A red-haired boy ran as fast as he could down the street, following the knights as they returned from battle. Andy was a stable boy and needed to take care of the knights’ horses. They would be tired and maybe hurt, after returning from whatever adventure the knights had just been on. Andy loved listening to the knights as they spoke to one another at the stable.
As Andy helped take the saddles, stirrups, and armor off of the horses, he eagerly listened to Sir George speak to Sir Henry. “My goodness! What a terrible trip that was! I had no idea it would be that hard. I’m so sad that brave Sir James is dead. We should have listened to that wise old man that said he knew how to rescue the princess.”
The princess! Andy’s ears burned with even more curiosity as he tried not to stare at the knights. The princess had been kidnapped the week before, and the knights had been sent out to find her and bring her back. The beautiful princess was the pride and joy of her father, the king. She was the only child of the king and queen, and she was heir to the throne of the kingdom. Whoever married her would be the next king of the land, and her father would surely give a huge reward to anyone who was able to save her. Andy had seen her once before, in a parade. She was indeed very beautiful, and Andy wondered how wonderful it could be to rescue her, perhaps winning her heart and becoming her husband and the future king.
The two knights didn’t notice the red-headed stable boy as they continued their discussion. Sir Henry was talking. “Yes, we should have listened to the old man. Once we get rested and resupplied, we should go back and find him. Where did we meet him again?”
“We met him in Blackford,” Sir George replied.
“Right, right. He was in the little house by the church. What a strange, old man.”
Andy wasn’t able to hear any more of the conversation as the knights walked away to the barracks, where they would attend to their wounds and prepare to go out again. Still, he didn’t need to hear another word. He had heard enough and had already made up his mind. He would go find the old man and then rescue the princess!
As soon as he could, Andy raced home. He threw some food and a blanket in his bag, kissed his mother goodbye, and headed out for the great city to Blackford. He had asked for directions from the gatekeeper, who told him to follow the road south along the coast until he reached a fork in the road. Then he was to turn to the left and continue until he came to an intersection, where he was to turn right. Andy thanked the gatekeeper and headed north on the main road. The gatekeeper saw him making that mistake and told him to go the other way, so he did. After a long day of walking and taking a few wrong turns, Andy finally made it to Blackford.
He asked around about the old man, and sure enough, the old man was in the little house by the church. He wasn’t home, though, so Andy leaned against the house, snacked on his food, and soon fell asleep, exhausted from his journey.
He woke up with a start. The old man was standing in front of him, poking him with a cane. It was morning. “Why are you here, son?” the old man asked.
“I want to find and rescue the princess,” Andrew declared boldly.
“Well, rescuing the princess is no easy task. A party of knights tried a few days ago but didn’t want to hear my advice. If they had let me tell them, they would have known how to rescue that fair maiden.”
“How can I save her?” the ambitious red-haired boy spoke.
“Well, first you have to cross the river, a difficult task in itself. To do so, you need to build a raft, and you must only cross the river at Dead Man’s Bend, which is ten miles to the south, otherwise, the raging current will tear your raft apart. After you’ve crossed the river, you must climb up a steep hill to the west. When you do, go straight up. Don’t go to the side, even though it looks easier. At the top of the hill is a great plateau that you must cross to get to the princess, but it’s a long journey, so take a long drink from the spring at the top of the hill. You must then head across the plateau toward the big mountain to the west. Before you reach the mountain, there will be a valley—at the bottom there is a cave. The princess is inside the cave, but the cave is guarded by a fierce dragon. Don’t worry, though, it is a very sleepy dragon and will stay asleep as long as you sing lullaby—’Twinkle twinkle little star’—as loud as you can. As you walk by, don’t look directly at it, because it can tell when someone is watching it.”
“Is that all?” Andy asked.
“Is that all?!” the old man replied. “Well, I guess so, but these are very important instructions, and you must follow all of them to reach the princess. I’m a little worried about you, son. Here, let me write these down for you. Before you cross the river, make sure you memorize these instructions, just in case you lose the paper on your journey.”
When the old man had given Andy the paper, the boy dashed off towards the river and headed south. As he went, he read the directions several times, trying to commit it to memory. But memorizing was hard and soon he took a break from trying to remember the instructions. He walked on and on and on for miles, but he still had not reached Dead Man’s Bend. His legs were tired. He stopped to rest and noticed something—the river flowed towards the south. “It would be a lot easier,” Andy thought, “for me to build the raft here and just float down the river to the south until I reach Dean Man’s Bend. Then I can cross. The water looks peaceful enough here by the shore. I’ll just stay near the bank of the river until I reach the bend.” So that is what he did.
By the time Andy had built his raft, it was already getting a little late in the day. Nevertheless, Andy set off in the river to float downstream. He had built a sturdy raft and had a long pole to guide it by. Everything was going smoothly as he casually floated down the river, staying very close to the shore for safety. Everything went fine until he came to a big tree trunk that had fallen into the river long ago. To get around it, Andy had to move farther away from the river bank. The farther he got from the bank, the swifter the river became. Soon, he was unable to control his movement with his pole. The river took over his trip downstream. The water was getting more and more violent and it was all Andy could do to cling onto the raft for dear life. Even as he was doing this, waves washed over him and the boat, soaking him and his clothes and his bag and his things. Andy couldn’t tell how long he struggled on the raft. Each second felt like a hundred years. Very soon, though, Andy’s raft hit a big rock and was dashed to pieces. Andy was cast into the river and struggled to stay afloat. He couldn’t struggle forever, though, and eventually, everything went black.
