 Chapter one of my father's dragon this is a labor vox recording all labor vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit labor vox.org recording by Gregory Holdsworth my father's dragon by rude styles Gannett chapter one my father meets the cat one cold rainy day when my father was a little boy he met an old alley cat on the street the cat was very drippy and uncomfortable so my father said when you like to come home with me this surprised the cat she had never met anyone who cared about old alley cats but she said I'd be very much obliged if I could sit by a warm furnace and perhaps have a saucer of milk we have a very nice furnace to sit by so my father and I'm sure my mother has an extra saucer of milk my father and the cat became good friends but my father's mother was very upset about the cat she hated cats particularly ugly old alley cats Elmer elevator she said to my father if you think I'm going to give that cat a saucer of milk you're very wrong once you start feeding stray alley cats you might as well expect to feed every stray in town and I am not going to do it this made my father very sad and he apologized to the cat because his mother had been so rude he told the cat to stay anyway and that somehow he will bring her saucer of milk each day my father fed the cat for three weeks but one day his mother found the cat's saucer in the cellar and she was extremely angry she whipped my father and threw the cat out the door but later on my father sneaked out and found the cat together they went for a walk in the park and tried to think of nice things to talk about my father said when I grow up I'm going to have an airplane wouldn't it be wonderful to fly just anywhere you might think of would you like to fly very very much asked the cat I certainly would I do anything if I could fly well said the cat if you really like to fly that much I think I know a sort of way you might get to fly while you're still a little boy you mean you know where I can get an airplane well not exactly an airplane but something even better as you can see I'm an old cat now my younger days I was quite a traveler traveling days are over but last spring I just took one more trip and sailed to the island of tangerina stopping at the port of cranberry well it just so happened that I missed the boat while waiting for the next I thought I'd look around a bit I was particularly interested in the place called wild island which we passed on our way to tangerina wild island and tangerina are joined together by a long string of rocks but people never go to wild island because it's mostly jungle and inhabited by very wild animals so I decided to go across the rocks and explore it for myself it certainly is an interesting place but I saw something there that made me want to weep end of chapter 1 chapter 2 of my father's dragon this labor box recording is in the public domain recording by Gregory Holesworth my father's dragon by rude styles Gannett chapter 2 my father runs away wild island is practically cut in two by a very wide and muddy river continued the cat this river begins near one end of the island and flows into the ocean at the other now the animals there are very lazy and they used to hate having to go all the way around the beginning of this river to get to the other side of the island it made visiting inconvenient and mail delivery slow particularly during the Christmas rush crocodiles could carry passengers a male across the river but crocodiles are very moody and not the least bit dependable and are always looking for something to eat they don't care if the animals have to walk around the river so that's just what the animals did for many years but what does all this have to do with airplanes asked my father who thought the cow was taking an awfully long time to explain be patient elmer said the cat and she went on with a story one day about four months before I arrived on wild island a baby dragon fell from a low-flying cloud and onto the bank of the river it was too young to fly very well and besides he had bruised one wing quite badly so he couldn't get back to his cloud the animals found him soon afterwards and everybody said why this is just exactly what we've needed all these years they tied a big rope around his neck and waited for the wing to get well this was going to end there crossing the river troubles I've never seen a dragon said my father did you see him how big is he yes indeed I saw the dragon in fact we became great friends said the cat I used to hide in the bushes and talk to him when nobody was around he's not a very big dragon about the size of a large black bear although I imagine he's grown quite a bit since I left he's got a long tail and yellow and blue stripes his horn and eyes and the bottoms of his feet are bright red he has gold colored wings oh how wonderful so my father what does the animals do with him when his wing got well they started training him to carry passengers and even though he's just a baby dragon they work him all day and all night too sometimes they make him carry loads that are much too heavy and if he complains they twist his wings and beat him he's always tied to a stake on a rope just long enough to go across the river his only friends are the crocodiles who say hello to him once a week if they don't forget really he's the most miserable animal I've ever come across when I left I promised I tried to help him Sunday although I couldn't see how the rope around his neck is about the biggest toughest rope you can imagine with so many knots it could take days to untie them all anyway when you were talking about airplanes he gave me a good idea now I'm