Fairy Tales Turned Upside Down
The little girl tripped over a root sticking out of the moss. Her companion stopped and helped her up. Two shining tears rolled down the girl's flushed cheeks. In a quiet voice she asked, “Why can't we live like normal children, instead of wandering all over the world?”
The boy snorted. “Don't you remember? We have a task to complete!” The girl got to her feet and flung a question into the air: “Jasiu, what will happen to us once we've baked Baba Yaga?!”
Laughter boomed through the cave. An inhuman cackle filled the whole place, shaking the ceiling and walls. In the middle of the cavern sat a strange, enormous creature covered in green scales. It had four legs and a pair of membranous wings, and several odd growths hung from its neck, like long tentacles with feathered tips. The creature was presumably in great pain, yet it was the one laughing loudly.
In the light of the setting sun, its eyes and the fangs in its grinning maw gleamed ruby-red. The dragon laughed once more. It spat, looked at the heap of scrap metal in the corner of the cave, and said to the princess it was holding captive: “Those knights are idiots. This one had some idea about a seven-headed dragon, too. What, did everyone sleep through biology at school?”
His brain was working at full throttle. Dozens of thoughts raced through his head every second. Questions kept coming. Why was she tormenting him like this? All she did was ask and ask. She should leave him alone. That would be better for both of them.
Then, suddenly, a saving thought lit up in his mind. He knew the answer that would get rid of the intruder. He nearly shouted it: “To eat you, Little Red Riding Hood!”
EBENEZER CROMPTON
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