A fantasy story to test my vocabulary Long, long ago, when stars were many and cities scarce, there used to be an old dragon living in a forest. Every summer it would bask in the sunlight by the river bank, looking like a boulder, a silent, subtle presence in the scenery. Every winter it would take strolls in the frozen forest, its foggy breath melting the pointy ice stalactites from the trees, its footsteps leaving puddles of warm water behind. But, unlike the stories, this dragon didn't fly. It didn't feel any love for the vast sky. Its tattered wings couldn't carry the heavy serpentine body anymore. One day, a man came with a request. Strange beings those humans, standing on two legs, hair growing in strange places. The dragon listened, curious about his intentions. "Please, great beast, please spare our village of certain misery. Scorch our enemies, feast upon their smelted bones, drink the wine of their red blood," pleaded the man. "Why would I ever do a crime as such, so violent and so corrupt, that no being of nature, humble and kind, would ever dare to have in mind?" "I ask of you, dragon, give us peace, secure the life of those unborn. They'll come by dawn and make a mess, they'll kill any child and any elder that they find." But the dragon shook its head. The next morning, sure enough, the human returned, his eyes mad. "Curse you, monster, for, on this day, you let my kind know grief and hate." The dragon, of course, did not reply, it only closed its big, tired eye. Then, one hot summer day, when the beast was basking by the river bank, its scales dry and dusty like the throat of the thirsty, the man appeared again, this time accompanied by a crowd. The dragon raised its head, alerted, for the distorted faces of the people were speaking of death.But it could not simply fly away; it was a flightless being by age. "Why are your eyes so murderous, your breaths hot as your hell? Why are your hands holding spears high?" "Today is the day you die by these hands, these eyes, these breaths that burn. You didn't help us, and no one will help you." And so they pounced, the unforgiving. They tore and poked and slashed and shredded, their ears deaf to the cries. "You humans hate and cuss and kill and harm.If I had killed your enemies for you, you'd surely kill their children as they did to you. Your actions now are proof of who you are. And if I were like you, I would burn you down. But I am not, and no being will ever be as cruel as you. I curse your dreams, unsalvagable mankind."