Please Feed the Dragon
8 pages · 5 min · ages 4+
Oh, hello! It's me, Crumb. Do you remember Ember? She's awake today. Listen. Can you hear that? Rrrrumble. That's Ember's tummy. Ember is hungry. And when a dragon is hungry, she gets grumpy. Very grumpy. Look at her nose. A little puff of smoke. Uh-oh. We have to find her breakfast, quickly. Will you help me? Rub your tummy if you'll help. Good!
Let's look in the kitchen. What's in this pot? Soup! Dragons like soup, don't they? Here you are, Ember. Sniff, sniff. Oh. She doesn't want soup. Rrrrrumble. Look, a smoke ring. A big one. Right over my head. Hmm. What else could she eat?
Apples! There's a whole barrel of apples. Red and shiny. Here you are, Ember, the biggest one. Crunch? No crunch. She's pushing it away. Rrrrrrrumble! Oh no, an even BIGGER smoke ring. It's so big I can jump through it. Look. Boing! Did you see? Now, where are the bananas? Ember loves bananas. Can you see any bananas? Point if you see them!
No bananas on the shelf. No bananas in the cupboard. No bananas under the table. Where did all the bananas go? Oh. Oh dear. I've just remembered something. Can I tell you a secret? Come closer. Last night, when everybody was asleep, I was a teeny bit hungry. And I ate… all of the bananas. Look. The peels are in my helmet.
Rrrrrrrrrrumble! Ember turned round. She saw the peels. Her eyes went big. Her smoke went BIG. What should I do? I think… I think I should say sorry. That's the brave thing, isn't it? Will you say it with me? “Sorry, Ember.” Ember looked at me for a long time. Then she let out a very long, very sad dragon sigh. Phhhhhh. No bananas anywhere.
Wait. Wait a minute! I know where bananas come from. They come from the banana tree, in the castle garden! Quick, come with me. Here it is. Look how tall it is. And look, right at the top, a big bunch of yellow bananas. But they're so high up. I'm too small. Ember's arms are too short. There's only one way. We need you.
Put your hands up high, like you're holding the tree. Now shake! Shake, shake, shake! A bit harder! SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE! It's wobbling! The leaves are wobbling! The bananas are wobbling! One more big shake. Ready? SHAAAAKE!
Down came the bananas. The whole bunch. Right on Ember's head. Boing! Ember's grumpy face went away. Her smile came back. She ate one banana. Two bananas. Three bananas. Then she stopped. She looked at me. And she held out one banana. “Sharing,” said Ember. Thank you for helping. You were brilliant. Now, can you rub your tummy? Mine's full. And so is Ember's.