quite sure that if you were able to rescue the dragon which wouldn't be the least bit easy he'd let you ride him most anywhere provided you were nice to him of course how about trying it oh I love to so my father and he was so angry at his mother for being so rude to the cat that he didn't feel the least bit sad about running away from home for a while that very afternoon my father and the cat went down to the docks to see about ships going to the island of tandrina they found out that a ship will be sailing the next week so right away they started planning for the rescue of the dragon the cow was a great help in suggesting things for my father to take with him and she told him everything she knew about Wild Island of course she was too old to go along everything had to be kept very secret so when they found or brought anything to take on the trip they hid it behind a rock in the park the night before my father sailed he borrowed his father's knapsack and he and the cat packed everything very carefully he took chewing gum two dozen pink lollipops a package of rubber bands black rubber boots a compass a toothbrush and a tuba toothpaste six magnifying glasses a very sharp jackknife a comb and hairbrush seven hair ribbons of different colors and an empty graying bag with the label saying cranberry some clean clothes and enough food to last my father while he was on the ship he couldn't live on mice so he took 25 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and six apples because that's all the apples he could find in the pantry when everything was packed my father and the cat went down to the docks to the ship a night watchman was on duty so while the cat made loud queer noises to distract his attention my father ran over the gang plank and onto the ship he went down into the hold and hid among some bags of wheat the ship sailed early the next morning end of chapter 2 chapter 3 and my father's dragon this labor box recording is in the public domain recording by Gregory Holdsworth my father's dragon by Roots Styles Gannett chapter 3 my father finds the island my father hid in the hold for six days and nights twice he was nearly caught when the ship stopped to take on more cargo but at last he heard a sailor say the next port will be cranberry and that they'd be unloading the wheat there my father knew that the sailors would send him home if they caught him so he looked in his knapsack and took out a rubber band and the empty green bag with the label saying cranberry but the last moment my father got inside the bag knapsack and all folded the top of the bag inside and put the rubber band around the top he didn't look just exactly like the other bags but it was the best he could do soon the sailors came to unload they lowered a big net into the hold and began moving the bags of wheat suddenly one sailor yelled great Scott this is the queerest bag of wheat I've ever seen it's all lumpy like but the label says it's go to cranberry the other sailors looked at the bag too and my father who was in the bag of course tried even harder to look like a bag of wheat then the other sailor felt the bag and and he just happened to get hold of my father's elbow I know what this is he said it's a bag of dried corn on the cob he dumped my father into the big net along with the bags of wheat this all happened in the late afternoon so late that the merchant in cranberry who had ordered the wheat didn't count his bags until the next morning he was a very punctual man and never late for dinner the sailors told the captain and the captain wrote down on a piece of paper that they had delivered 160 bags of wheat and one bag of dried corn on the cob they left a piece of paper for the merchant and sailed away that evening my father heard later that the merchant spend the whole next day counting and recounting the bags of filling each one and trying to find the bag of dried corn on the cob he never found it because as soon as it was dark my father climbed out of the bag he folded it up and put it back in his knapsack he walked along the shore to a nice sandy place and lay down to sleep my father was very hungry when he woke up the next morning just as he was looking to see if he had anything left to eat something hit him on the head it was a tangerine he had been sleeping right under a tree full of big fat tangerines and then he remembered that this was the island of tangerina tangerine trees grew wild everywhere my father picked as many as he had room for which was 31 and started off to find wild island he walked and walked and walked along the shore looking for the rocks that joined the two islands he walked all day and once he met a fisherman and asked him about wild island the fisherman began to shake and couldn't talk for a long while it scared him that much just thinking about it finally he said many people have tried to explore wild island but no one has come back alive we think they were eaten by the wild animals this didn't bother my father he kept walking and slept on the beach again that night it was beautifully clear the next day and way down to the shore my father could see a long line of rocks leading out into the ocean and way way out at the end he could just see a tiny patch of green he quickly ate 17 dreams and started down the beach it was almost dark when he came to the rocks but there way out in the ocean was the patch of green he sat down and rested for a while remembering that the cat had said if you can go out to the island that night because then the wild animals won't see you coming along the rocks you can hide when you get there so my father picked seven more tangerines put on his black