Chapter 1: The Kingdom of Kanberra
Once
upon a time there were two princesses, Alina and Adelia. They lived
in a kingdom far, far away: the Kingdom of Kanberra. The name sounds
the same as that of a city in our real world, where there are also
two sisters called Alina and Adelia. But this is only a coincidence,
and this fairy tale is about a different world and a different Alina
and a different Adelia.
Alina
and Adelia lived in the Kingdom of Kanberra with their parents: King
Hesam and Queen Maria. King Hesam was loved by everyone. Wherever he
went, he made friends, and he made people laugh. He was also very
smart, and was able to make chariots so good that people from the
whole wide world travelled to the Kingdom of Kanberra to buy a
chariot made by King Hesam. Queen Maria was smart and beautiful. She
read a lot of books, and knew the answer to almost every question.
Only Alina and Adelia were sometimes able to come up with questions
that were so difficult that even Queen Maria didn’t know the
answer. Alina and Adelia were kind, smart, and beautiful. They spoke
many languages, and loved to go on adventures. They travelled far and
wide, and because they spoke almost every language on earth, they
could travel to far-away countries and speak with the people who
lived there and make friends with them. This way, they had many
friends from different countries.
Sometimes,
they would visit their aunt Xenia and uncle Ondra in the far-away
country of Jermany. In Jermany, there were many green parks,
playgrounds, and fast, cold rivers. In Jermany there were also very
high mountains, so that even during the summer there would sometimes
still be snow on the top. Xenia and Ondra loved climbing these
mountains and enjoying the view from the top. They also loved
travelling, and were especially happy if they could visit Alina and
Adelia in the Kingdom of Kanberra.
With
a wise and kind royal family, the Kingdom of Kanberra was a very nice
country to live. People were happy and smart. It was mostly sunny,
and bad weather was rare. With the sunny weather, the people of the
Kingdom of Kanberra loved nothing more than to go outside for walks
and play with each other. During the holidays, the royal family would
visit their grandmother, Babushka Lena, and their grandfather, Opa
Gerd. Lena and Gerd loved Alina and Adelia a lot, and baked a lot of
pancakes: the favourite food of Alina and Adelia.
Chapter
2: Disaster
Everyone
in the Kingdom of Kanberra was happy, until something terrible
happened: A dragon came! At first, the dragon was invisible. It could
breathe invisible fire that did not burn people. Instead, this
invisible fire was poisonous, and people who the dragon breathed on
sometimes became sick. At first, nobody knew why people were becoming
sick, but then the dragon started becoming visible. It was ugly: its
body was large and muddy brown, and it had a wide, big jaw with long
fangs and slime drooling out of it. Its eyes were red. It had short
hands and legs, but on each of its claws were long, sharp nails. The
dragon’s name was Corona.
At
first, nobody knew what to do. Lady Alma and Jaroslava, a kind witch
and the mother of Uncle Ondra, invented a potion that could cure
those who had been poisoned by the fire of Dragon Corona, but there
was not enough of this potion to cure everyone who was sick. People
became scared, and stopped going out, because they were afraid that
they would meet Dragon Corona. Because the people of the Kingdom of
Kanberra loved going for walks and playing with each other more than
anything else in the world, they became very sad. The people were
scared that Dragon Corona would eat all of the chocolate in the
Kingdom of Kanberra, so they all went to the shop and bought as much
chocolate as they could carry. The shops were soon out of chocolate,
and those who were too late had to go home empty-handed and couldn’t
eat chocolate for months.
Dragon
Corona was terrorising not only the Kingdom of Kanberra, but also
other countries. People stopped travelling, and Xenia and Ondra could
not leave Jermany to visit the kind witch Jaroslava (Ondra’s mum),
and they could not go to the Kingdom of Kanberra to play with Alina
and Adelia. King Hesam could not sell his chariots, because nobody
could come from far-away countries to buy them anymore. Also Alina
and Adelia couldn’t travel. They stayed at home, read books, and
played on their musical instruments. They were happy like this for a
while, but they could not got outside and meet their friends, and
soon they became sad.
“Things
can’t go on like this”, said King Hesam when he saw how sad his
beloved daughters were. “We have to do something! Maybe Lena and
Gerd will know what to do.”
Gerd
and Lena had a magical power: mathematics. With mathematics, they
could make calculations that could help them to understand the world,
and that could solve problems.
