The 4 dragons

The old man wearily made his way his own down the dirt path, leaning on his staff as he walked, his cloak dusty and matted for he had travelled far, and many miles lay behind him.

His clear grey eyes shone with wisdom and knowledge out from a weather worn face lined with age untold as he slowly made his way out of the forest and into a clearing, where in the midst stood a small village of people.

The smoke rose sullenly above the village as cooking fires were tended by the women to prepare the noon day meal for the men, hard at work in the fields, tilling the earth and harvesting the crops.

The old man continued closer to the village, hearing cries of laughter and joy as the children of the village spied the weary traveler nearing the main gateway of the village.

within moments, he was surrounded by children of all ages laughing and skipping around him as he moved with a steady pace to the gate way where he was greeted by a tall solidly built grey haired man.

" poet, my dearest friend " the grey haired man spoke

"will thou join us and dine with us on this summers eve"?

poet paused for a moment, til the man spoke " nay, thou shalt not offer any fee for us, but thy people will be honoured if thou shalt share a part of thee awesome life for all to know, poet".

poet nodded, glad to place a night between steps on his journey and a restless sleep with dear friends, in the safety of the village walls.

as for the afternoon til dusk poet rested, watching with silent gaze, the hustle and bustle of village life, and the words of the head man of the village as he organized  people in the running of the village and the day to day chores to be done.

In the shade of the oak tree, he sat, with children gathered at his feet, watching with childish curiosity as poet weaving a luck charm for the village and they listened  as poet spoke words of ancient magick and wove a spell into the small packet that he held in his hands.

The daylight slowly moved into the early hours of the evening and the menfolk headed in from the fields wearily atfer a long day, labouring as they had.

nods and greetings were exchanged as the elder men came face to face with a old friend and the younger man folk were introduced to a living legend of the land.

The fires were stoked as the evening meal of vegetables and wild boar were prepared by the womenfolk of the village and the menfolk, spoke to the head man about the state of the fields and the various matters of the day.

they supped and drunk and the talk flowed freely, poet listened and remarked from time to time, learning valuable information about the state of matters concerning the village and the surrounding land.

then, the headman raised a arm for silence and the village fell quiet as he stood tall and took a breath then spoke

people of the village, "honoured are we, in the presence of an awesome man, and that man is poet, humbled be all that poet is to talk tonight, be quiet and learn, all ".

poet smiled and raised a hand, " humbled, am i, to be seated with all, fed and warm, at rest and peaceful".

"honoured am i, that i may share my tales with thee".

"many, many years ago, long before i walked the land, there was a world of dragons, and they were the masters of the land, for there was none great than they, 4 dragons ruled the land as awesome were they, these 4 winged and fire breathing beasts that they are

aye, and full of trouble too, 4 great dragons, that fought with each other, for each wished to be the greatest and none desired to serve.

red, brown green and blue were the colours of these dragons and each possessed a special skill that the others did not.

it was the brown dragon that possessed the power of weakness and decay

the red, the power of heat and warmth.

green was the color of the dragon of life and growth

and blue was the dragon of cold and the blue flame of ice

and it was these dragons that flew over the land and the people, playing games and fighting over who was lord of the earth.

the people worshipped the dragons as gods and lay out gifts and offerings of food for the dragons to dine upon and the earth was at peace for many a year, but the fight between the dragons grew and the the land suffered.

crops began not to grow and the people starved and cried out to the dragons to stop their fighting and be at peace

but their cries fell upon deaf ears and in despite, the people of the land rallied together and cried out in a single voice that filled the land with a great noise.

in the depths of the earth one great dragon lay in slumber peaceful for centuries and content to lay forever.

til one day, a great cry awoke the dragon and she rose up from the depths of her earthly bed which she lay

Bluesong, lady dragon, queen of all the dragons stretched her great wings and roared her fustration at being woken from her peaceful slumber.