rubber boots and waited for dark it was a very black night and my father couldn't hardly see the rocks ahead of him sometimes they were quite high and sometimes the waves almost covered them and they were slippery and hard to walk on sometimes the rocks for far apart of my father had to get a running start and leap from one to the next after a while he began to hear a rumbling noise it grew louder and louder as he got near to the island at last it seemed as if he was right on top of the noise and he was he had jumped from a rock onto the back of a small whale who was fast asleep and cuddled up between two rocks the whale was snoring and making more noise than a steam shovel so I'd never heard my father say oh I didn't know that was you and I never knew my father had jumped on his back by mistake for seven hours my father climbed and slipped and lept from rock to rock but while it was still dark he finally reached the very last rock and stepped off onto wild island end of chapter 3 chapter 4 on my father's dragon this labor box recording is in the public domain recording by Gregory Holesworth my father's dragon by roots styles Gannett chapter 4 my father finds the river the jungle began just beyond a narrow strip of beach thick dark damp scary jungle my father hardly knew where to go so he crawled under a wahoo bush to think and ate eight tangerines first thing to do he decided was to find the river because the dragon was tied somewhere along its bank then he thought if the river flows into the ocean I ought to be able to find it quite easy if I just walk along the beach far enough so my father walked until the sun rose and he was quite far from the ocean rocks it was dangerous to stay near them because they might be guarded in the daytime he found a clump of tall grass and sat down then he took off his rubber boots and ate three more tangerines he could have eaten 12 but he hadn't seen any tangerines on this island and he could not risk running out of something to eat my father slept all that day and only woke up and played in the afternoon when he heard a funny little boy saying queer queer what a dear little duck I mean dear dear what a queer little rock my father saw a tiny paw rubbing itself on his knapsack he lay very still and and the mouse for it was a mouse hurried away muttering to itself I must tell Tom Daddy I mean I must tell somebody my father waited a few minutes then started down the beach because it was almost dark now and he was afraid the mouse really would tell somebody he walked all that night and two scary things happened first he just had to sneeze so he did and somebody close by said is that you monkey my father said yes then the voice said you must have something on your back monkey and my father said yes because he did he had his knapsack on his back what do you have on your back monkey asked the voice my father didn't know what to say because what would a monkey have on its back and how would it sound telling someone about it if it did have something just then another voice said I better taking your sick grandmother to the doctors my father said yes and hurry dawn quite by accident he found out later on that he had been talking to a pair of tortoises the second thing that happened was that he nearly walked right between two wild boars who were talking in low solemn whispers when he first saw the dark shapes he thought they were boulders just in time here one of them say there are three signs of a recent invasion first fresh tangerine peels were found under the wahoo bush near the ocean rocks second a mouse reported on extraordinary rocks some distance from the ocean rocks which upon further investigation simply wasn't there however more fresh tangerine peels were found in the same spot which is the third sign of invasion since tangerines do not grow on our island somebody must have bought them across the ocean rocks from the other island which may or may not have something to do with the appearance and or disappearance of the extraordinary rock reported by the mouse after a long silence the other bore said you know I think we're taking this too seriously those peels probably floated over here all by themselves you know how unreliable my sorrow besides if there had been an invasion I would have seen it perhaps your right to the first bore shall we retire where upon they both trundled back into the jungle well that's all my father a lesson and after that he had saved all his tangerine peels he walked all night and toward morning came to the river then his troubles really began end of chapter 4 chapter 5 on my father's dragon this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Gregory Holesworth my father's dragon by rude styles Gannett chapter 5 my father meets some tigers the river was very wide and muddy and the jungle was very gloomy and dense the trees grew close to each other in what room there was between them was taken up by great high ferns with sticky leaves my father hated to leave the beach but he decided to start along the river where at least the jungle wasn't quite so thick he ate three tangerines making sure to keep all the peels this time and put on his rubber boots my father tried to follow the riverbank but it was very swampy and as he went farther the swamp became deeper when it was all the most as deep as his boot tops he got stuck in the oozy mucky mud my father tugged and tugged and nearly pulled his boots right off but alas he managed to wait a drier place here the jungle was so thick that he could hardly see where the river was he unpacked his compass and figured out the direction he should walk in order to stay near the river but he didn't