The Little Dragon’s Wings
Children's Story
Once upon a time there was a little dragon who lived in a tribe of dragons renowned for the beauty of their wings. However, the wings were more than beautiful: each dragon had, on the inside of her, or his, wings a ‘wing-print’ much like our human finger prints, but more magnificent by far. They were made of intricate, multi-coloured, iridescent patterns – each one distinctive and telling of the true character of that individual dragon. It was said that heaven was carpeted by a single carpet which combined all the patterns on all the wings of all the dragons that had ever lived. And the coming of age of a dragon was marked by the moment their wings first unfolded to their full spread and the young dragon took to the air in a breath-taking rite of passage, jumping courageously from the cliff edge over the blue, blue sea blindfolded, and soaring up into the crystal sky.
Our little dragon was different, however. When she was just a baby, she had a dreadful fright: one night while her mother was out hunting for food she was nearly devoured by a shakkan, or night spirit. The fear drove deep inside her and in the depths of her heart grew a great shadow - for she had never forgiven her mother for leaving her alone. In that very moment, a long-forgotten voice in her said “Because of this I will never make my mother proud by opening my wings and showing my true nature and beauty”. After some years, for dragons take 100 years to mature, the reason for the shadow was lost in the mists of time, but the shadow itself remained, placing a seal upon her heart, and binding her wings to her sides when other young dragons were beginning to show some of their colours – stretching and flexing their wings in readiness for their rite of passage.
To begin with, her parents were very protective of her – they treated her very gently, and shielded her from others’ judgments and criticisms. As she neared the age of transition, though, they started to get annoyed with her: she was bright and capable in so many ways, they began to suspect she was just stubborn and attention-seeking. The rites of passage of all her peers came and went, one after another, they jumped from the cliff top amidst the gasps and applause of their tribe and soared blind toward the sun, their wondrous patterned wings sparklingly reflected upon the mirror of the sea. And still the little dragon looked sulkily on, not herself understanding why she seemed unable to stretch her limbs and start to show her colours.
It was at that time that her great aunt came to stay. The old dragon was so ancient that all her colours had long faded. And yet there was an aura or haze around her that made the little dragon feel more comfortable than she did in anyone else’s presence. It was something about her great aunt’s smile – when the little dragon looked into the old dragon’s eyes, she saw something so luminous, so sparkling, so lovely that she had to smile. Her parents were delighted: it had been so long since the little dragon had last smiled that they had forgotten what her little face actually looked like when it wasn’t scowling. The little dragon felt irresistibly drawn to the old dragon, thinking her to possess some otherworldly power, and was quickly willing to do anything her great aunt asked of her.
“You do realise”, said the old aunt, “That what you think you see in me is really in you?” The little dragon was confused. She saw nothing in herself to celebrate – and she had failed at the most important test in a dragon’s life – to open her wings, show her colours, and fly. But the great aunt had, in fact, glimpsed the inside of the little dragon’s wings: for when the little dragon had met her, and felt charmed by her, and not judged, she had relaxed the muscles in her back and her shoulders, and a little of her wing-print had revealed itself – just long enough to be reflected in the great aunt’s eyes. It was this very thing that had made her smile. And as she had smiled, her wings had relaxed even further, without her even noticing. Urged on by this little victory, the great aunt asked the little dragon to go a-wandering with her. Their amble took them, by her design, to the top of the cliff from where young dragons leapt in their dramatic transition to adulthood. Under the spell of her great aunt’s loving gaze, the little dragon, after much protesting and refusal, finally agreed to jump from the cliff. The older dragon promised her that, if she fell, there was a dragon rescue troop ready to fish her out of the water. This of course was not strictly true. Well, not at all true. But in her haste to achieve her goal, the one thing the old dragon forgot to do was to blindfold the little dragon. The little dragon stood at the top of the cliff, gazing at the boundless blue ahead, which went unbroken all the way to the horizon. She momentarily closed her eyes to gain courage, and then leapt. She had long given up all hope of flying, so she fully expected to drop down into the water. But her wings, loosened by the love of her great aunt, and by her own smile, spontaneously opened, and the anticipated ‘splash’ did not occur. Astonished, she opened her eyes, and – looking down – saw the most beautiful sight she had ever seen: the fully open wings of a fully grown dragon flying upside down below her. Never having seen herself in a mirror before, she instantly fell in love and dove down to meet this magnificent creature. It was then that her great aunt, watching so proudly from the cliff, realised her mistake and started to shout to her to come back. But it was too late. The little dragon had plunged head first into the depths of the icy sea in pursuit of the object of her love.
The Lord of the sea was not pleased when the old dragon descended the depths after her great niece, to plead for him not to take her life. “Old dragon” said he, “this is my domain and the sky and land are yours – do you begrudge me my due?”. The great aunt, worried that the little dragon was losing consciousness fast, for she did not know how to survive under water, bowed low, and said “I have no defense, my Lord, but love. I love this little dragon, and it is due to my error – and her own yearning for love – that she fell below the waves. Please take my life instead. It has already served its purpose. Let her live, I beg you. I have nothing to give you in return but my life”. The Lord of the sea was moved by this – he had always thought dragons hideous and troublesome beasts, upon whom the subtleties and ways of the underwater world were lost. He had an agreement with them that he would supply them with shallow water fish, in return for which he had a right to the body of any dragon who dared to plum his depths. But now she spoke of selfless love without pretence, defence or excuses. She spoke of the longing of the young dragon for union with her beloved. His heart melted and he prepared to bid his creatures to raise up the little dragon to the surface where she might breathe. The old dragon was so grateful she wept, and said “Now I can die happy”. But the Lord of the sea said “I cannot take your life in such circumstances. You are free to go. But there is one condition”. Astonished, the old dragon looked upon his terrible face for his judgment: “Little dragon,” he said rousing the half-conscious beast with the tremendous boom of his commanding voice, “you must go forth from this place and spread your wings far and wide over the earth and teach only love. For the love you have found and which draws you on is the love buried deep within you. That is the true treasure of the deep that reveals your divine nature, and reflects the divine in others. Go now and never again return to my kingdom until you are ready to lay down your scales and your wings forever”.