Chapter
3: The journey to Armidayl
The
royal family prepared for the trip to Armidayl, the city where Lena
and Gerd lived. It was far away, and the royal family had to travel
for the whole day. It was a dangerous trip, as Dragon Corona could
appear at any time! They took the best chariot that King Hesam had
ever made, and chose the best three horses to pull it: Mid,
Moonlight, and Midnight. They left early in the morning, before the
sun had risen. Mid, Moonlight and Midnight were going as fast as they
could to make sure that the royal family would arrive safely. Alina
and Adelia were looking out of the window, and counting how many
kangaroos they saw.
“I’ve
counted 15 kangaroos”, said Alina to Adelia.
“I’ve
counted 17!” Adelia said proudly. “And there’s a very big
kangaroo there, in the distance!”
Alina,
Adelia, and Queen Maria squinted to see the very big kangaroo in the
distance, where Adelia was pointing (King Hesam had to look on the
road, because he was driving the chariot). “Wait a minute”, said
Queen Maria. “That’s not a kangaroo…!”
“It’s
Dragon Corona!!!”, screamed Alina and Adelia. Now, Mid, Moonlight
and Midnight had to run for their lives. The dragon was fast, but the
horses were faster. The dragon was persistent. Always, when the royal
family thought that they had lost it, Alina and Adelia looked back,
and saw its ugly jaw behind them. Luckily, it was too much out of
breath to breathe its toxic fire. It was the longest trip of their
lives, but before the sun set, the chariot turned into the driveway
of Lena and Gerd, and was soon safe behind the gates to their castle.
Lena
and Gerd were happy to see Alina, Adelia, Queen Maria, and King
Hesam. First of all, they made a large plate full of pancakes, and
Alina and Adelia ate until their bellies almost hurt. Then, they went
to bed, and King Hesam, Queen Maria, and Lena and Gerd started a very
serious conversation.
“We’ve
run some calculations”, said Lena, “and we’ve drawn some
conclusions.”
“Things
can’t go on like this!”, continued Gerd. “We have to do
something!”
“Dragon
Corona is very dangerous”, explained Lena, “it makes people sick,
and because they can’t go outside and travel, they can’t see
their families!”
“It’s
very problematic”, added Gerd. “But we have stayed up all night
to come up with a solution, and we have thought of something!”
“That’s
a relief!” King Hesam wiped the sweat off his forehead. “What is
it?”
“Well,
after careful consideration we have come to the conclusion that there
is only one way.” Gerd took a long sip of his potion, mixed for him
by Sir Johnny.
“Our
problem here is the dragon. And in all fairy-tales, when there is a
problem with a dragon, the solution is to send a knight who will
defeat it!”, explained Lena.
“And
there is only one knight who can live up to the challenge”, said
Gerd. “Sir Johnny!”
Lena,
Gerd, Queen Maria, and King Hesam looked towards the door. They heard
heavy footsteps approaching. Emerging slowly from the shadows, they
first saw two metal shoes, then leather trousers, then a chainmail,
and then the head of Sir Johnny, looking serious, and holding his
heavy helmet under one arm and his sword in the other.
“I
heard my name”, muttered Sir Johnny. “Is there a quest?”
“Yes”,
said King Hesam. “We have to send you on a dangerous quest to kill
Dragon Corona.”
It
was decided that Sir Johnny would leave the next morning, before
sunrise, to meet Dragon Corona and to defeat it.
Chapter
4: The battle
The
next day, Sir Johnny had a big breakfast, put on his heaviest armour,
and took his strong, fast, and loyal horse, Annabelle, to meet his
enemy. He rode for seven days and seven nights through fields and
bushland, through snowy mountains and sandy beaches, in the scorching
heat, under heavy rain, and even under hailstorms, until he found
Dragon Corona’s lair. The lair stunk as much as the dragon did, and
Sir Johnny was very happy that he had a magical facemask against its
toxic fumes – a present from his girlfriend, Lady Alma.
It
was the morning of the eighth day since Sir Johnny had departed from
Armidayl. Dragon Corona was still waking up from its dreamless sleep.
It yawned, showing its ugly, yellow fangs. Then it opened its eye,
and saw Sir Johnny, standing right before it.
“What
do you want?” Dragon Corona yawned.
“You’re
terrorising the whole world”, said Sir Johnny. “You make people
sick, and you make them sad and scared because they can’t go
outside and they can’t travel!”
The
dragon laughed. “And what do you want
to do about it?”
