beyond the mountains in any direction, it soon came to appearthat the entire world was infested with dragons. (And he woulddraw little pictures of fire-breathing dragons, roaring andflapping their wings, beneath what he wrote which certainlydidn't help to promote tourism.)

This is why everyone was afraid of the dragons they hadnever seen. If your father were to drive into a gas station andask for a road map, and it said, "HERE THERE BE DRAGONS" and itshowed a little picture such as the ones Mister Gibberlingdrew, your father would take a dif- ferent route. So, since allthe maps in the kingdom showed dragons everywhere, breathingflames and being mean, all the people in the kingdom stayed athome, because there were no other routes.

Chapter 2

BUT THEN ONE DAY the king's daughter, the princess, wasgoing to have a birthday, and the king wanted to celebrate itin a special way.

"I want fireworks!" he said.

"Yes, sire. A good idea," said his first adviser.

"Yes indeed, sire. A very good idea," said his secondadviser.

"Oh yes, great sire! A very, very good idea," said histhird adviser.

"Uh, where will we get them, sire?" asked his fourthadviser, who was never too popular around the court (but hisdowager aunt was a good friend of the queen, so the king kepthim about, despite his habit of asking uncomfortablequestions).

"The man who used to manufacture fireworks died some tenyears ago," he explained, "and he never trained anyone to takehis place. This is why there have been no fireworks displays inrecent years."

"We shall simply have to get them," said the king,"because I want them."

"Yes," said the first adviser.

"We shall simply have to get them," said the second.



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