know that the river made a very sharp curve away from him just a little way beyond so as he walked straight ahead he was getting farther and farther away from the river it was very hard to walk in the jungle the sticky leaves of the ferns caught my father's hair and he kept tripping over roots and rotten logs sometimes the trees were clumped so closely together that he couldn't squeeze between them and had to walk a long way around he began to hear whispery noises but he couldn't see any animals anywhere the deeper into the jungle he went the sure he was that something was following him and then he thought he heard a whispering noises on both sides of him as well as behind he tried to run but he tripped over more roots and the noises only came nearer once or twice he thought he heard something laughing at him at last he came out into a clearing and ran right into the middle of it so that he could see anything that might try to attack him he was surprised when he looked and saw 14 green eyes coming out of the jungle all around the clearing and when the green eyes turn into seven tigers the tigers walked around him in a big circle looking hungrier all the time then they sat down and began to talk I suppose you thought we didn't know you were trespassing in our jungle then the next tiger spoke I suppose you were going to say you didn't know it was our jungle did you know that not one explorer has ever left this island alive said the third tiger my father thought of the cat and knew this wasn't true but of course he had too much sense to say so one doesn't contradict a hungry tiger the tigers went on talking in turn you're our first little boy you know I'm curious to know if you're especially tender maybe you think we have regular mealtimes but we don't we just eat whenever we're feeling hungry said the fifth tiger and we're very hungry right now in fact I can hardly wait said the sixth I can't wait said the seventh tiger and then all the tigers said together in a loud roar let's be getting right now and they move closer my father looked at those seven hungry tigers then he had an idea he quickly opened his knapsack and took out the chewing gum the cat had told him that tigers were especially fond of chewing gum which was very scarce on the island so I threw them each a piece but they only growled as fond as we are chewing gum we sure we'd like you even better and they move so close that he could feel them breathing on his face but this is very special chewing gum so my father if you keep on chewing it long enough it will turn green and then if you plant it it will grow more chewing gum and the sooner you start chewing the sooner you'll have more the tiger said why you don't say isn't that fine as each one wanted to be the first to plant the chewing gum they all unwrap their pieces and began chewing as hard as they could every once in a while one tiger would look into another's mouth and say nope it's not done yet until finally they were all so busy looking into each other's mouths to make sure that no one was getting ahead that they forgot all about my father and of chapter five chapter six of my father's dragon this labor box recording is in the public domain recording by Gregory Holesworth my father's dragon by rude styles Gannett chapter six my father meets a rhinoceros my father soon found a trail leading away from the clearing all sorts of animals might be using it too but he decided to follow the trail no matter what he met because it might lead to the dragon he kept a sharp lookout and front and behind and went on just as he was feeling quite safe he came around a curve right behind two wild boars one of them was saying to the other do you know that the tortoises thought they saw a monkey carrying his sick grandmother to the doctors last night but monkeys grandmother died a week ago so they must have seen something else I wonder what it was I told you that there was an invasion of foot said the other bore I intend to find out what it is I simply can't stand invasions me neither said a tiny little voice I mean me neither and my father knew that the mouse was there too well said the first bore you search the trail up this way to the dragon I'll go back down the other way through the big clearing and we'll send mouse to watch the ocean rocks in case the invasion should decide to go away before we find it my father hid behind a mahogany tree just in time and the first bore walk right past him my father waited for the other bore to get a head start on him but he didn't wait very long because he knew that when the first bore saw the tigers chewing them in the clearing he'd be even more suspicious soon the trail across a little brook and my father who by this time was very thirsty stopped to get a drink of water he still had on his rubber boots so he waited into a little pool of water and was stooping down when something quite sharp picked him up by the seat of the pants and shook him very hard don't you know that's my private weeping pool at a deep angry voice my father could not see who's talking because he was hanging in the air right over the pool but he said oh no I'm so sorry I didn't know that everybody had a private weeping pool everybody doesn't said the angry voice but I do because I have such a big thing to weep out and I drowned everybody I find using my weeping pool with that the animal tossed my father up and down over the water what is it that you weep about so much asked my father trying to get his breath and he thought over all the things he had in his pack oh I have many things to weep about but the biggest thing is the collar of my tusk my father squirmed every which way