Bluesongs great white dragon body rose higher and higher still til people from many, many miles away saw her staring out across the land with a angry look upon her face.

one wise man, chosen from amongst all the wisest men of the land called forth to bluesong, and she lowered her great head that bluesong hear his voice.

oh bluesong lady dragon, queen of all the dragons hear our cries, for we are a simple people and we are suffering greatly, bluesong, for the brown dragon fighting with the green and the blue fights with the red, and they, in turn fight with each other, bluesong and the earth suffers greatly, as they will not stop fighting long enough to heed the cries of the children of the earth, bluesong.

well, bluesong was not happy to hear this for the dragons had been entrusted as guardians of the earth and it was their task to watch over the land and the people that lived upon the earth and look after their wellbeing for all time.

bluesong raised her great head and looked out across the land and saw the dead land that lay for miles around and lowered her head down again and spoke

indeed I see the suffering of the people, and i agree that the dragons must be disciplined greatly, for I am angry and this fills me with great sorrow.

bluesong rose up and flew upon into the air on mighty wings and flew to the four corners of the earth where each dragon lived and called them forth to where they all were in one place and bluesong scolded them greatly for their carelessness and ignorance, they were equal and none would ever rule over the other three dragons.

4 dragons lowered heads in shame as bluesong spoke in angry, but with wise words and none of the dragons questioned her words for bluesong was the wisest of all dragons and her fury knew no bounds.

after a time, bluesong fell silent, for the dragons was chastened but now the damage had to be repaired and the land put right.

bluesong thought for a while then spoke,

red dragon you shall go first, with power of light and warmth, you shall dry the land so flooded plains are gone and deepest cease to run so high, with your power of heat, you shall stop the earth from drowning in the floods of much water, now go,

the red dragon left and flow out across the land and great clouds of stream rose into the air to from clouds as the red dragon dried out the great swamps that lay on the land.

after a time bluesong spoke again, brown, go after red dragon and cause the dead plants to decay and go back in the earth, for the smell is great and the people walk around holding noses, the grass is dying and the plants too let all that survives not be touched, only the weak and dead, and give them back to the earth

and the brown dragon left across the land and all the old and broken plants died and fell to the ground and were absorbed back into the earth from where they had sprung

bluesong paused from a time again then spoke, blue dragon, the land is too hot from red dragon, now go blue dragon and cool the land with your power of cold and fire of ice and cool the earth, that it burns no more.

blue dragon flew after the red and brown dragon, blowing cool air across the land and cooling the earth that it no longer burn from the power of the red dragon and as the blue dragon flew, the clouds poured life giving water down upon the earth and brought relief to the parched earth and the people rejoiced again as the land drank deeply of the water and the ground was refreshed once more.

then the time came when bluesong spoke one last time, to the green dragon, and bluesong said, green dragon, with your power of life go forth and bring new growth to the land , let your power call forth the seedlings to grow and plants to cover the earth again, that the beauty of nature covers the bare places once more.

green dragon departed from bluesong to fly after the blue, brown and red dragons as they flew across the land, doing the task that bluesong had given them to forfill

and once again the earth was covered with the beauty of the flowers and planets and trees sprouted forth leaves once again, and the vegetables grew bountiful once more

and peace was restored to the land.

bluesong smiled to herself and flew far up into the sky, to watch over the 4 dragons, for bluesong was a wise old dragon and she knew that the dragons would not do the tasks for long, for dragons, by nature, are playful beings, and bluesong knew that sooner or later they would stop their tasks and start to play and fight once again.

great dragon that she was, flew around and round the earth, ever watchful over the 4 dragons, making sure that the dragons does their tasks and play not.

and now, my friends, that is why we have the seasons

summer, the red dragon dries the land and it is hot

autumn, the brown dragon causes the leaves to fall and die

winter, the blue dragon cools the land and brings water

spring, the green dragon brings the magic of new life

and bluesong, ah, great dragon, her head is the sun and the end of her tail the moon, as she flies round the earth watching over the 4 dragons to make sure, that the dragons do not stray and play or fight again

and that is the tale of the 4 dragons

Author:  Spellweaving Poet