A Change in Schedule

Every Saturday morning, I go frog hunting at the pond, and every Saturday morning, I bring a frog home. Then every Sunday evening, I release the frog at the pond once again, for if I kept the frog I caught every Saturday, I would have entirely too many frogs.

But one Saturday morning, instead of finding a frog, I found a lizard. It was watery blue, with sparkling, sea-blue eyes. As I raced home to show Mother my findings, the lizard did something very peculiar.

In a hoarse, scratchy voice the lizard spoke. “Don’t take me to your home before I have even gotten to know you. It is bad manners,” he said. I gasped and dropped the lizard on the ground.

“I’m sorry,” I said and picked him up again.

“I do not mind,” he replied. “What’s your name?”

“Cindy,” I said. “What’s yours?”

“I am Prospero, the sea dragon,” Prospero said, nodding his head.

“Dragon?”

“Yes. Would you like to see me as one? Bring me back to the pond. I can only change in water.”

I brought Prospero back to the pond, and he crawled into the water, which started to swirl up in a sort of tornado, getting higher and higher and wider and wider; then it suddenly stopped, and all the water came splashing down on Prospero, who was a dragon, just as he had said. Around his neck was a little golden bell tied to a red ribbon.

“Here is the real me,” he said. “Prospero the sea dragon. Here, take this bell. It is a dragon bell. You see, if a dragon is found by a human, they must give that person their dragon bell.” He untied the ribbon around his neck and placed the bell in my hand. “Use it to call dragons.” With that, he turned into a lizard and scurried away.

And so every Saturday, instead of hunting for frogs, I ring the dragon bell.