trying to see the tusk but it was through the seat of his pants where he couldn't possibly see it when I was a young rhinoceros my tusk was pearly white said the animal and then my father knew he was hanging by the seat of his pants from a rhinoceros's tusk but it has turned a nasty yellow gray in my old age and I find it very ugly you see everything else about me is ugly but when I had a beautiful tusk I didn't worry so much about the rest now that my tusk is ugly too I can't sleep nights just thinking about how completely ugly I am and I weep all the time but why should I be telling you these things I caught you using my pool and now I'm gonna drill you oh wait a minute rhinoceros and my father I have some things that will make your tusk all white and beautiful again just let me down and I'll give them to you the rhinoceros said you do I can hardly believe it why I'm so excited he pulled my father down and danced around in a circle while my father got out the tuba toothpaste and the toothbrush now so my father just move your tusk a little nearer please and I'll show you how to begin my father wet the brush in the pool squeezed a dab of toothpaste and scrubbed it very hard on one tiny spot then he told the rhinoceros to wash it off and when the pool was calm again he told the rhinoceros to look in the water to see how the little spot was it was hard to see in the dim light of the jungle but sure enough the spot shown pearly white just like new the rhinoceros was so pleased that he grabbed the toothbrush and began scrubbing violently forgetting all about my father just then my father heard hoof steps and he jumped behind the rhinoceros it was the bore coming back from the big clearing where the tigers were chewing gum the bore looked at the rhinoceros and the toothbrush and the tuba toothpaste and he scratched his ear on a tree telling me rhinoceros he said where did you get that fine tube of toothpaste in that toothbrush too busy said the rhinoceros and he went on brushing as hard as he could the bore sniffed angrily and trotted down the trail toward the dragon muttering to himself very suspicious tigers too busy chewing gum rhinoceros too busy brushing his tusk I must get a hold of that invasion don't like it won't bit not won't bit it's upsetting everybody terribly wonder what it's doing here anyway end of chapter 6 chapter 7 on my father's dragon this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Gregory Holesworth my father's dragon by rude styles Gannett chapter 7 my father meets a lion my father wave goodbye to the rhinoceros who was much too busy to notice got a drink farther down the brook and waited back to the trail he hadn't gone very far when he heard an angry animal roaring dang blasted I told you not to go blackberrying yesterday won't you ever learn what will your mother say my father crept along and peered into a small clearing just ahead a line was prancing about clawing at his main which was all snarled and full of blackberry twigs the more he clawed the worse it became and the matter he grew and the more he yelled at himself because it was himself he was yelling at all the time my father could see that the trail went on through the clearing so he decided to crawl around the edge in the underbrush and not to disturb the lion he crawled and crawled and the yelling grew louder and louder it was just about to reach the trail at the other side the yelling suddenly stopped my father looked around and saw the lion glaring at him the lion charged and skidded to a stop a few inches away who are you the lion yelled at my father my name is Eleanor elevator where do you think you're going I'm going home so my father yes where you think said the line ordinarily I'd save you for afternoon tea but I happen to be upset enough and hungry enough to eat you right now and he picked up my father by his front paws to feel how fatty was my father said oh please lie before you eat me telling me why you are so particularly upset today it's more man said the lion as he was figuring how many bites a little boy would make you see what a dreadful mess it is and I don't seem to be able to do anything about it my mother's coming over on the dragon this afternoon and if she sees me this way I'm afraid she'll stop my allowance she can't stand messy mains but I'm gonna eat you now so it won't make any difference to you oh wait a minute said my father and I'll give you just the things you need to make your main all tidy and beautiful I have them here on my pack you do said the line well give him to me and perhaps I'll save you for afternoon tea after all and he put my father down on the ground my father opened the pack and took out the comb and the brush and the seven hair ribbons of different colors look he said I'll show you what to do on your forelock where you can watch me first you brush a while then you comb then your brush again until all the twigs and snarls are gone then you divided up in three and braided like this entire ribbon around the end as my father was doing this the lion watched very carefully and began to look much happier when my father tied the ribbon he was all smiled oh that's wonderful really wonderful said the lion let me have a comb and brush and see if I can do it so my father gave him the comb and brush and the lion began busily grooming his making as a matter of fact he was so busy that he didn't even know when my father left end of chapter 7 chapter 8 of my father's dragon this Liber Vox recording is in the public domain recording by Gregory Holesworth my father's dragon by rude Styles Gannett chapter 8 my father meets a gorilla my father was very hungry so he sat down