"Love is sharing your popcorn."

Charles Schulz

Preview audio:

storyj.mp/adbt9s2j9mcg

For years the people in a land called Sunnylea have lived in fear of a fire-breathing dragon. While nobody has ever seen the dragon, their imaginations have run wild with speculation. It is believed that that he is a gigantic beast with long, pointy teeth, scaly skin, and big powerful wings. But was the dragon real or just a legend? Nobody was quite sure.

All the kids in town would share stories about how scary and mean the dragon was. It would keep the little ones up at night.

But not Laila. She wasn't afraid of some big, bad dragon. She was training to become a knight so she could protect her town. As always, Laila was joined by her trusty steed, or in this case a pup named Bernie. "Bring on the dragon!" Laila bravely said.

The tales about a dragon were just that, tales. Life was pretty quiet in the town of Sunnylea. Their Annual Corn-Fest was coming up. The entire town would get together to sing, dance, and enjoy each other's company.

The revelers songs and cheers were so loud that they could be heard for miles. Snoring away in his lair was a dragon, awoken by all of the commotion. He opened one eye and then the other before lumbering through the cornfields to see what was going on.

He glared through the cornstalks and saw the villagers having a merry time. "It's the dragon! Run everybody!" the Mayor yelled as everybody looked to hide. All except for Laila. This was the moment she had been waiting for.

Unafraid of the fire-breathing dragon, Laila leapt into action. Armed with her helmet, cardboard shield, and wooden sword, it was time for her to confront the dragon.

"Over here lizard lips!" Laila yelled. The dragon brought his giant head close to Laila before snorting smoke from his nostrils. "Are you ready Bernie?" she called out to her pup. "Bernie?" But the dog had ran off to find a safe spot to hide.

The dragon looked menacingly at Laila and as though he was going to breath fire all over her or even have her for dinner. She slowly lifted her shield to protect herself when suddenly the dragon stopped in his tracks. Laila peeked over her shield only to quite the surprising sight.

The fearsome dragon that had given the people of Sunnylea nightmares for years wasn't so scary after all. Rather than ducking flames, Laila found herself using her shield to block the big tears that were flowing from the dragon's eyes.

"I'm not a mean dragon. I just want to be friends with the people in your town. But they're all afraid of me. I wish they would get to know me" the dragon said as he started crying harder. He blew his nose shaking the ground beneath them. "There, there. It's okay. I'm not afraid. I think you're very nice. I would like be your friend, uhhh....." "Orville. My name is Orville."

"I'll introduce you to all of the townsfolk. They need to know what a sweet dragon you really are. I just don't know if they'll forgive you for burning down the old castle. A lot of people were really upset about that."

“Castle? What castle? Do you mean the one that was hit by a bolt of lightning during that terrible storm? I didn't do that. I would never burn down such a lovely building."

“You're a good friend Laila but how am I going to convince the people of Sunnylea that I'm not a monster?" Laila looked around at all of the cornfields that surrounded them. "Hmmm. I think I have a plan that will make you very popular with everybody. You can control your fire-breathing right?" "Absolutely! It's one of my many talents."