The Clear Brook

“Hello?” Emily called. “Is anybody home?” all she heard was the echo sounding through the whole cave. But wait, what was that light? Was it the moon? As she crept closer, Emily heard a low moan.

“Ooooooh.” It was in pain, whatever it was.

She ventured even closer. Now she could see the opening to the cave! The moon’s milky path shone on . . . a dragon! The dragon’s body was sprawled on the cave floor.

Emily stuttered, “Wh-wh-what are y-y-you d-doing h-here?”

The dragon replied, “Ooooh”--another low moan.

As she strained her eyes to get a better look, Emily noticed a deep gash on the dragon’s side. “Oh no,” she gasped. What had caused the dragon’s wound? Was there another animal waiting to get her? Emily shivered, just thinking about it made her scared.

While she was thinking, the dragon mumbled, “Clear brook.”

Clear brook? What is that? Emily wondered. She reached down and touched the dragon’s snout. Then she looked toward the cave’s opening. A sparkly brook was rushing, splashing, and dancing under the star-filled sky. Clear brook! Emily used her handkerchief to absorb some water from the brook, then brought it back to the dragon. As Emily squirted the water from her handkerchief into the dragon’s mouth, she thought, What is so different about this water?

Then she saw the dragon’s wound magically disappearing! Dragon thrashed about on the cave floor, as though he already knew his wound had healed, stood up on wobbly legs, roared, and walked away.

Even though Dragon didn’t thank her, Emily knew that she had saved Dragon’s life. As Emily skipped out of the cave, Dragon turned around and blinked. Maybe that was his way of saying “thank you.” We’ll never know for sure.