under a baby banyan tree on the side of the trail and ate four tangerines he wanted to eat eight or ten but he had only 13 left and it might be a long time before I could go get more he packed away all the peels and was about to get up when he heard the familiar voices of the boars I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen them with my own eyes but wait and see for yourself all the tigers sitting around chewing gum to beat the band old rhinoceros is so busy brushing his tusk that he doesn't even look around to see who's going by and they're all so busy they won't even talk to me horse feathers said the other bore now very close to my father they'll talk to me I'm going to get to the bottom of this if it's the last thing I do the voices passed my father and went around a curve and he hurried on because he knew how much more upset the boars would be when they saw the lion's mane tied up in hair ribbons before a long my father came to a crossroads and he stopped to read the signs straight ahead an arrow pointed to the beginning of the river to the left the OSHA rocks and to the right the dragon fairy my father was reading all these signs when he heard Paul steps and duck behind the signposts a beautiful lion is passed and turned down toward the clearings although she could have seen my father if she had bothered to glance at the post she was much too occupied looking dignified to see anything but the tip of her own nose it was the lion's mother of course and that fall my father must mean that the dragon was on this side of the river he hurried on but it was farther away than he had judged he finally came to the riverbank in the late afternoon and looked all around but there was no dragon anywhere in sight he must have gone back to the other side my father sat down under the palm tree and was trying to have a good idea when something big and black and hairy jumped out of the tree and landed with a loud crash at his feet well said a huge voice well what said my father for which he was very sorry when he looked up and discovered he was talking to an enormous and very fierce gorilla well explain yourself said the gorilla I'll give you till 10 to tell him your name business your age and what's in that pack he began counting to 10 as fast as he could my father didn't even have time to say Elmer elevator Explorer before the gorilla interrupted too slow I'll twist your arms the way twist that dragon's wings and then we'll see if you can't hurry up a bit he grabbed my father's arms one in each fist and was just about to twist them when he suddenly let go and began scratching his chest with both hands blast those fleas he raged they won't give you a moment's peace and the worst of it is that you can't even get a good look at them Rosie water Rachel Ruthie Ruby Roberta come here and get rid of this flee on my chest it's driving me crazy six little monkeys tumbled out of the palm tree dash to the gorilla began combing the hair on his chest well said the gorilla it's still there we're looking we're looking said the six little monkeys but they're awfully hard to see you know I know said the gorilla but hurry I've got work to do he winked at my father oh gorilla so my father and my knapsack I have six magnifying glasses baby just a thing for hunting fleas my father unpacked them and gave one to Rosie one to Rada one to Rachel one to Ruthie one to Ruby and one to Roberta why they're miraculous said the six little monkeys it's easy to see the fleas now only there are hundreds of them and they went on hunting frantically a moment later many more monkeys appeared out of a nearby clump of mangroves and began crowding around to get a look at the fleas through the magnifying glasses they completely surrounded the gorilla and he could not see my father nor did he remember to twist his arms end of chapter 8 chapter 9 oh my father's dragon this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Gregory Holesworth my father's dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett chapter 9 my father makes a bridge my father walk back and forth along the bank trying to think of some way to cross the river he found a high flagpole with a rope going over to the other side the rope went through a loop at the top of the pole and then down the pole around a large crank a sign on the crank said to summon dragon yank the crank report disorderly conduct to gorilla from what the cat had told my father he knew that the other end of the rope was tied around the dragon's neck and he felt sorry or than ever for the poor dragon if he were on his side the gorilla would twist his wings until it hurt so much that he'd have to fly to the other side if he were on the other side the gorilla would crank the rope until the dragon would either choke to death or fly back to his side what a life for a baby dragon my father knew that if he called to the dragon to come across the river the gorilla would surely hear him so he thought about climbing the pole and going across the rope the pole was very high and even if he could get to the top without being seen he'd have to go all the way across hand over hand the river was very muddy and all sorts of unfriendly things might live in it but my father could think of no other way to get across he was about to start up the pole when despite all the noise the monkeys were making he heard loud splash behind him he looked all around in the water but it was dusk now and he couldn't see anything there it's me crocodile said a voice to the left the water's lovely and I have such a craving for something sweet won't you come for a swim a pale moon came out from behind the clouds and my father