It was time for the Big Bad Wolf to have his revenge on Dragon Father.
The Big Bad Wolf, a human-sized wolf creature that walks on two, gestured for his lackeys to lower the cage that Dragon Father had been put into.
The cage hung from the top of the tree, where Dragon Little had snuck to rescue her father, but then had refused to release him until he said ‘squashbuckling’ instead of ‘swashbuckling’.
She was having fun, but Dragon Father had grown angrier and angrier, and he had clearly planned some sort of lesson to his daughter about not rescuing her father.
The Big Bad Wolf stood in the middle of a clearing in the woods with a sword in hand.
The lackeys opened the door to the cage and took a few steps back.
“Step outside, pirate,” snarled the Big Bad Wolf.
Dragon Father sighed and took a few steps forward.
“I guess I’m really helpless here in front of you,” he said, stepping out of the cage and stopping.
The Big Bad Wolf threw the sword at Dragon Father’s feet.
“Pick up the sword, Pirate,” the villain continued to snarl. “And let’s pit your fighting skill against my claws and teeth.”
“Oh, no,” Dragon Father said without conviction, making sure his voice ist heard atop the tree. “I guess you’re going to eat me, then. I’m no match for you!”
“Pick it up, pirate!”
Dragon Father sighed again and picked up the sword.
“I’m ready,” he said.
The Big Bad Wolf leapt at him. Dragon Father did not really attempt to fight. He instinctively raised his left hand to keep the Big Bad Wolf distant, and with his right hand touched the wolf and let the sword fall down.
“You got me!” Dragon Father yelled. “Help!”
But as the sword fell, it fell on the Wolf’s foot, almost slicing off a part of it.
“Aaawoooooo!” The Big Bad Wolf howled and jumped back.
“You’re kidding me,” Dragon Father said, disappointed, under his breath.
“Nicely done, pirate! Pick up the sword!”
Dragon Father sighed and picked up the sword.
Then he dropped it again. “Ah! Ah! My hand hurts! I think it twisted!” he said, unconvincingly again. “I guess you’re going to eat me and there’s nothing I can do.” He looked up at the treetop again.
Dragon Little was lying on the branch, clearly unimpressed and not at all frightened for her father’s fate.
“Pick up the sword in your other hand, then, pirate,” the Big Bad Wolf snarled. “You’re famous for being able to fight with two swords simultaneously.”
“Uh-huh,” Dragon Father bent down to pick it up again with his left hand. Under his breath, he whispered again, a whisper that only my sharp dragon ears could catch, “What does a guy have to do to lose around here?”
“Now fight!”
Suddenly Dragon Father’s back straightened. I’ve seen that change in him before. He had arrived at a new plan. He knew how to teach Dragon Little a lesson.
This time when the Big Bad Wolf lunged at him, Dragon Father did not try to lose. He tried something completely different.
Tomorrow I will tell you how he taught his daughter a lesson.
—Told by The Red Dragon