“I
will kill you if you don’t stop!”, screamed Sir Johnny, and
raised his sword. Dragon Corona understood that Sir Johnny was a
serious threat, and stretched before launching an attack. It had a
long, sharp tail, dripping with stinky mud. It flung its tail at Sir
Johnny, but Sir Johnny was quick and he jumped to the side just in
time to avoid being impaled by the tail. He swung his sword and hit
the dragon straight across the tail, but the skin was thick and the
sword made only a little scratch. The dragon turned around, and
showed his big, dangerous fangs to Sir Johnny. He breathed his
poisonous fire, but Sir Johnny had his magical facemask, and though
his eyes started tearing, the poison did not affect him.
“Why
are you doing this?”, yelled Sir Johnny. “Why do you enjoy
torturing people so much?”
The
dragon only laughed and launched its next attack. It raised its claws
with the long, yellow-brown nails. Sir Johnny was quick and managed
not only to escape the hit, but even cut off one of its fingers. The
dragon screamed in pain. It stepped back, towards the biggest puddle
of mud in his lair, and splashed the toxic mud on Sir Johnny. Sir
Johnny whipped out another present from Lady Alma: A can of
disinfectant spray. The spray met the splash from the puddle and
saved Sir Johnny from becoming covered in stinky, sticky goo. Sir
Johnny charged: Annabelle galloped towards the dragon’s body, and
Sir Johnny struck a blow towards the place where its heart should be.
Dragon
Corona let out a screech of pain and horror, so loud and terrible
that Sir Johnny had to let go of his sword and cover his ears.
“It’s
over now!” Sir Johnny thought. He looked towards Dragon Corona’s
face, expecting to see it immobile. To his surprise, Dragon Corona
blinked!
“What
the…” muttered Sir Johnny, and quickly grabbed on to his sword
again. Dragon Corona started laughing: loud, deep, laughter, and Sir
Johnny had never heard a more disgusting sound before.
“Did
you think you could kill me so easily?”, laughed Dragon Corona.
“You can’t defeat me by stabbing me in the heart, I’m
heartless! Did you really think I was just another fairy tale dragon
that could be simply killed by a knight?”
“Well,
yes”, replied Sir Johnny, confused, “that’s why I’m here!”
Dragon
Corona continued laughing. “I’m not a normal dragon!” it said.
“If I was, I’d have eaten you a long time ago. No, I’m a new
kind of dragon, you’ve never seen anything like me before!”
Sir
Johnny still didn’t understand. “You mean, you don’t eat
knights, like all the other dragons do?”
“No,
silly!” laughed the dragon. “I don’t eat humans! I feed off
their fear and sadness!”
“Aha!”,
shouted Sir Johnny.
Dragon
Corona stopped laughing. “Oh no, I’ve said too much!”, it
whispered. But Sir Johnny already had the information he needed. He
spurred Annabelle to go as fast as she could, and by the time Dragon
Corona realised that Sir Johnny had escaped he was already too far
for the dragon to catch him.
Chapter
5: The new plan
Sir
Johnny and Annabelle galloped for another seven days and seven nights
until they reached Armidayl again. King Hesam, Queen Maria, Alina,
Adelia, Lena, Gerd, and Lady Alma were already waiting impatiently.
Alina and Adelia could hardly sleep: they spent all of their time
looking out of the window, waiting for Sir Johnny’s return. When
they saw him, on the morning of his eighth day of travel, riding
towards the castle, with a bright red sunrise behind him, they opened
the gates, and the whole family came to greet him, blissful that he
had come back sound and safe.
“You
stink!”, laughed Alina and Adelia as they hugged him.
“Did
you succeed in your mission?” King Hesam asked solemnly.
“Let
me take a bath first”, said Sir Johnny, “and get on some clean
clothes!”
An
hour later, the whole family was sitting around a big, oval table in
the dining room, and eating pancakes and drinking hot chocolate.
“I
have failed to kill Dragon Corona”, said Sir Johnny, his head
hanging low. “But I have gathered some new information.”
“What
is it? What did you find out?” Queen Maria asked impatiently.
“I
found out… that Dragon Corona cannot be killed by a knight.”
Everyone
gasped. Then, there was a shocked silence.
“What
do we do now?”, asked Lady Alma.
“Well,
I did find out something useful”, replied Johnny. “The dragon let
down its guard, and told me its deepest, darkest secret.”
“Which
is…?”, promoted Lena.
“It
doesn’t feed off knights. It feeds off peoples’ feelings of fear
and sadness.”
“What
does that mean?”, asked Alina.
“I
know!”, piped Adelia, who was the youngest, but often had good
ideas. “Let’s ask Aunt Xenia! She’s a psychologist, she knows a
lot about feelings!”