could see where the voice was coming from the crocodile's head was just peeping out of the water oh no thank you son my father I never swim after sundown but I do have something sweet to offer you perhaps you'd like a lollipop and perhaps you have friends who would like lollipops to lollipops at the crocodile why that is a treat how about it boys a whole chorus of voice shouted a raw lollipops and my father counted as many as 17 crocodiles with their heads just peeping out of the water that's fine so my father as he got out the two dozen pink lollipops in the rubber bands I'll stick one here in a bank lollipops last longer if you keep them out of the water you know now one of you can have this one the crocodile who had first spoken swam up and tasted it delicious mighty delicious he said now if you don't mind so my father I'll just walk along your back and fasten another lollipop to the tippy ear tail with a rubber band you don't mind do you oh no not in the lease of the crocodile can you get your tail out of the water just a bit asked my father yes of course said the crocodile and he lifted up his tail then my father ran along his back and fastened another lollipop with a rubber band who's next and my father and a second crocodile swam up and began sucking on that lollipop now you gentlemen can save a lot of time if you just line up across the rivers and my father and all be along to give you each a lollipop so the crocodiles lined up right across the river with their tails in the air waiting for my father to fasten on the rest of the lollipops the tail of the 17th crocodile just reached the other bank end of chapter 9 chapter 10 of my father's dragon this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Gregory Holesworth my father's dragon by rude styles Gannett chapter 10 my father finds the dragon when my father was crossing the bank of the 15th crocodile with two more lollipops to go the noise of the monkey suddenly stopped and he could hear a much bigger noise getting louder every second then he could hear seven furious tigers and one raging rhinoceros and two seething lions and one ranting gorilla along with countless screeching monkeys led by two extremely irate wild boars all yelling it's a trick it's a trick there's an evasion and it must be after a dragon kill it kill it the whole crowd stampede it down to the bank as my father was fixing the 17th lollipop for the last crocodile he heard a wild boar scream look it came this way it's over there now see the crocodiles made a bridge for it just as my father leapt on to the other bank one of the wild boars jumped on to the back of the first crocodile my father didn't have a moment to spare by now the dragon realized that my father was coming to rescue him he ran out of the bushes and jumped up and down yelling here I am I'm right here can you see me hurry the boar is coming over on the crocodiles too they're all coming over oh please hurry hurry the noise was simply terrific my father ran up to the dragon and took out his very sharp jackknife steady old boy steady will make it just stand still he told the dragon as he began to saw through the big rope by this time both boars all seven tigers the two lions the rhinoceros and the gorilla along with the countless screeching monkeys were all on their way across the crocodiles and was still a lot of rope to cut through oh hurry the dragon kept saying and my father again told him to stand still if I don't think I can make it and my father will fly over to the other side of the river and I can finish cutting the rope there suddenly the screaming grew louder and matter and my father thought the animals must have crossed the river he looked around and saw something which surprised and delighted him partly because he had finished his lollipop and partly because as I told you before crocodiles are very moody and not the least bit dependable and are always looking for something to eat the first crocodile had turned away from the bank and started swimming down the river the second crocodile hadn't finished yet so he followed right after the first still sucking his lollipop and the rest did the same thing one right after the other until they were all swimming away in a line the two wild boars the seven tigers the rhinoceros the two lions the gorilla along with the countless screeching monkeys were all riding down the middle of the river on the train of crocodiles sucking pink lollipops and all yelling screaming and getting their feet wet my father and the dragon laughed themselves weak because it was such a silly sight as soon as they had recovered my father finished cutting the rope and the dragon raced around in circles and tried to turn a somersault he was the most excited baby dragon that ever lived my father was in a hurry to fly away when the dragon finally calmed down a bit my father climbed on to his back all aboard said the dragon where shall we go we'll spend the night on the beach and tomorrow we'll start the long journey home so it's off to the shores of tangerina shout of my father as the dragon soared above the dark jungle and a muddy river and all the animals bellowing at him and all the crocodiles licking pink lollipops and grinning wide grins after all what did the crocodiles care about a way to cross the river what a fine feast they were carrying on their backs as my father and the dragon passed over the ocean rocks they heard a tiny excited voice scream bum crack bum crack we need our dragon I mean we need our dragon but my father and the dragon knew that nothing in the world would ever make them go back to wild island the end and if my father's dragon by root styles gannet