompting the anteaters, mice and monkeys to pack still further into the crowded cave.
Paradigm looked at the cowering creatures surrounding him. Their eyes were wild and many of them were trembling. They would not have survived. They…owe their lives to me?
After what seemed an eternity the storm passed; the winds quieted, the rain stopped, and the thunder echoed no more. From the entrance, the gray light of dawn could be seen, and the creatures inside began to stir.
"I believe… it’s over. Over, over." Maui fluttered to the cave mouth and peered outside with a thoughtful frown, then he turned to face the alert creatures who were crowding toward him. "The storm is passed! Three cheers for our hero, Mr. Paradigm the dragon."
The island creatures cheered and howled and chirped and beeped and squawked and cawed and honked and roared. The monkeys grabbed Paradigm by the hand and pulled him out of his cave and into the wide-open world, and the birds and bats and bugs flew around his head in joy. But as the creatures emerged from the cave they fell quiet, for all around them was great devastation, as barely a coconut tree was left standing. Where before there had been a dense, green leafy jungle, there now was open sky and fallen trees.
As quickly as they came, the creatures of the island left Paradigm's cave to find or rebuild their homes. Some would start from scratch, and some would find their dens unharmed, yet all the animals would remember the Great Storm and their savior, Paradigm the Dragon for many, many generations to come.