Andy woke up to the sound of the raging river. He had washed up on the rivers’ edge and had been unconscious for who knows how long. As he slowly stood up, he tried to figure out where he was. As he looked around, he was delighted to discover that he had made it to the other side of the river. Even better than that, as he looked at the river, it seemed that he was at Dead Man’s Bend! He turned around. There was the steep hill he had to climb! He was exactly where he needed to be!
“Wow, that was lucky,” Andy thought. He had indeed made it across the river alive and was at the right spot, but all his things were soaked. His food was soggy and the directions the old man had written down were all smudged and hard to read. Andy went carefully over the directions, trying to remember the parts that he couldn’t read. Then, turning to the west, he confidently continued on his journey.
When he came to the hill, Andy started going straight up, just as the old man had said. But it was very hard, and he tired quickly. The way to the side looked so much easier and there was a clear path that plenty of other people had taken before, so he went that way. Several hours later, he made it to the top of the hill. He was tired, and it was late, but before he stopped to sleep for the night, he looked down the steep hill. From his position at the top of the hill, he could see that the path straight up was clearly the better way to go. Sure, it was harder, but he would have made it up the hill much sooner. “Oh, well,” the boy thought. “At least I made it up here. I’ve got a big day ahead of me tomorrow, rescuing the princess and all. I better get my beauty sleep.” Exhausted and tired, after he drank from a nearby spring and tried to eat his food, he went to sleep.
In the morning, he looked at and tried to remember the directions again. He went over to the spring to get a nice long drink before his journey. “Ew! Yuck! This water is disgusting!” Andy exclaimed. The water did not taste as good as it had the night before after he was exhausted from his ordeal the day before. As every hiker knows, just about any cold drink can taste good after a long hike. Andy tried to drink the water, but it was just so gross. After a few sips, he decided that was enough. He gazed off into the western horizon and saw the distant mountain showing him which way to head.
Off he went, marching across the great open plateau. The morning was cool, the birds were chirping, and the princess was on the boy’s mind. He dreamed of the look on the maiden’s face as he strode bravely and handsomely into the cave and revealed himself as her rescuer. He dreamed of the reception he would receive as he returned triumphantly into the capital city with the princess. He dreamed of the great reward the king would give to him, perhaps making him a knight or letting him marry the princess—or both! His dreams trailed off after a while, as the hot noonday sun beat down on him. He walked on in the heat of the afternoon and grew tired quickly. When the day was hot, he was sweating profusely, but soon he was sweating less and less. He just didn’t have as much moisture in his body to sweat anymore. Nevertheless, he plodded on, one foot in front of the other, marching flatly across the plateau, wanting to win his prize—the princess.
He wasn’t even thinking about the steps he was taking when he suddenly took a step downward. A step down? He now became aware of his surroundings. He looked. There before him lay the valley. He strained his eyes and looked at the valley’s bottom, but he could not see the cave—or the dragon. He did notice, however, a stream at the bottom of the valley. But it was getting late. There were only a few more hours of daylight. Should he continue into this unknown valley, with a dragon somewhere in it? Or should he rest where he was and wait for morning. As he considered his predicament, all he could think about was nice, cold water. So, he mustered the little bit of energy he had left and continued, stumbling down into the valley.
After an hour, he had made it to the bottom and drank deeply from the stream at its base. When he had quenched his deep thirst, he looked around. Down the valley, about a half-mile away, was the cave. It was a huge cave, invisible from above the valley, but obvious from within it. Andy looked carefully and thought he could make out the massive hulk of the dragon’s body at the mouth of the cave. Mustering all his courage and what little strength he had left, he walked toward the cave.
As he got closer, he could clearly see the dragon in the evening light. The dragon was sleeping! The dragon’s sides went up and down as it took the deep breaths of deep, sound sleep. Little bits of smoke puffed out of its nostrils with each breath. Andy was so excited. He could just sneak past the dragon while it was sleeping! But something stopped him. He remembered that the old man had told him something about the dragon. Something about sleeping and singing and— something else. Andy took out the instructions the old man had written down. He tried to read them, but the washed away words and the dim light made reading difficult. He suddenly had a flash of memory, though, and remembered that the old man had said to sing “Twinkle, twinkle, little star” as loud as he could as he went by the dragon, so the dragon would sleep, and not to look at the dragon for some reason or another.
But in Andy’s present situation, those instructions didn’t seem to make sense. The dragon was already asleep, so why would you need to sing him a lullaby? And who in their right mind would not look at a dragon, especially if it were sleeping? How would you know if it would wake up or not? And what did some old man who lived next to the church in Blackford know about dragons anyway? Maybe Andy remembered the instructions wrong. Andy could not understand how those silly directions would apply in this situation. It just didn’t make sense. He put the directions back in his bag and set it aside.
Andy looked at the cave. Somewhere in that cave was his lovely princess, just waiting to be rescued. That thought gave him courage and confidence. He was the man to rescue the damsel. He could do it. He knew it. He was a good brave guy, and his time had come. So, very quietly, Andy crawled out from his hiding place about a hundred yards from the cave’s mouth. He snuck forward, careful not to make any sound over the shifting pebbles. A smile crept across his face. He was doing it. He glanced over to the dragon. Its sides were still going up and down and little puffs of smoke were coming from its snout. His eyes shot back to the log across which he was walking. It was tough to keep his balance. When he regained his balance, he looked back at the place the dragon was sleeping.
It wasn’t asleep anymore. The dragon’s eyes were open, and the dragon was looking right back at him. Needless to say, Andy did not rescue the princess. In fact, no one ever heard from Andy the red-haired stable-boy again. When the knights came the next day, singing “Twinkle, twinkle, little star,” they found and rescued the princess. They also found a bag with some moldy food and some directions that had been smeared by water—unheeded wisdom that had been tossed aside and ignored.