In
Jermany, where Xenia and Ondra lived, it was night when it was day in
the Kingdom of Kanberra, and it was day when it was night in the
Kingdom of Kanberra. The only chance to call Xenia was in the
evening, when it was morning in Jermany, or in the morning, when it
was evening in Jermany. As it was already almost midday in Armidayl,
they needed to wait until the evening to call Xenia and Ondra.
“Nice
to see you!”, beamed Xenia and Ondra when they answered the call
from the royal family, Lena, Gerd, Sir Johnny and Lady Alma. They
quickly stopped smiling when they heard about Sir Johnny’s
adventure, and his information that Dragon Corona cannot be killed by
a knight.
“Does
that mean we will never be able to travel and visit you again?”,
Xenia asked, sadly.
“There
is a way”, explained Alina. “But we need your help.”
“The
dragon feeds off peoples’ fear and sadness”, continued Adelia.
“Do you know what we can do to stop it?”
Xenia
thought for a long time. “People are scared, because they are
afraid that they will be hit by Dragon Corona’s poisonous fire and
get sick. They stay indoors because they are scared. And they are sad
because they have to stay indoors and can’t see their friends and
family.”
“It’s
a closed loop: We can’t kill the dragon because everyone is scared
of it, and everyone is scared of it because it’s alive and
dangerous”, said Ondra.
“But
if we break this loop…” Queen Maria said, scratching her chin in
contemplation.
“I
know!” Alina and Adelia shouted at the same time.
“People
are sad because they can’t see their family and friends. But now,
we can see Xenia and Ondra through the computer!”, explained Alina.
“If people call each other, then they can still talk, tell each
other jokes, and laugh, and they won’t be sad anymore!”
“And
if people talk on each other via phone or computer, they will know
that they are not alone, and that their friends and family will help
them if they get sick, so they won’t be scared anymore!”,
continued Adelia.
Now
it was Ondra’s turn. He knew how to build robots, and he made a
mailman-robot, who went from door to door, and delivered a letter to
everybody. Each letter said:
“We
don’t know each other, but we believe that, in these hard times, it
is very important that everyone helps each other. Please stay inside:
Dragon Corona’s poison is very dangerous, and we don’t want you
to get sick. But please use your phones and computers to call your
friends, family and neighbours. Even if you haven’t spoken to them
for a long time. Call them, tell them a joke, and ask them if they
need any help.”
You
should have seen the look of happy surprise on everyone’s faces, as
they got up in the morning, opened their mailboxes, and found these
letters!
“I
always forget to call my grandmother”, one person said. “I should
really check how she’s doing!”
“I
haven’t talked to my old friend for years”, said this person’s
neighbour as they read their letter. “I’ll call her and tell her
my favourite joke!”
Everyone
started receiving calls.
“Even
though I haven’t talked to my cousin for years, she still
remembered to call me!”, yet another person said, with tears of joy
in her eyes.
“I
forgot how funny my aunty is!”, said yet another person.
People
still couldn’t go out, but they phoned, they talked, they laughed,
and they no longer felt alone and scared.
Dragon
Corona, in its lair, felt that something was wrong. “I feel somehow
weak”, it muttered. “And… I can’t breathe! And… I’m
fading!!!” Indeed, the brown, muddy body of Dragon Corona was
becoming translucent: it was defeated, and it turned invisible again
before disappearing altogether.
Chapter 6: Epilogue
The
battle was over, but the hard work had just begun. Although Dragon
Corona was gone and people were happy again, there were still many
people who were sick from having breathed in its poisonous fumes.
Lady Alma and Good Witch Jaroslava had to brew lots of potion to
treat the sick people. But, one after the other, they got well again.
Still,
people were scared to travel. “What if Dragon Corona comes back?”,
they said. “Or maybe another dragon will appear in its stead?” It
was wise to be careful, and even after Dragon Corona was gone, Xenia
and Ondra could not travel and visit Alina and Adelia. Still, they
talked via phone every day, and told each other how their day was,
made each other laugh, and looked forward to the day when they could
finally travel again.
After
what seemed like an eternity, that time finally came. Xenia and Ondra
got on a plane and travelled for one day and one night. They arrived
in Armidayl, where Lena and Gerd picked them up from the airport.
Xenia and Ondra were very tired from the trip, but happy to be with
their family. The royal family had travelled to Armidayl as well: and
everyone, Alina and Adelia, and Queen Maria and King Hesam, and Lena
and Gerd, and Lady Alma and Sir Johnny, and Xenia and Ondra, were
sitting at the big oval table in the dining room, and eating
pancakes, drinking hot chocolate, and laughing.
